The reality of a public authority's intention is not found within its vision or its strategy. It is found in its budget. Citizens know this and naturally want ways to influence public spending in their community.

Local authorities will be in the process of carefully planning their forthcoming consultation with the public, businesses and other stakeholders over the following year’s budget. Meaningful engagement will be crucial to ensure the proposals taken forward into a consultation reflect the needs of seldom heard groups and the wider community. 

With new public priorities arising out of the pandemic and trust in government lower than ever, innovative approaches are urgently needed, especially when public sector budgeting remains such a dark art.

The Institute invites you to join a FREE virtual roundtable event in which participants are encouraged to think differently about budget consultations. Join our live discussion about the various innovative approaches that can be employed to ensure meaningful engagement with the public and key stakeholders, ahead of the budget consultation.

The event will be led by a panel of experts, but the discussion will be led by you!

Prior to the event, participants will be invited to watch four short, pre-recorded presentations on innovative approaches:

• A Budget Matrix: The formula for more meaningful public engagement
• Co-production
• Optioneering
• Online Budget Simulation

For this session, we will be using the platform, Microsoft Teams. If you're unable to access this platform, please let us know.