2026-27 Programme

Public Chairs’ Forum
2026-27 member programme

Connected Leadership: Working Better Together

Your 2026/27 programme of events will focus on cross‑system collaboration as a broad and intricate practice that fosters efficiency and productivity, as well as facilitate delivery of public services.

The programme will highlight and share positive case studies demonstrating how public body leaders are successfully applying these principles. These examples will illustrate how facilitative leadership and organisational learning contribute to improved mission delivery, strengthen system‑wide collaboration, and build public trust.

In the year ahead, members will have the opportunity to take part in a variety of member‑led activities, including in‑person seminars, online peer learning sessions, and research-focused discussions. We greatly value your ongoing support and participation, and we encourage you to help us broaden and diversify the ACE and PCF communities.

In the past year, the Public Chair’s Forum has benefitted from your support in the officialisation of the next step in its evolution. In this context, we at the Public Chairs’ Forum remains fully committed to supporting members with insight, by offering a safe space for opinions to be shared and projecting a strong collective voice.

To ensure PCF remains a network representative of your interests, I encourage each of you to actively participate in our upcoming events, sharing your insights and experiences. I look forward to seeing you at these events and engaging with the opportunities for public sector innovation and reform that our government has pledged to deliver.

Keith Fraser
Chair, Local Partnerships

PCF Chair

Programme explained

Hybrid

ACE-PCF Leadership Seminars

An exclusive opportunity to join some of the most prominent contributors to UK public life, to consider the defining strategic issues of public service today.

In 2026-27, the Public Chairs’ Forum (PCF) and the Association of Chief Executives (ACE) will host joint seminars and roundtables exploring the safe and fair use of new technologies in the delivery of public services and the public appointments process. Moreover, we will be continuing our Belonging in Public Life series, which aims to assess the definition of diversity in public service through the lenses of performance, efficiency and improved outcomes and to inspire actionable insight for public bodies that wish to embed inclusivity into leadership pipelines and organisational culture.

These seminars will provide an exclusive opportunity for PCF and ACE members to join in discussions with some of the most prominent contributors to UK public service, including Ministers of State, Permanent Secretaries, and chairs of public and select committees.

Members can expect to join high profile guest speakers from across Westminster and Whitehall, culminating with the joint Annual Conference.

In-person

The public chair masterclasses

A masterclass series for new public body chairs, designed and delivered by highly experienced public chairs and experts.

The first year as chair of a public body can be particularly demanding, even for the most experienced chair. Chairs frequently reflect on the difficulty of navigating a set of new responsibilities, building relationships with sponsoring departments, and establishing as an effective leader.

Research by Nous Group – PCF ‘Chair in Government’ 2022, based on insights from a number of public body chairs, describes the role of the public body chair as highly unusual, with post-holders benefiting from peer support, especially in the first year in post.

Leveraging from this research, PCF member insight, and expertise from the Institute for Government, this masterclasses series provides a forum for new chairs to meet peers, discuss challenges and familiarise quickly with their new role and responsibilities.

Click here to register your interest for the 2026 cohort of this programme.

Breakfast at IfG

Informal member networking, occurring bi-annually at PCF's home, the Institute for Government.

New this year, Breakfast at the IfG provides an informal opportunity for PCF members to meet with other public body leaders in a safe, private setting.

Hosted by a member of the PCF Management Committee, sessions are held bi-annually at the Institute for Government, London.

An excellent course grounded in plenty of hard fact, but with a wealth of expert insights, many of them nuanced, delivered with a high level of professionalism by the team. An invaluable opportunity to learn from chairs and senior NEDs from a wide variety of backgrounds.

New public chair masterclass 2025 cohort participant

Online

Chairs’ challenge

Peer support sessions, available exclusively for public chairs to discuss pressing leadership issues in a private setting.

Chairs’ Challenge is an online event series available exclusively to public body chairs, providing a space for leaders to discuss pressing leadership challenges, outside of the public domain.

Conversations are shaped according to member interest, typically following current affairs. In 2025, members discussed strategies to improve and measure efficiency and productivity, lessons in influence, and the public body review.

Keith Fraser, PCF Chair and Chair of Local Partnerships, hosts this series.

Peer networks

Community conversations for Equality, diversity and Inclusion (EDI), Human Resources (HR) and board governance experts.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) forum

Our EDI forum meets online quarterly. Richard Bond, Innovation and Services Director at The Mining Remediation Authority and Dionne Spence, Chief Enforcement Officer and Deputy Registrar, General Pharmaceutical Council, co-chair this group committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in the public sector.

