LGA Corporate Peer Review – Progress Review: Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council

Rochdale Council undertook a Local Government Association (LGA) Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) from 11-14 December 2023 and promptly published the full report and the council’s response through a clear action plan. A copy of the council’s original position statement, CPC report, and subsequent action plan are readily available on the council’s website.

As part of the CPC process, there is an agreement with all councils that a progress review will take place to support follow-up conversations and any changes in context and circumstances. Taking place approximately 10 months following the peer challenge, this progress review is designed to provide space for the council’s senior political and managerial leadership to:

• Receive feedback from peers on the early progress made by the council against the CPC recommendations and the council’s action plan.
• Consider the reflections of peers on any new opportunities or challenges that may have arisen since the peer team were ‘on-site’ including any further support needs.
• Discuss any early impact or learning from the progress made to date.
• Better understand any changes in context which may affect the council’s progress or alter previously developed plans.

The Progress Review was completed with the council on Friday 25 October. This work focused on the original 12 recommendations from the CPC. To support joined-up conversations at a strategic level rather than focusing on the transactional tasks of the council, these recommendations were aggregated into the following themes and headings:

• The council’s corporate core (including performance reporting, delivering corporate priorities, and wider service improvement).
• Governance and scrutiny.
• Organisational development and communications (including member development and workforce development.

To support this review the council developed an update to their action plan that set out their progress to-date and intended future actions. For this review, the council brought together their senior leadership team and political leadership to provide a presentation on their update, with these representatives receiving feedback at the end of the process. The process also included 1-2-1 meetings with the council leader, chief executive, and the leader of the Conservative Group (with original team member Cllr Abi Brown), with a further five focus groups completed with staff from across the organisation. This work was supported by the following members of the original peer team.

• Lead Peer – Anna Earnshaw (Chief Executive – West Northamptonshire Council).
• Lead Member Peer – Cllr Sir Steve Houghton (Leader – Barnsley Council).
• Matt Dodd (Senior Regional Adviser – Local Government Association).

The council’s engagement with this progress review has illustrated a clear and structured response to the team’s original findings and recommendations. This has included the council demonstrating good self-awareness regarding the progress that they have made, as well as candour regarding their known areas for further work.

Beyond the recommendations of the peer review, 2024 has been a busy year for Rochdale Council. This has included the administration of three sets of elections (by-election, local election, and general election). These elections have naturally impacted on corporate capacity but have also resulted in minor changes to the council’s political context. The local elections in May 2024 resulted in minor changes in the distribution of seats, with the Workers Party of Britain winning two seats from previously Labour and Independent wards. Following these elections there were also minor changes in cabinet portfolios, including climate change as well as corporate governance and transformation. Beyond local elections, the general election in July resulted in there being three new labour members of parliament returned for the borough.

A further significant development for the council in 2024 included the re-opening of Rochdale Town Hall following three years of refurbishment at a cost of £20 million. This has received over 56,000 visitors to date. Beyond the town centre, progress has been made on issues of regeneration, including the connection of the Northern Gateway Investment Zone to the M62 and progression of the Atom Valley proposals alongside Bury, Oldham, and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

During this year the council has been progressing their new council plan (People, Place and Planet 2028) which was developed in 2023, including with input from across the council’s senior leadership team and councillors. This has been accompanied by the development of new borough plan (With Everyone, For Everyone). At a directorate level these plans are supported by a new Children and Young People’s Plan (2024-2027) which includes partners and built through good engagement with children and young people. Similarly the council has progressed their first anti-poverty strategy which was launched in February 2024.

The development of these strategies should support the council in making progress against their agreed priorities at a borough, organisation, and thematic level. However, this will require further coordination of performance information and milestones to bring performance issues and progress together in one place and avoid duplicated or contradictory measures being used to assess progress. In this context, the peer team encourage the council to prioritise activity regarding the development of a clear performance framework that includes a singular quarterly report to cabinet on priority outcomes.

