Total Place Archive

About Total Place

Total Place was a 2009 UK government initiative that mapped all public spending in specific local areas to cut waste and improve services. Thirteen pilot projects, covering 11 million people, tracked about £82 billion of public money to see how it could be spent better together.

How it Worked

Count: Local agencies added up all the money they spent on their area (e.g., police, NHS, and council budgets).
Connect: Agencies broke down borders and pooled their resources to stop doing the same work twice.
Prevent: Local leaders designed services to stop problems from happening first, rather than fixing them later.

Why it Mattered

Real-world example: Instead of the council and the health service running separate programs for a troubled family, Total Place allowed them to share a single budget and create one unified plan.
Outcome: The pilots showed that working across borders saved money and improved services.

What Happened Next
The program was short-lived and scrapped by the incoming Coalition government in 2010. However, the idea of joining up local budgets has recently gained renewed interest in government. You can read more about its history in the Institute for Government PDF.

The archive documents, including pilot total place reports

Click on the hyperlinks below to access the PDF reports:

LGA Total Place Presentation Slides

London Councils Total Place Final Report

Greater Manchester and Warrington Total Place Pilot Report

Kent Total Place Pilot Report

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