Wandsworth Named Elite Council Again

As record number of London councils achieve top four star rating in the last ever CPA

On 5th March the Audit Commission named Wandsworth as one of the country’s elite councils for the seventh year running. It has awarded the authority the maximum four-star performance rating for the quality of its services and judged that it is still "improving strongly".

Overall Wandsworth is one of only four councils in England - and one of only two in London - to have successfully achieved a combined four star score and an "improving strongly" rating for each of the past four years.

At the same time the commission has also named Wandsworth as one of only two councils in the country to have scored maximum marks in the "use of resources" assessment that looks at "value for money" and "financial management". 

Wandsworth has received the top score in these assessments for the past four years running. No other council in the UK has a better record in delivering these "value for money" achievements. 

In its overall conclusions about the council's performance the Audit Commission found:

Chairman of the Audit Commission Michael O’Higgins says:
“CPA has been a challenge to which local government has risen very well, and our retrospective report records the success of many councils that are to be congratulated. As we say goodbye to the star rating system, it is heartening to see a record number of 4 star councils."

Council leader Edward Lister said:
"Once again Wandsworth has been recognised as one of the top performing councils in the country by independent assessors.  The fact that Wandsworth manages to consistently deliver such high quality services for around half the amount of council tax levied by most other top performing town halls really does set us in a class of our own.

"Local people can rest assured that we will not rest on our laurels. We will continue to look at new ways of providing the country’s best quality services at the best value for money prices. The Audit Commission says Wandsworth is 'improving strongly'. They are quite right."

The only other London council to have scored four stars and also been "improving strongly" for each of the past four years is Kensington and Chelsea. Band D Council tax there is £1,092 – compared to Wandsworth's £687.

The only other council in the country, apart from Wandsworth, to have received the maximum score in the use of resources and value for money assessments is Stockton-on-Tees borough council. Band D council tax bills for their residents from April 1 will be £1,442.

The Audit Commission is an independent watchdog responsible for ensuring that public money is spent economically, efficiently and effectively. Its remit covers around 11,000 bodies in England, which between them spend more than £200 billion of public money each year.

Its Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) looks at how efficiently councils are run; the quality and delivery of services provided across a range of areas, including housing, care for the elderly, services for children's and young people, education, leisure, libraries, the environment, refuse and recycling; and whether those services are delivering value for money for the taxpayer.

The full results of the latest assessment are published at www.audit-commission.gov.uk.

From April 2009 CPA will be succeeded by Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA), a radical shake-up of the way public services in England are inspected and reported on, which brings together six inspectorates. Having more of a user-focus, and relying more on already-existing data, CAA will require less on-site activity by inspectorates, freeing resources to concentrate on areas of particular concern, making it more cost-effective and better-targeted. Although there will still be organisational assessments of councils, they will also be assessed on their pivotal role in achieving improved local outcomes in partnership with other providers of services to the public.