Corporate Peer Challenge: frequently asked questions

There will be a stronger focus on council performance, governance and culture, to reflect the current challenges to the sector and the current draft statutory guidance on best value authorities.

There has been increased investment in our peers through a new programme of training, development, and accreditation for LGA Member and Officer Peers. With each peer team being independent and where appropriate having more than one Member Peer on the team. 

A new report structure will be introduced which will be more authoritative and direct in content, with councils invited to correct factual errors or inaccuracies with an increased approach to openness and transparency with an understanding that the LGA and the council will publish the Corporate Peer Challenge report alongside an action plan.

All Corporate Peer Challenges cover the five core areas, with peer teams undertaking a strategic review of:

• Local priorities and outcomes
• Organisational and place leadership
• Governance and culture
• Financial planning and management
• Capacity for improvement.

This is in addition to any local priorities or focus which will be discussed at the scoping meeting.

To support councils meet their best value duty by having a Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) at least every five years, the LGA will maintain a detailed timetable for all councils aligned to this expectation. The LGA’s Chair and Group Leaders will write an annual letter to councils due to receive a CPC, setting out a timeframe window. Principal advisers will remain in regular dialogue with the council about their own CPC timeframe.

There will also be a requirement to have a peer led progress review and publish the subsequent report no later than 12 months after the CPC, to provide an opportunity to review the council's action plan and assess progress being made.

The LGA is developing an improvement and assurance framework to assist councils in providing assurance of the performance of local government. The strengthened Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) offer will support this work.

CPCs also assists councils to meet their Best Value duty, with the Government expecting all local authorities to have a corporate or finance peer challenge at least every five years, to publish the outcomes and deliver on the recommendations of that review.

Peer challenges will also complement the work of Oflog in providing support for local government more widely.

Corporate Peer Challenges are funded by Government and are available, at no direct cost, to all English councils.

Corporate Peer Challenges usually requires around three to six months lead-in time from the scoping meeting, including time required to secure the peer team.

To request a Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC), councils should contact their LGA Principal Adviser. They will work with councils to arrange an initial scoping meeting, with the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive.

This provides the opportunity to discuss the approach and share councils' priorities and challenges, which will inform the focus of the CPC and subsequent composition of the peer team. This will be detailed in a concise Scoping Document which sets out the terms of engagement and agreed upon before commencing.

The LGA encourages all councils to have a Corporate Peer Challenge every five years and to publish their reports online.

To ensure Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) is robust and independent, the LGA will discuss the required skills and experience of the peer team and identify independent, trained and experienced Member and officer peers to make up a diverse peer team. The LGA will have final approval of the team composition.

Peers will be selected from the LGA’s accredited pool of peers, and the team composition will depend on the scope and focus of the CPC and include serving councillors, Chief Executives and senior officers from councils with similar challenges to the council receiving the CPC.

To ensure the peer team can cover all of the five core areas adequately, the Corporate Peer Challenge is undertaken across four key phases:

• Preparation and engagement
• Onsite delivery
• Post onsite
• Progress review

During this phase, the peer team prepare for the onsite Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) delivery by undertaking a desk-based review of the newly developed Data and Information pack.

The new pack contains a detailed finance briefing prepared by an LGA Finance Adviser, a comprehensive performance and benchmarking report using LG Inform data and a review of key governance information, plus a suite of council documents including the council’s position statement.

Throughout this phase, the LGA peer challenge manager will remain in close contact with the council to help the council prepare and develop the onsite timetable.

The peer team will also undertake some early engagement with the council receiving the CPC by contacting relevant councillors and officers and by observing key meetings.

The council’s position statement is a key document for the Corporate Peer Challenge. It moves on from the previous approach of undertaking a backward-looking self-assessment by giving the council the opportunity to tell its own place-based story by setting out its successes, priorities, and challenges.

The position statement should be an honest appraisal of the council’s performance including identifying areas where it recognises where it needs to improve, as well as identifying future plans and priorities.

This is the most important phase of the Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC), where the peer team spend up to four days in person at the council, meeting with a wide range of internal staff and members and external partners and stakeholders.

This enables the team to get a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the council, so they can provide robust, strategic, and credible challenge and support.

The CPC peer team adopt a ‘no surprises’ policy and at the end of each day onsite they will share their emerging findings with the Chief Executive and Leader. On the final day of the onsite delivery, the peer team deliver verbal feedback to the council.

Once the onsite delivery has been undertaken, the peer team will collate all the data and evidence gathered onsite and produce a detailed feedback report.

The report will identify areas where the council has performed well, but also areas for improvement. It will contain a series of clear and concise recommendations that the council will be expected to respond to.

A draft report will be shared with the council within three weeks of the Corporate Peer Challenge taking place.

The report is evidence based and although the LGA peer team welcome amendments on factual errors or inaccuracies, they will not accept any other changes. If the council does not accept any of the recommendations, then it can make this clear when publicly responding to the peer challenge with its action plan.

The LGA expects the council to publish its Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) report alongside an action plan within three months of the CPC taking place.

If the council is unable to publish the action plan at the same time as the report, it must be published within five months of the CPC.

The LGA will also publish the report on the LGA website within these timescales, irrespective of whether the council publish.
If the council does not accept any of the recommendations, then it can make this clear when publicly responding to the peer challenge with its action plan.

Approximately 10 months after the Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC), the peer team will revisit the council to undertake a progress review.

The progress review will provide space for a council’s senior leadership to update the peer team on the progress made against the CPC recommendations, discuss early impact or learning and receive feedback on the implementation of the action plan.

Progress reviews will usually be delivered in person onsite at the council and will include a full review of the council’s action plan against each of the CPC recommendations.

Following the progress review, the peer team will provide a short report detailing their findings and assessing progress the council has made against its action plan.

The council is required to publish the report. The LGA will also publish the report, irrespective of whether the council does. This report should be published no later than 12 months after the CPC.