2025-26 member programme
The state as an agent of change: changing lives whilst changing from within
Your 2025/26 member programme will explore a way forward to harnessing the potential of the state as an agent for change and how public bodies can leverage the state’s unique position and resources to drive significant societal transformations, delivering the government’s missions.
In the coming year, members will be invited to participate in a range of member-led conversations that will include, in-person seminars, online peer sessions and research discussions. We welcome your continued support and engagement and encourage you to help us grow and diversify the ACE and PCF membership.
By inviting others across sectoral and industry boundaries, to consult, debate and innovate with us, we aim to establish a shared vision of what effective leadership during times of change looks like and to enable success for public.
I hope that the Public Chairs Forum will continue to represent the dedicated safe space for leaders, recognising the incredible work of Chairs of public bodies, non-executive directors and public bodies themselves.
To ensure PCF remains a network representative of your interests, I encourage each of you to actively participate in our upcoming initiatives and share 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 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.
Held quarterly at the Institute for Government, London, with streaming access offered for those who wish to join remotely, these seminars will provide an exclusive opportunity for ACE and PCF 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 ACE – PCF Annual Conference in early 2025.
In-person
New public chair masterclasses
A masterclass series for new public body chairs, designed and delivered by highly experienced public chairs and experts.
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 2025 cohort of this programme.
Breakfast at IfG
Informal member networking, occurring bi-annually at PCF's home, the Institute for Government.
Hosted by a member of the PCF Management Committee, sessions are held bi-annually at the Institute for Government, London.
New public chair masterclass 2022 cohort participant
Online
Chairs’ challenge
Quarterly peer support sessions, available exclusively for public chairs to discuss pressing leadership issues in a private setting.
Chairs’ Challenge is a quarterly 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 2023, members discussed public and private sector collaboration, managing risk and performance, and public bodies’ role in policymaking.
Keith Fraser, PCF Chair and Chair of the Youth Justice Board, 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 Coal 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.
NEW: 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.
Wishing to provide a collaborative space to explore opportunities, share challenges and exchange insight on the digital transformation of the public services, the forum will hold its inaugural session on the 4th of September 2025.
All ACE and PCF members are invited to join this group.
Martin Skeats
Chair, Board secretaries’ forum
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.
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.
2025-26 calendar dates
| Month | In-person | Online |
| April |
|
EDI Forum
|
| May |
|
Public Sector PAs & EAs Network |
| June |
ACE -PCF Leadership Seminar (hybrid) Date and time TBC
|
HR Directors forum Board Secretaries Forum |
| Month | In-person | Online |
| July |
Chairs Challenge
|
|
| August | Summer break | Summer break |
| September |
Breakfast at the IfG
|
Technology and Innovation Forum Board Secretaries Forum Chairs’ Challenge HR Directors forum
|
| Month | In-person | Online |
| October |
ACE – PCF Roundtable 9 October 2025, 09:00 – 13:00 |
EDI Forum 28 October 2025, 13:00 – 14:30 |
| November |
ACE-PCF Leadership Seminar (hybrid) Date and time TBC
|
HR Directors Forum 19 November 2025, 12:00 – 13:30 |
| December |
Breakfast at the IfG Date and time TBC Annual General Meeting (hybrid) Date and time TBC
|
Chairs’ challenge Board Secretaries forum 5 December 2025, 10:00-11:30 |
| Month | In-person | Online |
| January |
|
EDI forum 13 January 2026,13:00 – 14:30 |
| February |
|
Chairs’ challenge HR Directors Forum |
| March |
Board Secretaries Forum 6 March 2026,10:00-11:30 |
