Stronger leadership and clarity from government are needed if the Big Society is to succeed, according to a recently-published Deloitte report, A little local difficulty.

Focusing on the role of local authorities and their perceptions of localism, the report found that: “There isn’t a broad consensus across the public sector on how localism, decentralisation and the Big Society will work in a systemic fashion across local government.”

Many voluntary groups and charities, which depend on clear, nationally-set policy guidelines, are affected by the lack of clarity on how their interface with the government will change under the localism agenda, the report found.

It states that of the 15 local authorities surveyed, responsible for £7.4bn and 100,000 employees, 80 per cent do not have a specific strategy to face localism. Further, most believe a lack of coherent governance strategy for localism will mean translating this practically to the community will be a huge challenge.

To combat this, the report suggests that local authorities should review their business models; assess the capabilities and potential of certain areas of the community; understand limitations and develop frameworks for accountability and governance.

Mark Lawrie, head of local government at Deloitte, is anxious the government’s failure to clarify the Big Society could result in people ignoring it completely. He said: “For the government’s localism vision to be realised it needs to provide the leadership necessary to bring clarity to the interpretation as well as remove barriers to implementation.”