highlighted that it was a significant transformation and thus would require time for the changes to take place. Stakeholders from Health reflected that the sector went through a massive change at the same time as the FFCP implementation (going from a clinical commissioning group into an integrated care board) and there was a lot of change experienced at once, which created challenges initially. 48 Recruitment to specific roles: local areas reported challenges in filling specialist roles, such as those in mental health and in Drugs and Alcohol services. Some also reported challenges recruiting contract roles for the funding period, because of the lack of certainty of funding/ programme stability beyond March 25. However, since this research was carried out, funding has been made available through the Local Government Funding Service (LGFS) to support transformation which may help alleviate some of the earlier recruitment challenges linked to uncertainty around the programme's long-term stability. Perceived lack of engagement of local partner agencies by Central Government: In the early days of set-up for the Pathfinder, some partner agencies reported that they were not aware of any consultations by the DfE with national bodies in Policing, Health, or Education. As a result, they felt the programme was ‘being done to them rather than with them’ during its initial stages. While engagement did occur at a national level, some stakeholders felt they had not been included in these early strategic discussions. Police footprint wider than FFCP: A Police stakeholder noted the challenges of sitting under a wider Policing structure (with multiple metropolitan boroughs). They highlighted that they had oversight of seven boroughs but only two were under the FFCP. Thus, there were cha