Wychavon District Council: LGA Corporate Peer Challenge – Progress Review

The council undertook an LGA Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) during October 2024 and promptly published the full report with an action plan. 

The Progress Review is an integral part of the Corporate Peer Challenge process.  Taking place approximately ten months after the CPC, it is designed to provide space for the council’s senior leadership to:

• Receive feedback from peers on the early progress made by the council against the CPC recommendations and the council’s RAG rated CPC Action Plan
• Consider peers’ reflections 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.

The LGA would like to thank Wychavon District Council (WDC) for their commitment to sector led improvement. This Progress Review was the next step in an ongoing, open and close relationship that the council has with LGA sector support.

The Progress Review at WDC took place (onsite) on 25 October 2025. 

The Progress Review focussed on each of the recommendations from the CPC and the following members of the original CPC team were involved: 

• Trevor Holden - Managing Director, South Norfolk Council and Broadland Council
• Cllr Louise McKinlay - Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Communities, Economic Growth and Prosperity, Essex County Council
• Kathy Nixon - Deputy Chief Executive, Babergh & Mid Suffolk Councils
• James Millington - Peer Challenge Manager – Local Government Association

Ahead of the peer team returning onsite WDC shared a RAG rated action plan which detailed actions for delivering the CPC’s eight recommendations. This reports that 82 per cent of actions are either completed or are on track for delivery, nine per cent have not yet been progressed, with another nine per cent to be progressed in the following quarter. 

The CPC in October 2024 found that the council was well-run and that “WDC can move from ‘good to great’ as part of its improvement journey by building on these solid foundations”. During the Progress Review the peer team found that the council was continuing to deliver for Wychavon through its positive approach to improvement, with members and officers focused on their respective roles in this.

Important context to this Progress Review is that the CPC took place prior to the publication of the English Devolution White Paper in December 2024. The peer team found that as well as delivering business as usual, key projects and responding to the CPC’s recommendations WDC has been focussed on the additional demands of local government reorganisation (LGR). Although LGR has been a significant focus for the council’s capacity the peer team found it hasn’t stopped activity in responding to the CPC’s recommendations, but has delayed progress in some areas.

Staff and members the peer team met with felt they understood LGR and the impact this will have upon them. They were not disconcerted by LGR and were keen to understand it further, with a keen desire to shape this and be part of the future of the area. Both officers and members were keen for the ‘Wychavon way’ to be a positive legacy for the council and influence LGR and the ethos of the future local government landscape.

The following section reviews progress against each of the CPC’s recommendations:

Recommendation 1: Develop and resource a holistic Transformation Plan

Although a Transformation Plan has not been developed, progress on this recommendation has been made and the strategic approach to this has been established through an Improvement and Innovation Group. The focus of the council is on ‘innovation’ rather than ‘transformation’ and the Group has been put in place to ensure a consistent approach to activity, including customer journey work and innovation across council teams. A paper is being developed for the Senior Management Team (SMT) in October to provide clarity on the key drivers for improvement, innovation and prioritisation.

While this foundational work has been delayed due to LGR, the focus of WDC’s early work includes process reviews in planning support and development management, with a comprehensive action plan already in place. Additional service areas such as housing and client services have been identified for customer journey reviews. The council is also exploring technology-driven efficiencies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) guidelines and engagement with West Midlands Employers (WME) to leverage external expertise, as the council is still considering dedicated external resources for future phases of this activity.

The peer team consider that this remains an important recommendation for WDC in the context of the future changes. The innovation plan will support the council in its desire to leave a legacy in terms of its financially strong position, the work of the council in the district and handing over services that remain in a really robust position to any new unitary.

Recommendation 2: Building on the ‘We Are Wychavon’ Plan, transform and refresh WDC’s delivery mechanisms through culture, financial and people strategies with appropriate measures and a dashboard in place to monitor and ensure delivery.

During the CPC in 2024 the peer team felt that the council was still recovering from the experience of COVID where the culture of the council was dominated by virtual interactions. Through the Progress Review the peer team felt that WDC was moving beyond this to an organisation where a shared new culture was being developed to support the delivery of the We Are Wychavon Plan with a mix of virtual and in person ways of working.

