The department was renamed in 2021 to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities under Michael Gove as part of the Levelling Up agenda, which aimed to address economic and social disparities across the UK.

Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner (pictured) said in an all-staff meeting yesterday that the department’s name will return to its previous iteration, adding that it would “go back to basics”.

“No more government by gimmick. No more stunts and spin. Our department should do what it says on the tin,” she added.

Rayner said that the government was one a “public service” and this meant “fixing the fundamentals, rebuilding the foundations and getting the basics right to deliver for the British people”.

“The work of my department is central to our mission-driven government. From fixing the foundation of an affordable home, to handing power back to communities with skin in the game and rebuilding local government – this will be the department of service,” she noted.

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Rayner said that the Levelling Up agenda, “may not have had the right solutions but they were right about the problem” as the country is “too unequal, and it holds us all back”.

“This government has a mission to tackle that. A mission not just to restore growth, but provide a better standard of life for all our citizens across all of our country. We are clear that is the mission not just of this department, but of our whole government.

“I am determined that we will restore the foundations of a good life – home, work, community. But we’ll do it with actions, not just words,” she continued.

 

Residential focus

Rayner said that within housing, it would work to improve homeownership, leasehold and those impacted by cladding, along with those facing no-fault evictions, renters living in poor conditions and homelessness.

“On communities – we will deliver change for our regions left behind by the sham of levelling up, held back by a government unwilling to match their ambition. We have a plan to power up Britain, delivering growth in every corner of the country, with a Take Back Control Act empowering mayors and giving people control over what matters to them.

“And we will rebuild local government with integrated, long-term funding settlements to local leaders, giving them greater certainty and the ability to plan for the long-term. Local government will once again be a service that people can rely on,” she said.