Cuts to local government funding in recent years have been so severe that councils could be forgiven for focusing energies on the services we have to provide, like adult social care and regular rubbish collections. But Southwark's experience shows that with a little effort and innovation, councils can transform thousands of local lives for the better as well as reducing demand for services.

In 2014 the council committed to helping 5,000 residents into work over four years, and in October 2017 we hit our target. We did this because, in a borough that boasts the Shard, Tate Modern and Borough Market among its famous landmarks, the impact of lesser-seen pockets of deprivation runs deep, and health and financial inequalities remain stubbornly difficult to address. It is just one aspect of our belief that at a time of great change, no Southwark resident should be left behind – a central tenet of what we loosely call social regeneration.