Putting “anchor” approaches at the heart of Strategic Authorities’ health duty
The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill introduces a statutory health duty for Strategic Authorities, requiring them to “have regard to the need to improve the health of people … and reduce health inequalities between people living in their areas when they act.” Alongside this duty, SAs are gaining increased powers and influence over key determinants of health - including housing, transport, green spaces, and employment - giving them a unique opportunity to drive meaningful improvements in population health and reduce inequalities.
As Strategic Authorities (SAs) assess the different options at their disposal for improving population health, one powerful opportunity not to be overlooked is the potential to maximise the positive impact of existing anchor organisations within local communities and economies.
In this blog, we explore how SAs can drive forward anchor approaches to improving health, drawing on promising examples from existing practice. We focus on four complementary roles Strategic Authorities can play:
SAs as anchor organisations in their own right
SAs as setters of standards that shape and encourage positive anchor behaviour
SAs as convenors of anchor networks and partnerships
SAs as intelligence hubs enabling data-led anchor initiatives
1. SAs as anchor organisations in their own right
Beyond setting strategies or policies, Strategic Authorities can lead by example through the way they operate as organisations. This means taking deliberate action across the key anchor levers to strengthen local health and reduce inequalities.
When it comes to employment, SAs can ensure recruitment processes actively support those furthest from the labour market; they can provide secure, well-designed roles; and they can promote the health and wellbeing of existing staff.
South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, for example, is part of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce’s Health and Wellbeing Consortium; a network enabling local employers to better support the physical, financial and mental health of employees.
When it comes to spending, SAs can track and improve the proportion of their spend going to local businesses and social enterprises, and embed social value across their own procurement, commissioning, and investment practices.
Last year East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) published their Social Value procurement framework, intended to “guide EMCCA officers and members on embedding social value into EMCCA’s commissioning and procurement activities”.
2. SAs as setters of standards that shape and encourage positive anchor behaviour
Beyond their own activity, SAs increasingly act as standard setters – shaping what ‘good anchor practice’ looks like across their region.
One example of this is good employment charters, which have been established by a range of Mayoral Authorities including Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester and the West of England. These are voluntary membership and assessment schemes which are incentivising local employers to raise employment standards.
Alongside employment charters, some Strategic Authorities are setting out broader social value frameworks that clarify what ‘good’ looks like for anchor organisations across procurement, investment and partnership activity. Where frameworks such as the East Midlands Combined Authority’s Social Value Procurement Framework focus on strengthening internal commissioning and procurement practice, other SAs are using social value frameworks to shape behaviour more widely across their regional anchor ecosystems.
In Greater Manchester, for example, they have broadened the scope of their 2014 GM Social Value Policy to create a social value framework that can be used “across all sectors to guide actions and maximise impact for Greater Manchester and its citizens”. By defining common outcomes and principles around local employment, inclusive growth, and community benefit, the Combined Authority helps normalise consistent approaches among anchor institutions and suppliers, making it easier for organisations across the system to align their efforts and maximise impact.
3. SAs as convenors of anchor networks and partnerships
Beyond setting standards, SAs can use their convening power to bring anchor organisations together, creating networks that amplify impact across the region. The soft power of the mayor - alongside senior leaders and officers - can act as a catalyst, encouraging participation and lending credibility to the network, whilst an SA strategy can provide a shared mandate, making collaboration on key priorities easier and more effective.
As budget pressures prompt Integrated Care Boards in many regions to step back from convening local anchor networks, Strategic Authorities have a timely chance to fill the gap and strengthen cross-sector collaboration.e the reins. In some areas existing anchor networks are already re-forming around the geographies of new Strategic Authorities in order to capitalise on the benefits this can bring.
Anchor networks offer multiple benefits: they raise the profile of anchor initiatives within partner organisations, support shared learning, identify opportunities to collaborate or to spread and scale existing impactful initiatives, and pool resources to create dedicated coordination functions or hubs that drive work forward across the partnership. They can also provide a single front door for engagement and collaboration between larger anchors and local communities, VCSFE groups, and the wider SME sector.
Effective anchor networks can be established both within sectors as well as across sectors.
In Greater Manchester for example, the region’s five higher education institutions have come together to form a Civic University Network. Through the Greater Manchester Civic University Agreement, they are working side by side with GMCA and the 10 Local Authorities on shared priorities to contribute their expertise, resources, and influence to the region’s social, economic, and cultural development. Similarly GM’s housing providers have come together to form Greater Manchester Housing Providers, with support from the GMCA, and are aligning their collective action to support “Live Well’ - Greater Manchester’s movement for ensuring consistent, everyday support is available in every neighbourhood.
In London, the Greater London Authority convenes and supports the London Anchor Institutions’ Network (LAIN); a cross-sector network bringing together some of the capital’s largest anchor organisations. The network was established by the Mayor of London in 2021; has gone on to deliver a range of successful initiatives (as outlined in their recent impact report); and is recognised as a key asset in the London Growth Plan.
“Four years on, I am delighted with the progress we have made. As the largest network of its kind globally, LAIN members have awarded more than £3.3bn in contracts to smaller and diverse-led businesses; supported approximately 4,000 apprentices a year, and continue to make strides in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
Sir Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London
4. SAs as intelligence hubs enabling data-led anchor initiatives
In order for anchor organisations to maximise the positive impact they are having on the health and wellbeing of local populations, they need to be guided by local data and insight into what works best.
SAs are well placed to create enabling “intelligence hubs” which can support anchor organisations to put data and evidence at the heart of everything they do. This might be through:
Establishing partnerships with Universities to support enhanced insight gathering and data sharing across an SA, such at this example from GM, or this example from Yorkshire and the Humber (involving multiple Universities and SAs)
Or by working as part of an anchor network to commission community listening activities in partnership with the voluntary and community sector, such as this example from the Leeds Anchor network
Supporting peer learning across SAs
By focusing on these four areas, Strategic Authorities have a unique opportunity to enable a step change in the positive contributions that local anchor organisations are able to make within their communities, and to put this impact at the heart of their new health duty.
To support this HALN will be running a dedicated Learning Set for individuals working within Strategic Authorities who are interested in supporting anchor approaches in Spring 2026.
If you are interested in joining, you can register your interest here.
Alternatively if you have any questions contact us on hello@haln.org.uk