The peer team heard about initiatives which have been put in place to support the cultural and operational activities of the council, and this includes the annual review process updated in May to reference contributions to the We Are Wychavon Plan, and is reinforcing alignment between individual roles and strategic priorities. The peer team found that overall the HR and OD support was valued by those we met with, with staff telling the peer team that they felt that they know how their work fits into the Plan.

There is also improved HR data and insights being presented regularly to SMT, with a dashboard now in place which focusses on key areas including sickness, leavers and grievances. This ensures that there is regular oversight and action can be taken where necessary.

The peer team heard that progress was being made on breaking down silos between teams and WDC will want to continue on this journey. An important part of this is teams sharing achievement and learning at staff briefings which highlights areas of successes and promotes cross-team working.

Communications across the council were considered effective with feedback that this was working well. These includes a new managers’ email group and recognition of team successes in staff briefings, supporting cultural change. On LGR, staff and members felt well informed, and the peer team consider that this can provide a blueprint to continue to grow cross-organisation communications.

Building on the approach to HR, dashboards for other priority areas are planned for later phases of the activity in this recommendation. The awareness programme for staff which covers values, HR policies, finance, governance, and customer experience has not yet commenced due to competing priorities, including LGR.

Recommendation 3: Changes to the ‘We Are Wychavon’ Plan to be appropriately agreed and resourced.

The CPC recommended that WDC strengthen its approach to ensuring that priorities/projects are only agreed following consideration of the implications and impacts on other work. Good progress has been made on this and the council has taken steps to prevent scope creep by embedding a pre-project assessment and approval processes, with a standardised template and approach now in place. This is now mandatory for all projects requiring director or councillor approval for medium and large scale projects.

To support the capture of potential projects a ‘virtual shelf’ for project ideas is being developed. This is utilising Microsoft tools, and is being led by staff participating in the District Council Network development programme, with a prototype currently being finalised.

These are positive developments and collectively aim to ensure resource alignment and structured prioritisation before new initiatives are added to the Plan.

Milestones for promises in the We Are Wychavon Plan have been included in the Q1 performance report and this provides transparency about progress. A continued focus on this is still required though as some lead officers have yet to update their milestones, and this means that a complete view on Q1 is currently not available.

Recommendation 4: Understand, develop and implement a corporate approach to customer journey and service delivery

During the original CPC the peer team reflected concerns on the customer journey and felt that this was not catering optimally for the needs of the district. The peer team found that although work has been delivered on the customer journey, progress on this recommendation is patchy.

Since the CPC the peer team heard about how the council has been recognised externally for its activity and this has included receiving the Customer Service Excellence reaccreditation. This identified strengths in seven specific categories, indicating compliance and exceptional performance. This includes the range of access channels that are provided, including online services, phone support, and in-person consultations, which were recognised as a significant asset in meeting customer needs. The ongoing improvement work within services continues for instance within revenues and benefits to improve customer contact and accessibility, and where the planning service was recognised as best in the West Midlands in 2025 at the Royal Town Planning Institute Awards.

Progress have been made in some areas including a “You said, We did” webpage has been launched and populated with examples of how feedback has influenced decisions, demonstrating the responsiveness of WDC. Resident testing of the website functionality is also scheduled for Q3, following initial invitations to participants. However, mapping of key customer journeys and identifying core customer data has been delayed due to LGR priorities. 

Improvements to the website search function are planned but require external support from Web X, and feedback mechanisms such as QR codes are under development. Face-to-face customer service training has been delivered, but the online modules are delayed. Accessibility resources have been created, and Plain English training is scheduled for Q3/Q4. Additionally, the consideration of a single CRM system is planned for later phases of activity under this recommendation.

The council has recently received some very positive customer satisfaction ratings. This shows that 72 per cent of respondents were satisfied with how the council runs services (increase from 64 per cent in 2023) and 75 per cent agree that the council keeps residents informed about services (69 per cent in 2023). This is reflective of the good work of WDC and compares very well to the latest national benchmarking from the LGA which shows 56 per cent of respondents are ‘very satisfied’ or ‘fairly satisfied’ with the way their local council runs things and 47 per cent of respondents think their local council keep residents ‘very well informed’ or ‘fairly well informed’. The peer team recommend that WDC now undertake some further work to better understand these increases in perception, and the impact on the customer journey and service delivery, as there may be an opportunity learn from this.

