We offer a range of resources to help councillors and officers to deliver effective performance management, including performance management guides for councillors and officers, case studies and our free data benchmarking tool LG Inform.
For local authorities, performance management is about using data to inform actions that will improve outcomes for residents. Delivering effective performance management is a key way in which local government can take responsibility for its own performance. It also helps the public and the Government to hold local service providers to account, ensuring that they are responding to local needs and that public money is being spent wisely.
Performance management guides – for councillors and officers
If you're a councillor, no matter what your role, our performance management guide for councillors will provide you with an overview of what performance management is – and the role of councillors in the performance management of your council.
The key points from the guide are also available as a convenient and free to access performance management e-learning module for councillors, which should take around 30 minutes to complete. Just search for ‘performance management’ once you have logged on to the e-learning platform.
If you're a local authority officer undertaking, or looking to develop, performance management in your council, our performance management guide for local authority officers will give you a helpful overview of performance management in local government – and many useful tips for success.
Performance management case studies – gain inspiration and practical tips
Access our range of case studies from councils across all regions which highlight notable practice in performance management and are packed full of inspiration and practical tips.
Access your local data with our free data benchmarking platform LG Inform
Our free data benchmarking platform LG Inform presents up-to-date data about your local area and the performance of your council or fire and rescue service. New data is added quickly after publication, from its source, enabling you to review and compare data on a range of topics, between localities. Use LG Inform to compare your local authority with others and monitor trends in your local area.
Our paid subscription service LG Inform Plus offers additional reports and benefits.
Get involved
- Join our Improvement and Performance Knowledge Hub – a community of practice where you can discuss performance management with colleagues across the local government sector and stay updated about the support we offer.
- We host regular performance management panels. These typically involve six to eight heads of performance sharing what they’re doing in their council, discussing the challenges they face, and learning from what happens elsewhere. If you would be interested in joining one of our panels, please email us at [email protected] to express your interest.
- Join us on Zoom to attend one of our virtual introductory sessions for councillors on data and the role it plays in managing council performance.
Contact us
Email us at [email protected] if you would like to discuss any aspect of the support we offer on performance management.
Highlighted pages
Performance management case studies from councils
Access case studies, from a range of council settings, highlighting the benefits of efficient performance management in local government.
Performance management guide for local authority officers
This guide contains ideas, tools and approaches to help local authority officers to manage performance effectively, in collaboration with councillors.
Performance management guide for councillors
This guide contains ideas, tools and approaches to help councillors manage performance effectively, in collaboration with local authority officers.