NALC and LGA invite more local councils to participate in corporate peer challenge

The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) and the Local Government Association (LGA) are to invite a further tranche of local councils to participate in a corporate peer challenge in the current or next financial year.

The organisations said there had been an “upsurge” in councils at this tier that wield substantial budgets, either by launching new services or taking over existing ones from principal authorities.

NALC and the LGA suggested that larger councils could, through corporate peer challenges, “benchmark themselves against similar councils and identify what they're doing well and how they can improve”.

The two organisations have already worked on four corporate peer challenges in Falmouth, Chippenham, Cirencester and Morecambe.

NALC and the LGA said: “This invitation extends particularly to super councils, wielding an annual precept of over £1m or an annual turnover of over £1.5m”.

Outlining the process, the organisations said: “The LGA works with the council over several months to pull together a set of documents that explains where the council is at present, which is shared with a small group of peers, made up of a councillor and clerk from a similar council and representatives of NALC and LGA.

“At the heart of the corporate peer challenge is a two-day visit from this group of peers to meet its councillors, staff, partner organisations and principal authorities. It will see them getting a complete understanding of how the council works before presenting the council with recommendations at the end of the visit and a more detailed report within a few months.

“This report is then published by the council and used as a basis to develop its action plan. The process is designed around the council's needs, and they choose the areas to focus on. It is not simply an inspection.”

Lottie Winson