The peer team recognise that the notable improvement that the council has made since their original peer challenge is in the area of children’s services. With a joint targeted area inspection (JTAI) which was completed in April 2024 highlighting improvements since the council’s previous inspection in February 2023. This included recognition of shared priorities, good understanding of local needs across partners, and strong local relationships. However, similar to other councils in the sector, these services continue to face pressures including children’s placement costs and workforce recruitment (noting that the council has seen a 14 per cent reduction in agency staff in this area due to their workforce strategy) and are pro-actively working at a Greater Manchester level to address placement challenges (including hosting the new fostering hub across all ten councils).

Through conversations with the peer team, the council highlighted continuing challenges regarding the cost of agency staff at high-cost and recruitment challenges. Whilst these challenges exist across the sector in key areas, Rochdale has made a dedicated effort to address these issues over the past 18 months through the use of recruitment campaigns, market supplements, and retention initiatives which are having some positive impact. However, the council will need to remain live to these issues, considering them in the round of wider issues of organisational development, as well as external factors which can impact this work.

There has also been a breadth of activity to support the council’s Health and Social Care Directorate, which was an additional theme of the Peer Team’s original review. Whilst the Council still has not received a confirmed date for their Care Quality Commission review, the council has been pro-active in developing their self-assessment with a planned review process to maintain its content. This is accompanied by clear structures regarding timelines, checklists, supporting document access, and business support requirements demonstrating both directorate and corporate grip for this process.

Beyond the CQC inspection, the council is reviewing their intermediate care service to enhance ‘step up / step down’ arrangements through a preventative reablement approach. Alongside this review, the council has also developed five Neighbourhood Boards to improve population health outcomes at a neighbourhood level (launched in 2023) which are chaired by clinical directors (including representations from Health, Housing, Social Care, Voluntary Sector). As this work matures, it will be important to ensure that these forums are linked into the statutory Health and Wellbeing Board as well as the refreshed Adult Safeguarding Board which was externally reviewed ahead of reforms in November 2024.

The council recognises that they have a number of workforce challenges in their Adult’s Directorate, including the recruitment and retention of staff, the service has high rates of sickness and is looking at ways to address this. They have committed to paying providers the real living wage for 2024-2025 to address these issues, but due to financial context this has not been confirmed for 2025-2026 onwards. The financial challenges facing the council are partially led by rising demand for services and increased complexity of cases.

A key finding of the peer team’s original Peer Challenge was financial management being a clear priority for the organisation. Whilst this commitment is still illustrated through reserve levels, clear financial reporting and grip the medium-term financial position of the council remains challenging. This is illustrated through gross budget gaps of £16.8 million, £31 million, and £40.3 million over the coming three years. Whilst a good start has been made in identifying potential savings that brings this figure down to £27.5 million, it will be imperative that the council maintains their focus and pace on these issues and is willing to bring forward difficult decisions at the earliest instance to avoid this challenge compounding. The peer team would encourage the use of benchmarking information to support planning in this area.

Finally, this progress review was completed in the context of the council’s chief executive announcing that we retiring after serving the council since 2014.The council has a clear plan to recruit a new chief executive, and the peer team were pleased to hear that this would include consideration of internal and external candidates. This is naturally a significant juncture in the council’s journey and will be central to their continued improvement and addressing the challenges facing both the organisation and the sector.

This theme considers the progress made by the council regarding recommendations on the council’s core. These recommendations are available in full in the council’s original CPC report, but have been summarised below:

• Refine the council’s approach to performance reporting: Developing a performance framework that reflects the new council plan and supports the tracking of priority outcomes, being reported to cabinet in one place.
• Review capacity in the council’s corporate core: Assure yourselves that key corporate services included performance, communication, policy, ICT and HR are resourced to support service delivery, improvement, and increased resident engagement.
• Create a clear proposal to address the council’s declared ‘housing crisis’: Working through the places for everyone framework to develop a plan to address these issues in the borough.
• Consider implementing a more focused approach to service improvement: Consider the use of external expertise and benchmarking to support service improvement.

