Every day across the country, charities, community groups and volunteers do incredible work to support their communities. But many of these groups are small, local, and often working on their own. To develop as organisations, connect with others and influence local decision-making, they often draw on external support, services and expertise. Collectively, this wider network of external help can be referred to as local civil society infrastructure, or LCSI. 

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has recently published several reports on LCSI. These are the result of a year-long research programme undertaken by PBE, in partnership with Ipsos, the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, and the University of the West of Scotland. In this blog, we explain what LCSI is, why it matters, what we’ve learned about its impact, and how it could be strengthened to better support civil society.

You can read a full summary of the findings here.

LCSI helps civil society to develop, connect and influence

One of civil society’s greatest strengths is its ability to respond to local needs. Whether during a crisis or in tackling long-term issues, the sector brings agility, insight, and strong community ties.

This is largely because civil society is made up of many small, local organisations. In England and Wales, nearly a third of registered charities have annual incomes under £5,000, and over three-quarters earn less than £100,000 (as of June 2025).

While this local focus is a strength, it can also create challenges. Many small organisations are volunteer-run and concentrated on delivering for their beneficiaries. They often lack time or resources to connect with others in their area.

This can lead to:

  • Duplication of services
  • Competition for limited funding
  • Missed chances to collaborate or share learning
  • Weak collective advocacy

For local councils and health systems, this fragmentation makes it hard to understand what’s happening on the ground or to engage effectively with civil society.

That’s where LCSI comes in. LCSI provides training, advice, and support to help civil society organisations to become more effective. It connects people and groups to encourage collaboration and help spread innovation. It often works closely with the public sector to help to amplify the voice of the civil society among local decision-makers.

LCSI has been through a period of disinvestment and decline

LCSI in England has not had an easy journey. The closure of the ChangeUp programme in 2011, and years of local government financial pressures had a significant impact on the income of LCSI organisations. Covid, the previous government’s levelling up agenda, and health system redesign, have brought with them renewed interest in LCSI and some limited investment. Yet the fortunes of the sector remain in long-term decline.

The extent of this can be seen in Figure 1, which tracks total annual LCSI income. The loss of ChangeUp investment led to almost a decade of disinvestment in LCSI, with a Covid-related spike in income an exception to the long-established norm.

In part it was these developments that prompted the Law Family Commission on Civil Society to call for a full review of LCSI in England, that led to DCMS commissioning this research programme.

So what did the research find?

The role of LCSI is well recognised, though there is less agreement on who is involved

Most of the evidence agrees that LCSI’s role is to connect, develop, and influence. But there’s no single definition or list of which organisations are part of it.

Some define LCSI by specific types of organisations such as Councils for Voluntary Service, Volunteer Centres or Rural Community Councils. Others take a ‘function-first’ approach, focusing on who delivers LCSI functions, regardless of their organisation type. This ‘function-first’ approach captures a wider picture of infrastructure, with a broader array of organisations, networks and relationships contributing to the make-up of LCSI.

Read more about definitions and the wider evidence base.

LCSI coverage has been shrinking over time, but its strength in any given area rests on quality too

The number of LCSI organisations has declined in the last couple of decades. Most local authority areas still have at least one, but coverage has waned. As Figure 2 shows, one in five (20%) local authority areas did not have an LCSI organisation registered or operating within it in 2023.

Further detail on secondary quantitative analysis can be found here.

While these figures tell us a lot about the relative strength of LCSI, it’s clear that they only tell part of the story. Our survey of LCSI organisations shows us that it’s not just about how many organisations exist. It’s also about the quality of support, how well they meet local needs, and whether they are trusted by and connected to local statutory and frontline organisations.

Follow this link for further insight into our survey of LCSI organisations.

Local deep dives show that the presence of strong LCSI is widely regarded to make a difference to the functioning of civil society

It is tricky to quantify the impact of LCSI. In part this is because it works through other organisations and because those themselves organisations work in the complexity of the real world. This makes it hard to confidently isolate and measure impact. To try and capture and describe the difference that LCSI makes, we undertook a number of case studies in local areas. We spoke with people from front line organisations, the public sector and LCSI organisations themselves to understand their views on the difference LCSI makes.

We found a variety of arrangements of LCSI across different areas. Some places had multiple organisations delivering the functions of LCSI, while in others, provision was concentrated around a single, usually larger organisation. In some cases this was a result of mergers between LCSI organisations.

We also found clear distinctions between areas where it was felt LCSI was strong and effective, and those where it was weak or absent. In areas with strong LCSI, civil society feels more connected, joined up, plugged in to wider developments, and more aware of funding and other opportunities available to it. In areas with relatively weak or absent LCSI, civil society is less well supported and informed. It also tends to be more fragmented, resulting in greater risk of isolation, duplication and competition among frontline organisations. Tellingly, in areas where LCSI is absent, people were often trying hard to establish and develop it.

Read a synthesis report outlining the findings of our local area case studies.

Fixing funding and building public sector buy-in are vital to strengthening LCSI

The strength of LCSI depends a lot on funding—not just how much there is, but also how well it’s used. But the current funding system has problems: money is tight, who is responsible for funding LCSI is unclear, and it’s hard to quantify its impact, therefore making the case for investment case difficult.

LCSI works in a complicated environment with many different stakeholders, often with a variety of opinions on what it should do, how it should do it and how well it is performing. These relationships can contain power imbalances, but with no overarching decision-making body to manage this, personal relationships between people often play a crucial role in the strength of LCSI.

Strong partnerships — especially with local councils — are key. Often these happen when public sector leaders take a strategic interest in local civil society and understand the role of LCSI in supporting this. Building this strategic buy-in is a vital first step to strengthening LCSI.

It was commonly felt that once good relationships with local public sector organisations are established, LCSI can further be strengthened by establishing more formal structures such as joint strategies, partnerships, boards or working groups.

Find out more about the ways in which LCSI can be strengthened.

Final thoughts

Local civil society infrastructure may not always be visible, but it plays a key role in supporting the development, resilience and influence of civil society. If we want a thriving civil society – one that can respond to challenges, innovate and grow – we must ensure that the organisations that support it are also thriving.

While clearly that involves investment from across the public and civil society sectors, it also requires a better appreciation of the vital importance of civil society and a wider understanding of the role and importance of LCSI.

But responsibility doesn’t just sit outside of LCSI. The sector itself has an important role in helping to bring policymakers on board. Better articulation of its impact and effectiveness is vital to building strategic buy in both locally and nationally.

Government continues with its devolution agenda while simultaneously many Integrated Care Systems continue to mature. LCSI has an important role to play in bridging the gap between civil society and the wider public sector during this era of transformation.