As part of the Local Government Association (LGA) Sector Support programme, we strengthened our corporate peer challenge programme that offers all English councils a Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC), Finance Peer Challenge (FPC) or Governance Peer Challenge (GPC) at no direct cost, with the expectation that every council has a peer challenge at least once every five years.
The peer challenge programme continues to be highly effective and is at the heart of the LGA‘s Sector Support programme. The sector remains committed to the process and sector-led improvement approach, and this is demonstrated by the levels of take-up of the offer.
During 2024/25 the LGA launched its strengthened CPC with 71 councils having a CPC, FPC, or GPC, and 50 councils having a CPC Progress Review (almost 37 per cent of the sector). Of these, 13 councils had a CPC for the first time.
The peer challenge was a brilliant way of getting independent recognition of what we have achieved, feedback on our current plans and real strategic insight to help inform our future plans.
The peer challenge provided us with the perfect opportunity to reflect on our challenges and focus on our future improvement journey.
Thanks to the LGA for your continual support to the peer challenge process, including the new measures to improve its robustness and impact.
This report demonstrates how peer challenge continues to provide assurance to local leaders, inform organisational change and support service transformation for the benefit of residents and communities.
Feedback from the sector continues to be highly positive. The annual peer challenge impact survey, completed by leaders and chief executives following a CPC or FPC, shows that 95 per cent of respondents indicated that that the process of preparing for and participating in their peer challenge has had a positive impact on their council. The feedback from the survey also shows that all respondents found the process challenging, reflecting the programme’s role in offering robust, constructive and critical friend challenge to councils.
Peers remain at the heart of this support and challenge with officer and member peers providing over 1,680 peer days of support to councils. The LGA’s strong relationships within local government sees senior officers volunteer support at no charge, while member peers receive a nominal fee. Considering the fees charged by private sector consultants (an average of over £1200 per day for the level of peer challenge team members), the LGA’s peer challenge programme saves the sector over £2 million annually. This continues to demonstrate a significant investment by the sector in its own improvement.
The peer challenge programme supports the development of local government officers and councillors. LGA peers involved in the peer challenge process gain valuable insights into how other councils operate, which they can then apply to their own councils. Additionally, we provide opportunities for graduates from Impact: The Local Government Graduate Programme to shadow peer challenges. This fast-track graduate programme is aimed at talented and passionate individuals who want to make a difference in local government. In 2024/25, 15 Impact graduates shadowed a CPC.
I’ve taken away some of the best experiences from participating, having that full council oversight, understanding priority areas and methods of management.
I would recommend shadowing a corporate peer challenge because the review process is incredibly interesting and provides a thorough deep dive into a council. My confidence increased which enabled me to actively engage in the process.
I picked up some great learning points from their successes and challenges, ranging from the success they have made of carbon literacy training to their engagement with local partners such as the Net Zero Hub.
The peer challenge programme provides crucial insights into how councils are continuing to respond to both new and existing challenges facing the sector. We have undertaken an analysis of all peer challenge reports published between April 2024 and March 2025. This report provides a summary of the most frequent observations and themes. It provides a picture of how councils have shown great resilience in continuing to deliver their priorities within a challenging economic climate, rising demand and changing policy environment. This report identifies new and continuing challenges for the sector.
New and continuing sector challenges
- Finance: Councils continue to face significant financial pressures associated with increasing service demands, market and inflationary pressures, temporary accommodation costs, cost of living and HRA pressures (where applicable). Despite highlighting the importance of council’s agreeing robust, actionable savings plans with strong corporate oversight peer challenges identified that it will be difficult compared to earlier years for many councils to set a balanced budget in 2025/26.
- Service demand: Councils across all tiers of local government are experiencing a reduced ability to meet service demands, particularly across children’s, adults and special educational needs and disability with not all councils confident that they have sufficient funding to deliver all their statutory duties in 2025/26.
- Local government reorganisation and devolution: The importance of strong and effective leadership to build collaborative partnerships across places is key, as is the need to manage already stretched organisational capacity.
- Community cohesion: Councils have a vital role to play in building community cohesion, combating extremism and in encouraging the victims of hate crime to come forward and report the matter to the police. The summer of 2024 saw terrible scenes of extremist far-right violence, racism and thuggish behaviour that brought fear and distress to so many people and blighted communities up and down the country. During this period, it was clear that councils demonstrated their effectiveness in strengthening community engagement.
- Leadership and governance: Peer challenge reports highlight the need for all councils to work with partners to develop a compelling place-based vision and narrative that is jointly owned and understood by communities. Councils also need to strengthen leadership visibility, external communications and social influence. Peer teams also made recommendations which focus on supporting councils to strengthen a culture of assurance and good governance.
- Organisational capacity: Councils continue to embrace efficiency and innovation in a way that has not been replicated elsewhere in the public sector. Between 2010/11 and 2022/23, they made £24.5 billion in cuts and efficiencies. Councils lacking capacity to support effective delivery of front-line services was a common feature and despite the talent and passion of teams there is significant workforce issues related to recruitment, retention, skills, succession planning and reliance on agency staff.