Councillors are absolutely welcome to promote the investment, either in person, or through their social media channels. The following is some simple common sense advice for them to bear in mind when engaging with members of the public about the investment.
That means if a councillor wishes to share content on social media, it must have appropriate risk warnings in place, and be approved prior to use in line with the usual process. For this reason it can often be easier for councillors to share comms from council official channels, which has already met the requirements - adding their own commentary - rather than creating specific comms for them to use.
The presence of the risk warnings makes the content seem a bit less natural than would be ideal for this type of communication.
When commenting on the investment, it is best to steer clear of anything that might be construed as financial advice, as this is tightly regulated. That means avoiding statements like:
The best idea, if a resident wants to ask questions about the financial side of the product, to refer them to Abundance, as we are fully FCA regulated and able to support them in a way that complies with the rules.
Councillors can talk freely about why the council is doing this, the projects involved, and why the council wants to community to be involved. These elements more relate to the impact side of the investment, and are not tightly controlled in the same way that the financial aspects of the investment are.