The LGA is launching its strengthened Corporate Peer Challenge
The Local Government Association is launching its strengthened Corporate Peer Challenge as it continues to strengthen its processes, making them more robust and consistent.
As part of the LGA's unique sector support offer to councils, the Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) is a highly-valued improvement and assurance tool which will now see an even greater focus on finance, data and evidence, delivering a strong assessment of council performance and productivity.
The revamped CPC offer goes hand in hand with an increased investment in member and officer peers, through the delivery of a new programme of training development and accreditation.
The CPC will continue to focus on the five core areas – local priorities and outcomes; organisational and place leadership; governance and culture; financial planning and management; and capacity for improvement. However this will be accompanied by a stronger focus on performance, governance and culture, to reflect the current challenges to the sector and the current draft statutory guidance on best value authorities.
A new report structure, style and format will also be introduced, including reports which will be more authoritative and direct in content, as a result of the stronger focus on performance and finance.
This supports previous changes that see councils able to review the final report to only address any factual errors or inaccuracies, with the peer team's reports being published in a timely manner, alongside an action plan.
The LGA introduced CPC progress reviews several years ago, but have also strengthened the style and composition of this, following feedback from both peers and councils. This will include a more defined structure, with a full review of a council’s action plan, and updates against each action or recommendation to date. In keeping with previous CPCs, all evidence, knowledge and good practice will also be shared with the wider sector.
All councils will now be expected to have a CPC every five years, as part of the refreshed government grant-funded offer to the sector. The LGA will also work closely with all councils to introduce a detailed timetable and window to assist with their planning for a CPC, with information also included in annual membership packs.
Alongside this, a programme of training and support for the members and officers who help deliver sector-led improvement is already underway, covering both the principles of CPC and mentoring support, alongside the strengthened CPC.
As part of a more swift response to any council deemed as ‘high risk’, the LGA is also working at pace to identify and develop a small cohort of officer and member peers and peer challenge managers, who can deliver an urgent CPC at very short notice, if required.
The new, robust CPC offer will run alongside the LGA’s wide-ranging improvement and prevention support, to ensure local authorities are in the best shape possible and able to adapt, in addition to work already being carried out by Oflog.
Cllr Abi Brown OBE, Chair of the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board, said:
“The unique selling point of the LGA's sector-led improvement offer is that it is delivered by local government for local government. No one else understands the challenges and opportunities facing councils better than fellow local leaders and councillors, chief executives and senior officers.
“Our Corporate Peer Challenge is one of the most valued improvement and assurance tools we offer, which we continue to review to ensure it offers the assurance and reflection we know the sector values. Strengthening CPC further, to make it more robust and consistent to meet the needs of the sector, ensures that we continue to be best placed to provide a universal offer to all councils once every five years.
“We have already made changes over the past year, including stronger requirements around publication of reports, action plans and progress reviews after 12 months, and this new, improved CPC will build on the overwhelmingly positive impact that peer challenge has already had on so many councils and strengthen our sector, so we are fit and ready for the future.”
Notes to Editors
Cllr Abi Brown in first magazine - For the sector by the sector
In the 2022/23 evaluation of the LGA’s peer support programmes, 100 per cent of respondents indicated that the process of preparing for and participating in a Corporate or Finance Peer Challenge (FPC) had a positive impact on their council, with 98 per cent stating they were satisfied with their CPC or FPC.