The council recognises that there is more work to do on progressing their approach to performance reporting. Whilst there have been a number of workshops to identify agreed priorities, actions, and milestones, this work has not resulted in a regular report to cabinet on performance measures and the council’s annual review report is still in development. Importantly, the council has committed to further progress in these areas, and has workshops planned to agree a holistic approach to performance reporting, with this being underpinned by a new corporate data strategy which is still in development within the council’s transformation programme. Given the progress made by the council in outlining their strategic vision through new borough and council plans, as well as priority strategies on themes of poverty and children’s services, this remains a key piece of work for viewing activity in the round and supporting a single view of council performance alongside council finance.

The development of corporate data strategy will be an important development and should support the council to have better grip and understanding on challenges of demand. As the peer team were told that this information was often held in different systems and that some key demand services were using out of date approaches which were separate from the council’s customer resource management system.

The council has made clear progress in responding to the team’s recommendation regarding enhancing the council’s corporate core. This is illustrated by a new corporate services directorate which was established in February 2024, as well as the appointment of a new assistant director for transformation, ICT, and digital. The peer team were told that this had given increased sponsorship and impetus to a number of corporate objectives, and that arrangements were settling in well. Whilst there is clear progress in this area, the peers recognise that the council still has separate transformation boards and oversight/tracking at a directorate level which then reports corporately. The Team encourage the council to promote the corporate ownership of transformation as a whole to manage cross-cutting dependencies to maximise the potential of key enablers and track benefits at an organisational level.

Rochdale Council declared a “housing crisis” in autumn 2023, recognising there are more than 10,000 residents waiting for housing in the borough. The peer team were told of the work that has been completed since, including ongoing development of an interim housing strategy which will cover the next three years. This draft strategy will be built on a housing first approach and will be presented to cabinet before the end of 2024. The council has also used a scrutiny task and finish group to consider issues of housing in the round and support partnership working in this area. Whilst further work is required to finalise this strategy, the team recognises the progress that has been made, as illustrated through the agreement of action plans issues of asylum and temporary accommodation which will form important content in this plan.

The peer team recognise that a key interdependency of this work is the council’s involvement in the Greater Manchester places for everyone spatial plan which covers nine of the ten authorities in Greater Manchester. This plan was adopted in March 2024 and runs to 2039 and includes targets of 10,000 new homes for the borough. However, given changes to the planning landscape and the level of ambition in the government’s national planning policy framework being higher than this target, the council will need to remain live to the potential need for changes due to these external changes in targets.

Finally, the team recommended that the council consider a more focused approach to service improvement. It is clear to see that this has been supported with task and finish groups on priority issues, as well as extensive use of external perspectives and insight on service areas. The next step in taking forward this work should be consideration of benchmarking against statistical neighbours to internalise this process in the council were possible.

This includes considering the council’s progress against the following recommendations (summarised from their original peer challenge report):

• Maximise the contribution of scrutiny to policy development: Making best use of the council’s performance framework will support scrutiny to focus time, attention, and capacity on underperformance and policy development.
• Continue to assure yourself that the governance arrangements for Rochdale Development Agency (RDA) are fit for purpose:There are significant growth and regeneration ambitions in the borough and the council should be mindful of the implications of working through RDA in progressing these.
• Ensure the alignment of the council’s established township model: The opportunity exists for this model to be further aligned to the new council plan, as well as new approaches to social value procurement and the “Rochdale pound”.

The council’s use of task and finish groups in scrutiny has been delayed due capacity challenges created by the election. However, there is a restated commitment to make progress in the area and includes the development of new engagement strategy which will include more detail on political engagement on policy development. Furthermore, the council has commissioned a number of externally facilitated training sessions to support scrutiny committee members which is a positive development. Once again, the peer team would like to reiterate the potential alignment of this work with the council’s performance reporting to ensure that the time and capacity is being applied to the most appropriate areas. A further positive development in this area has been the appointment of an independent scrutineer to Rochdale’s safeguarding children’s partnership which supports scrutiny on multi-agency safeguarding arrangements which is recognised as good practice.

