Commissioners at Liverpool praise improvement but warn of risks to progress including senior officer upheaval and change in governance

Instability among senior officers still poses risks to Liverpool City Council despite progress in turning round its governance and service problems, Government-appointed commissioners have said.

In a letter to Local Government Minister Lee Rowley, the commissioners - who were appointed in March 2021 after a damning best value report - said: “The leadership of the council, at political and officer level, have shown grip and determination to improve at pace.

“There remains much to be done to meet the challenges of the next 18 months. While not certain, if the leadership maintains the focus, energy and commitment observed in recent months, we have confidence the required progress will be made.”

Commissioners Mike Cunningham, Joanna Killian, Neil Gibson, Deborah McLaughlin and Stephen Hughes said: “We entered an organisation that had, for years, failed to meet Best Value, and without urgent, transformative action, would continue to do so.”

They had asked in August 2021 for extended powers and for Mr Hughes’ appointment as finance commissioner, and now “the situation has changed. The leadership of the council has markedly improved.”

Numerous risks though remained to Liverpool’s progress, they suggested. These included ’officer instability’ as many senior roles were occupied by interim appointees and more than a dozen service reviews were due to take place.”creating officer instability at the service delivery end of the organisation, as well as in senior management”.

The commissioners still hoped to see all Tier 1 to Tier 3 posts with permanent staff in place by June 2023.

Other risks were the council’s “mixed record in delivering budget savings” and the number of senior vacancies in children’s services.

Liverpool is to end its elected mayoralty in May and change to a leader and cabinet model with 85 councillors elected on new ward boundaries.

Commissioners said the council had made effective progress in redrawing the constitution but capacity constraints had slowed this work.

“The pressure of ‘business as usual’, as well the processing of complex complaints, Freedom of Information requests, and disputes, has had an impact on the ability of the legal services team to prioritise this work,” they said.

Freedom of Information had suffered from a large backlog due to lack of capacity in democratic and information services “exacerbated by poor record keeping and resulted in members of the public waiting an unacceptable amount of time to receive a response to their FOI requests”.

The commissioners hoped improved systems would see FoI handling successfully overhauled.

Mr Rowley said in response to the commissioners: “I am encouraged that you have not requested any changes to the scope or length of the intervention at this stage. I note that the management of change at the council over the next few months will determine whether that position holds.

“The decision to end the intervention in Liverpool City Council will only be made when the organisation has demonstrated that its improvement is sustainable.”

Interim chief executive, Theresa Grant, said; “I have seen a significant shift in the pace, energy and commitment to delivering improvements during my time at Liverpool City Council, and it is good news that this is reflected in the latest report from the commissioners.”

She will be replaced in the early summer by permanent chief executive Andrew Lewis who joins from Cheshire West & Chester Council, where he has been chief executive since 2018. 

Mark Smulian