The peer team heard from the heads of service how this work is being driven forward and there is a commitment to continuing to improve the customer journey, through meeting more frequently and seeking the benefits of cross-service learning via this layer of the council.

Although the council recognises that this is still an important area of focus this has not been progressed as fully as WDC would have liked due to the capacity needs of LGR. The peer team recommend a renewed focus on this area following the LGR submission in November.

Recommendation 5: Develop the council’s financial strategy so it makes the most of the favourable financial position to make positive interventions that future proof the organisation.

WDC’s finances continue to be well managed and it remains in a positive financial position. Following the summer spending review the financial forecasts now indicate a surplus position until 2028/29, mitigating earlier concerns about deficits from 2026/27 which were highlighted in the CPC.

Reviews of council reserves and income streams are scheduled, with benchmarking of priority funding streams planned as part of the 2026/27 budget process.

The council is actively inviting spend-to-save ideas and investment opportunities from staff, reinforcing its commitment to efficiency and innovation. While the financial position is strong, work continues on service improvements to drive long-term efficiency (linked to recommendation 1).

Recommendation 6: Provide training and awareness to officers and members to ensure governance works as an enabler.

During the CPC in October 2024 the peer team found that Members and officers work well together to deliver shared priorities for the district. To strengthen this the peer team recommended that a focus on training/raising awareness on how  governance can support this.

The peer team heard how work on updating the member/officer protocol is underway as part of a wider constitutional review. Drop-in sessions for councillors to meet service teams are also now planned, starting with the housing department in October.

During the Progress Review the peer team reflected that LGR appears to have had a further galvanising effect on relationships with senior Members and officers. People are engaged in a shared focus to deliver this in a well-structured way both for the organisation and for the communities of the district. Good governance has been important to this with briefings and timely decision making.

Recommendation 7: Draw on external support and learning for Members and officers.

The council has made good progress in this recommendation. On member development, initial steps have been taken through the Member Development Group, which met in June and agreed an action plan, with a survey on member training needs undertaken to inform a new programme. This is area which has also been invested in through additional resource to coordinate the support to members and their aspirations for personal development.

Member training has been provided on scrutiny and also on planning ahead of committee meetings. To support this, external training including from LGA and Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) are under review for integration into future member and officer development programmes. 

Officer development including training on data protection and equalities has been put in place to support continuous development. Officer training has been rolled-out from June on project management – which was identified as a key area for workforce development - as well as communications and briefings on key topics.

The council is also leveraging external expertise. Engagement with Redditch and Bromsgrove councils provided insights into transformation experiences, and collaboration with WME on the use of AI.

The peer team heard very strong positive feedback on the investment in staff training and coaching, and this also supports the council’s aspirations to support succession planning. WDC recognises that officers might have different aspirations as they go forward into LGR but staff want to continue to serve the district as best as they are able and also be well positioned for future opportunities.

The council played a leading role in the Shape Worcestershire LGR engagement campaign, partnering with other districts and commissioning Mutual Ventures for an independent assessment of reorganisation options. These steps demonstrate a proactive approach to external learning and support, and taking a lead locally on behalf of other councils.

Recommendation 8: Develop a corporate approach to deliver consistency in people management across services and teams.

There has been progress on this recommendation with updated HR policies, and annual performance reviews now linking roles to strategic priorities. A new managers’ email group has also improved communication, and job-shadowing opportunities are being promoted, with examples of cross-team shadowing already taking place. A rolling programme to prepare staff for LGR and leadership development is in progress, with workshops on change management scheduled. These initiatives aim to embed consistency in people management and support cultural alignment.

The peer team heard particularly positive feedback on the Connection Days. However, although the SLT updates here were found to be useful for staff, feedback from those the team met with suggested there could be increased opportunities for ‘show and tell’ from departments which would support the cross-council learning consistency in approaches.

Planned actions such as designating contact points for new starters and refreshing induction programmes are delayed, partly due to staff availability. The council has plans to take this forward over the coming period.

The LGA would like to thank WDC for undertaking an LGA CPC Progress Review.

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 offer of support 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.

Helen Murray (Principal Adviser) is the main point of contact between the authority and the Local Government Association (LGA) and their e-mail address is [email protected].

Further information, support, and resources on LGR/Devolution, can be found on the LGA’s devolution and LGR Hub website.