Upstream by Design: The Corporate Role in Making Prevention Real

In this episode of The Truth About Local Government, Matt Masters is joined by Simon Higgins to explore why local government must focus on prevention, and why corporate services have a critical and often underestimated, role to play in making prevention succeed.

While prevention is often associated with frontline services, Simon and Matt argue that sustainable, effective prevention only works when it is led, enabled and protected by corporate leadership. Drawing on Simon’s experience of preventative work at Cumberland, the discussion examines how corporate services such as finance, HR, policy, commissioning and data can either unlock or unintentionally undermine preventative approaches.

The conversation explores why too many councils intervene only when people reach crisis point – when outcomes are worse, costs are higher and options are limited – and why shifting upstream is essential for supporting communities, managing demand and protecting public services.

This episode offers practical insight for Chief Executives, Corporate Directors of Resources and senior leaders on:

• Why prevention must be treated as a corporate and system‑wide responsibility
• The conditions required for preventative strategies to work in practice
• How leaders can move beyond short‑term pressures to embed long‑term preventative thinking
• What success in prevention actually looks like, and how to sustain it

A timely and candid conversation for leaders who want to ensure local government supports residents before crisis hits, not after.