Proactive local government: How London borough councils build capacity to respond to asylum

London’s borough councils are adapting to the increase in asylum-seekers since 2020. I explore their shift from reactive to more strategic and proactive responses, observed during a series of ‘design lab’ workshops between January and June 2023 in the Greater London Authority’s Asylum Welcome programme. Driven by a need to be better prepared to support people seeking asylum, I examine how councils built capacity despite limited funding and no clear role within asylum policy. I find that capacity-building is a multi-stage process that extends beyond new skills and resources. It requires resolving dilemmas to clarify roles and goals, and building confidence through knowledge and partnerships, before developing skills for implementation. Ultimately, I show that such capacity-building processes reveal how local government does political work through its practice: they affirm the local state’s duty of care to people seeking asylum. Though they struggle to change asylum policy without central government reforms, this research nonetheless recasts local governments as well-equipped to adapt to new and uncertain challenges.