Centre for Thriving Places doesn’t do big policy announcements, but if we did… they would be people-led and collaborative at their core. Until then, here’s what we are hoping for from the Autumn 2026 Budget. Jointly authored by our co-directors Liz Zeidler and Rosie Maguire.
Andy Burnham used his first conference speech as Prime Minister to say that 40 years of economic policy has failed and a very different model is needed. We at Centre for Thriving Places couldn’t agree more but how far will he go, and will his Chancellor back up this vision in his first budget next week?
A radically new economic approach is long overdue but it is no small task. Practically or politically. It needs the full weight of public support behind it, if the Prime Minister is to tackle those with huge vested interests, who have benefited from the existing model for so long. And it needs a web of bright ideas and practical actions to support it.
The Autumn Budget needs to do two very important things. Support people today and put a marker in the sand for the future.
This needs to be a ‘people first’ Budget, that kickstarts the enormous long term task of putting power, wealth and control back into the hands of communities, their elected officials, local businesses and service providers. It needs to tackle the cost of greed as well as the cost of living crisis. A bold statement, that demonstrates a clear and dogged determination to end the profiteering by faceless private equity firms and off-shore corporations – that are sucking our public services dry – and hiking up the cost of everything from fuel, to housing, to food and healthcare.
It’s time to use public money for public purpose.
Without strong intervention, the growing division and desperation we see in our communities (and across the Channel in the form of violence and disorder) will only deepen – and quickly stand in the way of Burnham’s wider ambitions for change.
Here are a few suggestions of ways that John Healey can start to make major strides towards a truly ‘thriving economy’ – all taken from the brilliant work being delivered by our team and our many trusted partners across the UK right now.
Housing
…it all starts with shelter.
Aim: To increase the quality and quantity of housing available to all across the UK.
We can’t just wait for new housing. We need to strengthen local powers and improve funding sources to increase collective ownership of and improve existing stock. Good to have the Prime Minster’s commitment to increasing powers for local authorities to buy badly maintained stock,this needs to sit alongside protecting tenants, improving enforcement and building a structured approach to re-acquisition
Major well-planned investment could and must improve the quality of housing across the board. There are easy wins to be had in a long-term, locally rooted programme of retrofit to make the existing housing stock warmer in winter, drier, healthier, with lower energy bills and smaller carbon footprint. If done well, it’ll also deliver big boosts for local economies, skills and jobs.
Tackling the ways money flows out of our housing system is essential – through both stricter rent caps and imposing higher taxes on extreme profiteering from landlords. Watch out next month for our new report, as part of the Reclaiming Our Regional Economies programme, that looks into the eye-watering levels of profit extraction from the provision of temporary housing to some of the most vulnerable in our society. Housing is a corner of the foundational economy and a basic human right. This Budget can help to start the path to it playing that role UK wide.
Care
Aim: to build back the roots of care as a service and vital systems of relations within and across our communities.
The Prime Minister has put a national Care System as a central pillar of his mission. This is an opportunity to take the care system out of the grasp of those who use it as leverage for extortionate profits, tax avoidance and private equity pay days.
We must look at where we can amend policy, legislation and tax so we put well paid frontline staff delivering care at the centre of a wider community of relationships across the life course. We need funding mechanisms that channel and keep equity and value in local economies. Locally accountable, sustainable organisations like Co-operatives and organisations that put these values at their core are a good start, alongside public sector bodies.
Our report on local authority commissioned care from last year, as well as this report on supported accommodation for people with learning disabilities in Wales, have helped start many a conversation this year – growing understanding of the mechanisms of how extraction happens, what we can do locally now, and what needs to change nationally.
Healthy food and town centres
Aim: Make healthy food the norm not a luxury.
Fast food outlets have become the mainstays of our high streets and ultra processed foods the main option in our supermarkets. Government subsidies and the tax system reward industrialised farming and cheap imports over incentivizing the affordable provision of healthy food in all corners of our lives. Even businesses themselves are demanding reform so that sustainable, resilient production naturally becomes the most competitive choice for every business, rather than a costly exception.
But work on food doesn’t just need to look at the macroeconomic picture. Our work with the Local Health Global Profits Programme is supporting local authorities so they can adapt their planning, economic development, public health and net zero plans to deliver healthy high streets, where people can travel, meet, eat and shop in ways that benefits their future and that of their family and communities. A Budget that encourages healthy choices in our kitchens, schools, offices and high streets will reap benefits for years, and generations to come.
Good Jobs
Aim: For everyone to have access to sources of decently paid, good quality, secure work, that fits with their lives.
- Good growth in every postcode sounds great – but what does it mean? In the existing economic model it is often mistaken for merely an uptick in GDP – how much we produce and consume across the economy. But that rarely delivers ‘good’ to anyone other than the major corporations that supply most of those commodities. Good growth should be growth in all aspects of our ability to thrive – from a growth in our health, to a growth in safe streets, affordable housing and clean air. But fundamental to our individual capacity to access much of that economy, are jobs.
- For too long the emphasis has been on sheer numbers, but the quality of employment should be key to any ‘new economy’ vision. With 1 in 6 (5.6 million) people in highly insecure work, we need to focus on creating jobs that are more secure, with hours that support balanced lives, and enough pay to cover all life’ s essentials. Where those jobs are and who they are accessible to is also vital as shown in the Work Foundation’s latest report.
- Our own Thriving Places Index – due out in January – reports on our unique ‘good jobs’ metric that looks at the quality of jobs available in every area of England, and if Prime Minister and the Chancellor are serious about good growth – this budget needs to reward employers for delivering ‘good jobs’ in every postcode, that benefit families the length and breadth of the UK.
Environment and biodiversity
We are nothing without nature and a stable climate to sustain us.
Aim: To survive, and thrive.
This Budget has to have sustainability – in all its guises – threaded throughout it. From biodiversity to energy, and from clean air to food security, the health of our planet is the biggest financial, social, health and security risk of our lives, and cannot be a post script to any Budget for the 21st century. It should be an integral part of how we conceptualise security, as well as what sits inside any “Defence” budget lines. Every day, we work with the leaders of cities and regions who want to ensure that both people and planet are benefactors from every decision they make. National government must do the same. From Climate and Health Frameworks across the West Midlands, to helping reshape net zero plans in South Yorkshire to deliver local jobs and healthier homes across the region.
Investment in a greener future is investment that can deliver real ‘good growth in every postcode’ in ways we can all support.
Now that would be a Budget that turns big words on a new economy, into the beginning of a plan to deliver it.
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