Conversations are member-led, covering topics ranging from supporting staff with caring responsibilities, to delivering on your public sector equality duty.

Public body chief executives, chairs, executives, and EDI experts are invited to join this group.

Board Secretaries’ forum

Martin Skeats, Board Secretary of the Disclosure and Barring Service, chairs this popular forum for governance experts, enabling members to exchange ideas and practice.

Sessions take place online quarterly, with agendas set by members covering topics from board effectiveness reviews to non-executive director inductions.

Public body governance leads – such as heads of governance and board secretaries – are invited to join this group.

Technology and Innovation Forum

Our newest peer network, the joint ACE-PCF Technology and Innovation Forum aims to enable and empower public body leaders and their teams in driving meaningful change, ensuring that ALBs remain efficient and capable of meeting the demands of the digital age.

All ACE and PCF members are invited to join this group.

The Board Secretaries’ Forum continues to grow as a space for public body governance experts to benefit from peer learning and support, whilst reflecting on current challenges and ongoing conversation on governance. I thoroughly enjoy our quarterly conversations and look forward to continuing to bring together such broad public sector expertise.

Martin Skeats
Board Secretary, Disclosure and Barring Service and Board Secretaries’ Forum Chair

Research

The changing nature of public leadership

Research published by the Association of Chief Executives, Public Chairs’ Forum, and Windsor Leadership to envision public leadership in the future.

Throughout 2023, PCF explored the changing nature of public body leadership through consultation with over 60 public service leaders. The 2026-27 Member Programme takes its steer from the insights gathered through this research, released in the November 2023 insight report: ‘Public leadership: navigating uncharted waters.’

The research identifies common barriers to leadership success, key attributes of leadership today, and the role that organisations can play in enabling leaders to succeed in a changing landscape. Leaders are invited to build on this research, together with ongoing consideration of public body reform, to shape a vision of the future for public body leadership.

2026-27 calendar dates

Month	In-person	Online
April	ACE-PCF Joint Roundtable with Bloomberg on AI Through a Public-Purpose Lens 9 April 2026, 10:30-12:30 Register here.
May	ACE-PCF Annual Conference on Shared strength – Working together differently 21 May 2026, 09:30-14:00 Register here.	City CV webinar: The NED CV Masterclass: Stand Out, Get Appointed 19 May 2026, 12:00-13:00 Register here.
June		Joint Technology and Innovation Forum and Finance Directors and Corporate Services Directors Forum 9 June 2026, 12:00-13:30 Chair’s Challenge 7 May 2026, 09:00-10:30 Register here. City CV webinar: Your LinkedIn, Your Legacy: Get Noticed by the Right Boards 16 June 2026, 12:00-13:30 Register here. Board Secretaries Forum 19 June 2026, 10:00-11:30

Month	In-person	Online
July		EDI Forum 14 July 2026, 13:00-14:00 City CV webinar: Create an effective supporting statement 21 July 2026, 12:00 – 13:00 Register here.
August	Summer break	Summer break
September		HR Directors Forum 2 September 2026, 12:00 – 13:30 City CV webinar: From Doubt to Influence: Harnessing Imposter Syndrome for Strategic Success 15 September 2026, 12:00 – 13:00 Register here. Board Secretaries Forum 11 September 2026, 10:00-11:30

Month	In-person	Online
October	ACE – PCF Roundtable with Fieldfisher 8 October 2026, 12:00 – 14:00 (tbc)	Chair’s Challenge 29 October 2026, 09:00 – 10:30
November	ACE-PCF Leadership Seminar 25 November 2026, 09:30 – 14:00 (tbc)	Technology and Innovation Forum 5 November 2026, 13:00 – 14:30 EDI Forum 10 November 2026, 13:00 – 14:30 HR Directors Forum 11 November 2026, 12:00 – 13:30
December		Board Secretaries forum 4 December 2026, 10:00-11:30

Month	In-person	Online
January		EDI forum 12 January 2027,13:00 – 14:30 HR Directors Forum 20 January 2027, 12:00 – 13:30
February		Chair’s Challenge 4 February 2027, 09:00-10:30 Technology and Innovation Forum 18 February 2027, 13:00 – 14:30
March	ACE-PCF Annual Conference 24 March 2027	Board Secretaries Forum 5 March 2027,10:00-11:30