Edinburgh Napier University

  Partnership working between agencies at the level of local government is increasingly recognised as important to dealing with complex social problems including deprivation, poverty, addictions and offending. This is particularly relevant in Scotland, where partnership working has been pursued as an adaptation to austerity policies (Christie Commission, 2011). Covid-19 and the lockdown have created new problems for local government, likely to include impacts on partnership work; however, there is also anecdotal evidence that it has led to practice innovations to tackle some of the most difficult social problems, such as homelessness.

This project will use a survey and interviews to research the impact of Covid-19 on local partnership working in Scotland and how local partnerships are adapting to it, with a particular focus on producing findings of practice and policy relevance.