The council has continued to work closely with the Rochdale Development Agency (RDA) and has responded to the team’s recommendation positively. This has include increased communication regarding their work and the development of draft business plan which was approved by the RDA board and cabinet in summer. Importantly, the council has responded to the team’s findings by adding RDA governance to their internal audit work programme as this work matures, with a review of the RDA’s constitution being presented to audit and governance in March 2025.

Finally, the council has worked to align the work of their townships with their developing neighbourhood through the recently developed council plan. This has also included dialogue with Rochdale Action Together (which brings together voluntary, community and faith organisations in the borough) to support their input at a township level. This model has also supported the council’s progress with the team around the school model which is being used with three schools and has been well received.

This theme considers the progress made by Rochdale Council against issues of organisation development, communications, including the recommendations summarised below:

• Review member officer relationships through training and refreshing the member-officer protocol: The review of the council’s constitution presents the opportunity for training on a new member-officer protocol.
• Revisit the council’s approach to member development to best support councillors in their roles: The council would benefit from further training and development opportunities for councillors.
• Utilise and repurpose content from the council’s Leadership Academy: The council should consider how the content of the Leadership Academy Programme could support the wider workforce.
• Improve communication regarding transformation and priorities: This will support residents to better understand the council’s direction of travel, the relationship between townships and the wider council, and the wider context in which decisions are taken.
• Socialise the council’s care quality commission assessment with scrutiny and cabinet members: The peer team believe that increased dialogue across officers and members will support the council in the preparations for this work and help to maintain a focus on improvement.

The peer team were told that member and officer relationships had improved over the past 12 months, but that there were still pockets and instances when councillors focused on operational issues. The team recognise the impact that this can have on staff, and that councillors time is more appropriate spent on strategic matters. The council has had challenges in governance as a consequence of elections in 2024 and is transparent about the need for further progress on the work of member/officer relations. Currently, a draft protocol has been considered and will shortly be presented to the council’s constitution working group. This will provide the opportunity for training, events, and dialogue on the content of this protocol once it has been approved.

The council has made some progress on issues of member development and have been working with North West employers as an external partner to support this work. To-date, this has included a survey of scrutiny committee members and the increased use of site visits, with a commitment from the council to move towards individual development plans for each councillor and visible sponsorship through member training champions. The peer team would encourage the council to consider the member development strategies of other authorities to inform the potential personalised plans, recognising that councillors may not be aware of the full breadth of opportunities that exist to them. These plans should also consider national training opportunities such as leadership essentials as well as the potential benefits of mentoring.

The peer team were told that there was an improved understanding of the council’s transformation, this has been helped by the appointment of a new assistant director for transformation. The council has also communicated the content of their transformation programme through items at the corporate services network and inclusion of milestones in their talking point weekly email. The council also used the production of their productivity plan as a tool to support communication of these issues. There is further work to be completed to set-out the transformation vision of the council which will further support work in this area. Positively, the council has responded to the team’s recommendation by utilising content from their leadership academy and expanding the programme.

We appreciate that senior managerial and political leadership will want to reflect on these findings and suggestions in order to determine how the organisation wishes to take things forward.

Under the umbrella of LGA sector-led improvement, there is an on-going relationship with the support offer to councils. The LGA is well placed to provide additional support, advice, and guidance on a number of the areas identified for development and improvement and we would be happy to discuss this. Whilst it is not intended for this progress review to deliver additional recommendations, the peer team appreciate that the council may wish to consider the following:

• The approach to developing, implementing, and maximising the benefits of a regular performance management framework alongside quarterly financial reporting.
• The potential benefits of benchmarking and comparison with statistical neighbours to further inform performance targets and future iterations of transformation.
• The training opportunities that exist for members and officers on the back of a newly developed member/officer protocol.
• The appointment of a new chief executive will be an important milestone for the council.

Claire Hogan (Principal Adviser) is the main point of contact between the authority and the Local Government Association (LGA) and her e-mail address is [email protected]