It's starting to feel like spring

For the first time in a long while, it feels as though education, social care, community economics, and national resilience policy are beginning to speak the same language. They certainly appear to be pointing in the same direction. Let’s see!

On 9 March 2026, the Ministry of Housing, Community & Local Government published its new policy paper Protecting What Matters: Towards a more confident, cohesive, and resilient United Kingdom, setting out steps to strengthen social cohesion, rebuild trust and create the conditions for shared prosperity. This vision lands at a moment where schools, communities, and civic leaders are already pushing for a whole‑system redesign built around the PERSON. 

On education:

For years, education white papers have spoken about the wider civic role of schools, not just as places of learning, but as core community institutions capable of improving health, supporting families, building economic participation, and strengthening local identity. With the publication of the recent School’s White Paper and then this newest government policy announcement, this perhaps no longer feels aspirational and a little more joined up?

The new Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government policy with its emphasis on cohesion, shared values, and multi‑agency alignment, reinforces what our leaders across education and health and social care have known for years - that we can’t build a resilient nation without positioning our people at its heart. This sounds very obvious as a concept, but it amazes me how often dots aren’t joined here. That is why the emerging cross‑government narrative matters to me and to many others. 

When national policy speaks about “cohesion”, “integration”, “community and resilience”, it opens the door to more coherent approaches to child and adult wellbeing, and to breaking down the long‑standing separation between our government departments.

On adult social care

Baroness Casey’s speech just over a week ago was pretty punchy. It was an example of bold honesty about the urgent need for public‑service reform. While not tied to the 9 March 2026 policy paper, her wider critiques of adult social care, local systems, and governance echo the same underlying truth that our adult health and social‑care model is no longer fit for purpose. Her challenge to rethink the structures, expectations, and funding frameworks of adult support resonates with the shift we see in child‑centred services. Both point to the need for local systems that work with communities, not around them, integrated services that don’t expect people to navigate complexity alone, and renewed focus on DIGNITY, AGENCY and PREVENTION. 

Baroness Casey’s boldness aligns with the direction of travel in ‘Protecting What Matters’: a cross‑government recognition that fragmented, reactive systems are failing to deliver stability or cohesion. This also aligns with the work we, Stone King, are doing through our public sector transformation consultancy.

On the Offices of the Impact Economy – our civic conductor?

One of the most promising directions in recent policy thinking is the development of the Office of the Impact Economy, an office designed to reposition civic institutions and community wealth‑building at the heart of economic strategy. This office’s role is (if I was to sum it up in a sentence and hoping I have captured this correctly!) to act as a bridge between economic policy, community development, public‑service reform, and a conductor across government departments, as well an engine for community wealth generation, particularly vital as the cost of living rises and political uncertainty intensifies.

In the context of the 9 March 2026 policy paper, I think this Office has been the missing connective tissue needed to deliver the paper’s aspirations for cohesion, trust, and resilience. 

And how this all works with my work and the work of my colleagues at Stone King

My mind has always been focussed on connecting dots so I just hope that all these things are more than promising words and that action follows. I shall certainly do my part- through my job as a lawyer and advisor on commercial strategy and public policy- to be a champion for change.

My colleagues Sandra and Julian are already deep into supporting public sector bodies through their public sector transformation consultancy work, and so this will be new added fuel for them. And there is a place for all in this design - funders, public sector, private sector, and VCSFE, philanthropists  - so if you want to know more about our work and how you can get involved, get in touch today.