Abbi Leigh

Impact: The Local Government Graduate Programme is the Local Government Association's two-year graduate management scheme in councils, formerly the National Graduate Development Programme (NGDP). The minimum salary is £33,673. Stage 1 is an application form and a situational judgement test (SJT), open for Cohort 29 from 7 October 2026 until 12.00 midday on Wednesday 6 January 2027. The SJT presents 24 realistic council scenarios. Each of the programme's eight key skills and behaviours is measured three times. For each scenario, candidates give an effectiveness rating to every response option. The test is untimed and takes around an hour on average. Candidates can take a break after answering a question and log back in until the deadline. Later stages are a video interview (from January 2027), a half-day virtual assessment centre (February to March 2027) and council interviews (May to June 2027). The Finance Stream adds a numeracy test. The LGA pages read on 10 November 2026 give no pass mark and no number of places.

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