Mayors urged to embed music in England’s devolution plans

Strategic authorities should use their growing powers over skills, transport, planning and economic development to create better conditions for music, according to new research commissioned by UK Music, the music industry umbrella association.

Devolution Amplified: Putting music at the heart of English devolution, produced by Groundwork Research, sets out five principles for ensuring that music is represented in the decisions increasingly being made by mayors and strategic authorities.

The report comes as culture becomes a formal competency of strategic authorities and the government prepares to extend devolution across England. It argues that music should be treated not simply as a cultural asset, but as part of the economic, social and physical fabric of local communities.

The UK music industry generated £8 billion in Gross Value Added and supported 220,000 jobs in 2024. However, the report finds that the level of engagement between the industry and strategic authorities remains uneven.

UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl said, ‘The next phase of devolution is an opportunity to not treat music simply as a cultural asset.’

He added that every area has musical assets, whether in the form of festivals, studios, venues, rehearsal rooms, music businesses, educational institutions or creative communities.

Five principles for local music economies

The report organises its recommendations around five themes: voice, evidence, power, people and place.

It calls on strategic authorities to establish Cultural Leadership Boards with meaningful representation from music and the wider creative industries. Where capacity allows, authorities should create dedicated Music Boards and mayors should appoint a Commissioner for Culture and the Creative Industries.

The report also recommends establishing Music Offices to provide authorities with dedicated capacity to engage with their local music sectors. Regular Culture Audits would map businesses, venues, studios, rehearsal spaces, festivals, education providers and freelancers, while identifying gaps in provision and assets at risk.

This evidence should then inform Local Growth Plans and related strategies covering areas including tourism, inward investment and international development.

Skills and music education

The research identifies skills as one of the principal areas in which devolution could make a difference to the music industry.

It argues that conventional skills programmes often fail to reflect a sector dominated by freelancers, small businesses, portfolio careers and non-traditional routes into employment. Strategic authorities should identify local skills needs and develop clearer and more inclusive pathways into and through the industry.

The report calls for a more flexible, devolved Growth and Skills Levy capable of supporting shorter training programmes, professional development and multi-employer apprenticeships. This could allow several music organisations to share responsibility for an apprentice where individual employers are too small to provide a placement alone.

It also highlights work already taking place in different regions. Liverpool City Region’s Music Office has supported apprenticeships, while the West of England has explored a multi-employer apprenticeship model for music and the arts. Greater Manchester’s proposed Baccalaureate is intended to create clearer technical routes into sectors including the creative industries.

Music Offices could also help make training and employment opportunities more accessible, particularly to people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and groups that remain underrepresented within the industry.

Venues, transport and public space

Alongside workforce development, Devolution Amplified calls for planning, licensing and transport policies that recognise how music operates.

Strategic authorities should align evening and late-night public transport with event schedules and venue closing times, protect venues and other cultural infrastructure through planning policy, and reinforce the Agent of Change principle so that established music spaces are not threatened by new residential development.

The report also proposes greater use of Creative Enterprise Zones: designated areas where local authorities support creative businesses and workers through measures such as affordable workspace, business support, skills programmes and protection for cultural premises. It also recommends using public assets, including stations and civic spaces, to provide opportunities for performers and strengthen the musical identity of places.

The report concludes with five tests for strategic authorities: whether music has a seat at the table; whether authorities understand their local industry; whether the available powers and resources are being used; whether the skills system supports music careers; and whether local policies create the conditions for music to thrive.

Devolution Amplified was written by Groundwork Research director Jack Shaw and published to coincide with the 2026 political party conference season.