Across the UK, people working in local policy, delivery, research, and community leadership are all grappling with increasingly complex challenges, from capacity constraints and rising service demand to fragmented data, regulatory pressures, and the need to respond quickly to local needs. Yet despite these shared pressures, each group experiences the policy ecosystem differently.
To support better partnership working, clearer communication, and more impactful collaboration, the Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) Hub has developed a new set of refined user personas. These personas represent the diverse stakeholders who interact with the Hub and wider LPIP programme, and they provide a grounded understanding of their needs, pain points, motivations, and communication preferences.
Why Personas?
The LPIP Hub brings together universities, local government, policy makers, funders, business, civil society, and national organisations. Each has different aims, pressures and ways of working. Personas help us to:
- Design better engagement and communications
By understanding how groups prefer to receive information, whether short policy briefings for politicians, in‑person meetings for local policy officers, or newsletters for academics, we can tailor our approaches in ways that meet people where they are. - Align our outputs with users’ real needs
Many of our users have limited time, fragmented data, political constraints, or organisational barriers. Personas highlight how the Hub can provide clarity, evidence, and practical support. - Maximise the impact of the LPIP programme
By understanding what motivates different stakeholders and what obstacles they face, we can ensure the Hub adds value at every level, from local delivery teams to national decision‑makers. - Support more equitable and inclusive policy processes
Personas allow us to recognise differences in power, access, and capacity across the system. This helps us design interactions and resources that enable informed participation from all partners.
What We Learned: A System with Shared Challenges, but Different Realities
Across the personas, several strong themes emerged.
1. Capacity is stretched across the system
Local delivery teams, local policy makers, local government support organisations, businesses, and even academics all cited time pressures, competing priorities, and limited resources as ongoing challenges.
Many have the will to innovate but are constrained by organisational structures or a lack of capacity.
2. Evidence is needed – but it must be usable and timely
For local leaders, policy makers, MPs, and board members, evidence must be:
- clear
- concise
- actionable
- timely
Long, complex research outputs simply do not meet the needs of decision‑makers working under pressure.
3. Relationships and trust matter
Political leaders need trusted advisors. Local authorities need partners who understand the realities on the ground. Think Tanks need credibility. International bodies need culturally competent local brokers.
The personas emphasise that relationships are as important as research.
4. Communication must be tailored
Preferences range from:
- One‑page briefings (politicians, MPs)
- Email and reports (local leaders, funders, board members)
- In‑person meetings (local policy makers, business)
- Social media and newsletters (academics, local delivery teams, think tanks)
- Press briefings (media)
This diversity reinforces the need for a strategic, multi‑channel communications approach.
How the Personas Will Shape the LPIP Hub’s Work
Over the coming months, we will use these personas to guide:
✔ Communication planning
Ensuring each user group receives information in a format they value and can act on.
✔ Resource development
Designing outputs, from evidence briefings to training sessions, around user needs and constraints.
✔ Engagement and capacity‑building
Prioritising activities that help build relationships, share expertise, and address the challenges highlighted in the personas.
✔ Hub-wide strategic alignment
Enabling the LPIP Hub, local LPIPs, and national partners to work with greater coherence around our different stakeholders.
✔ Better policy impact
Because when evidence, communication, and user needs align, the impact is more meaningful, faster, and more sustainable.
Who the Personas Represent
The new persona set includes stakeholders from across the local policy ecosystem. Click on each persona to find out more about their pain points and needs, potential solutions and communications preferences:
- Local government delivery teams
- Local leadership (councils and senior officials)
- LPIP partnerships
- Local government support organisations
- Local policy makers
- National policy makers and politicians
- Academics
- Press
- Business
- Board members
- Think tanks
- International bodies
- Funders
- Politician
Accessible version of these personas.
Each persona includes their pain points, needs, communication preferences, and opportunities for the Hub to support them.
What’s Next?
This is just the beginning. Over 2026, we will:
- Embed personas into how we plan communications and engagement
- Use them to improve how we share evidence across the system
- Test and refine them based on user feedback
- Support LPIP teams across the country to integrate personas into project design and delivery
By grounding our work in a deeper understanding of our stakeholders, we aim to strengthen collaboration, accelerate innovation, and ultimately improve outcomes for people and places.
We’d love your feedback
Personas work best when they’re living, evolving tools. If you work within the LPIP ecosystem and would like to contribute insights, refine the personas, or discuss how they can support your work, please get in touch with the LPIP Hub team.
This blog was written by Elizabeth Goodyear, Programme Manager at City-REDI, University of Birmingham. She was assisted by Copilot.
Find out more about the Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this analysis post are those of the authors and not necessarily those of City-REDI or the University of Birmingham.
All images from Canva.