What happens when a local authority gets its own research lead

Local authorities in England hold rich data about the people they serve – but rarely have the in-house expertise to use it as evidence. Social care teams make high-stakes decisions daily about children's safety, adult wellbeing, and family support, yet most councils lack the research infrastructure that NHS trusts take for granted: no ethics processes, no journal access, no clear pathway from frontline question to robust answer.

The result is a gap between what councils know and what they can prove – and between the evidence researchers produce and the decisions practitioners need to make.

In Oxfordshire, ARC OxTV set out to close that gap – not by delivering research to the council, but by helping the council build the capacity to do it themselves.

Our approach and partners

The ARC OxTV supported Oxfordshire County Council in creating a dedicated Social Care Research Lead post, embedded within the council and connected to the University of Oxford's research infrastructure. The role was designed to work across children's and adults' social care, building the skills, structures, and partnerships needed to sustain a research culture beyond any single project or funding cycle.

This was a deliberate investment in the machinery of evidence use – governance, access, skills, and relationships – rather than in a specific research question.

What we found – and why it matters

1. A single embedded role can shift an organisation's research capability. Within its first year, the post catalysed changes across multiple dimensions of research capacity – from governance to workforce skills to strategic partnerships.
2. Governance unlocked activity. The Research Lead developed research governance documentation and strengthened the council's Social Care Research Panel, which has approved 17 research projects since April 2025. Before this infrastructure existed, hosting or conducting research safely was a significant barrier.
3. Frontline staff gained direct access to research tools and training. The role secured Athens and journal access for social workers across children's and adults' services – a basic enabler of evidence-informed practice that most local authorities lack. Literature reviews modelled how to apply research evidence to operational decisions.
4. Structured research career pathways opened up. Five social workers were supported to apply for NIHR ARC research internships, with two appointed. Information about NIHR Doctoral Fellowships and Grassroots Awards widened awareness of research careers within the council.
5. A Research Incubator Fund put resources directly in practitioners' hands. Offering up to £5,000 for small-scale projects, the fund gives staff the means to pilot evaluations, test ideas, and develop research skills – democratising access to research beyond the usual academic routes.
6. Strategic partnerships were formalised and expanded. The role deepened relationships with the Rees Centre, ARC OxTV, and Oxford Brookes University through honorary contracts, joint proposals, student placements, and mentoring – building a research ecosystem around the council rather than within a single project.

The flagship output of this strengthened capacity was the collaboration on children's social care data that informed Oxfordshire's Family Hub Positioning Strategy – a direct example of embedded research capability producing policy-relevant evidence.

What this means

Most discussions about research capacity in social care focus on academia: training more researchers, funding more studies, publishing more papers. This work shows what changes when you invest in the other side – building a local authority's ability to commission, host, interpret, and act on research. The 17 projects approved through the strengthened Research Panel, the social workers pursuing NIHR internships, and the Family Hub strategy shaped by in-house analysis all point to the same conclusion: sustained research use depends on sustained internal capability.

For other local authorities, the model is replicable. The components – a dedicated role, governance infrastructure, workforce access to evidence, practitioner funding, and formalised university partnerships – are not unique to Oxfordshire. What made them possible was a deliberate, funded commitment to building research capacity as infrastructure, not as a project add-on.

What needs to happen next

The role has demonstrated proof of concept. The question now is sustainability and scale. Oxfordshire County Council and ARC OxTV have submitted a major NIHR funding bid to expand analytical capacity, invest in research assistants and data analysts, develop patient and public involvement infrastructure within the council, and extend this model across the children's services directorate.

But embedding research capability in local government cannot depend on competitive research grants alone. Local and national funders need to recognise research capacity in social care as core infrastructure – resourced accordingly and evaluated on its systemic effects, not just its publication outputs.