The Welsh Government’s 2025 Future Generations Report represents a key milestone since Wales embarked on an ambitious roadmap to secure a sustainable future for the next generation and beyond. The legislation is the first of its kind to explicitly compel public bodies to build the wellbeing of future generations into their strategic planning. In so doing, it recognises – and attempts to tackle head-on – the inherent complexity in delivering environmental and economic sustainability for the long-term, primarily through its 7 Wellbeing Goals.
In many respects, the report does not make for cheerful reading. Alongside the Welsh Auditor General’s report, it flags the wide variation in the extent to which public bodies have made concrete steps to deliver on the Act’s objectives:
“Ten years on from its inception, I see energy and enthusiasm for the Act in various quarters; and I see public bodies having different conversations, making decisions informed by the Act, and changes in practice. But for all the good examples, there are those that are not so good. The Act is not driving the system-wide change that was intended.” (Adrian Crompton, Auditor General for Wales)
In his address to the Future Generations Summit, Derek Walker, Future Generations Commissioner, touched on the global (and often unforeseen) challenges that have thwarted progress over the past 10 years; he also recognised that short-term funding arrangements for many public bodies pose a serious challenge for long-term thinking. While he seeks to address funding mechanisms, including calling on public bodies to ring-fence preventative funding, there may be a need for pragmatism (rather than defeatism) in a world now seemingly dominated by a VUCA narrative. Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity are the exact reasons why organisations and partners need to coalesce in response to both long-term sustainability goals and real-time decision-making pressures. Covid-19, for all its trauma and lasting impacts, illustrated what can be achieved when partners rally in times of crisis.
IPA has facilitated partnership working between employers and trade unions in Wales who have have needed to strike this balance between short-term decision-making with long-term sustainability. Late announcements of funding arrangements and in-year funding changes have brought partners together to evaluate options at pace, enabling representatives to speak on behalf of their members and give decision-makers vital insight into the potential impacts of budget cuts, as well as offering alternative proposals for savings and efficiencies that have ultimately led to better outcomes. This has often required a shift in culture and mindset on both sides, as well as an evaluation of employment relations architecture. Are we tied to historic negotiation machinery, or can this be updated to facilitate meaningful social dialogue?
Welsh Government promotes 5 Ways of Working through which the 7 Wellbeing Goals can be achieved – Long-term, Prevention, Integration, Collaboration and Involvement. There is of course interdependency between these ways of working, and navigating the competing interests that may emerge in these spheres is one among many challenges for public sector leaders tasked with delivering change.
It is more than just an exercise in semantics to think through where the role of trade unions and employee voice more broadly sits in these ways of working – while the ways of working guidance from Welsh Government is helpful, there is room for debate here. Are employers simply seeking to ‘involve’ their workforce and trade union partners in delivering systemic change, sticking broadly to traditional information and consultation arrangements? Or are they prepared to pursue meaningful collaboration with these partners, recognising the essential systemic insight that the workforce can provide?
Long-term workforce planning, another priority highlighted in the report, is increasingly critical as sectors face complex transitions—from climate adaptation to digital transformation (those wondering where to start should read this recent blog by my IES Colleague Dan Lucy). Social partnership enables workers and their representatives to engage early in shaping responses to these changes. For example, joint discussions on skills development, job design, and fair work practices can lead to more resilient labour markets and equitable transitions. IPA’s 2021 report on Just Transition, produced in partnership with Friedrich Ebert Siftung, highlights both the opportunity and challenge for employers in engaging the workforce in large-scale, complex change.
The Social Partnership Act (2023) is in its infancy compared with the Future Generations Act; it remains to be seen how effectively employers embrace the opportunity it provides to enhance employee voice and therefore decision-making. It also remains to be seen how wider trade union membership engages with the longer-term, strategic conversations that the Act makes space for. The Social Partnership Act goes further than the 2015 legislation in obliging public sector employers to consult trade unions on their wellbeing objectives. Getting this right will not only produce more meaningful, deliverable objectives that move beyond a corporate tick-box, it will also deliver the ‘meta-benefit’ of improving trust in decision-making – another key priority highlighted in the Commissioners report.
As policymakers look ahead to the next phase of implementing the Well-being of Future Generations and Social Partnership Acts, the challenge is clear: to move from principle to practice. Legislative frameworks have laid a strong foundation, but their success hinges on how meaningfully public bodies embed employee voice into strategic decision-making. Trade unions offer more than representation—they provide a systemic perspective grounded in the realities of service delivery. Harnessing this insight will be critical for shaping responsive, preventative, and people-centred policies. This is a moment to lead with intention, investing in the structures and behaviours that make collaboration not just possible, but powerful.
Lucy O’Melia, head of learning and development, IPA
May 2025