Herefordshire Council's three star rating

Herefordshire Council has received a three star rating and continues to deliver value for money services to the public, a detailed inspection has revealed. 

The inspection, called the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), concluded that Herefordshire Council had ‘Adequate Prospects for Improvement’ and awarded the authority the very respectable standing.

Herefordshire was one of eight authorities nationally to have been assessed under the new framework, which the overseeing body the Audit Commission has styled “the harder test”.

Under the new assessment regime, Herefordshire Council underwent a Joint Area Review (JAR) of Children’s Services in its area at the same time.

Those findings, which are reported separately, form a key part of the overall CPA star rating.

The JAR raised concerns about the help and care that some youngsters at risk received from Herefordshire Council and its partners.

The Council has already acted swiftly on the findings by seeking assistance from other high performing authorities in a bid to adopt new measures, practices and policies.

Cllr Roger Phillips, Leader of Herefordshire Council, said: “We are pleased that our previous levels of performance continue to be maintained and that the Audit Commission is confident that Herefordshire has the capacity to continue to improve whilst highlighting the need to give particular attention to issues arising from the Joint Area Review.”

In the CPA Herefordshire Council was praised for offering value for money services, strong community leadership, close working partnerships and a track record of sound financial management.

Areas highlighted for improvement include some aspects of Children’s Services (JAR), internal processes and scrutiny of policy.

“At the end of the day what matters to local people is what we achieve on the ground and it is pleasing to see that performance endorsed,” added Cllr Phillips. 

“I am particularly pleased to see that our overall achievement score sees us as ‘Performing Well’ with the levels of achievement for local people being consistently above minimum requirements.” 

The CPA inspectors acknowledged the Council’s funding difficulties. The report said: “The Council has had to respond to major financial challenges with a level of spending nearly eight per cent per head lower than the average for unitary authorities (38th out of 46). 

“This has meant that maintaining spend in line with the Government’s estimate of need has only been possible by raising council tax, moving the Council from 39th to 26th amongst unitaries in terms of the amount it levies.” 

Strengths highlighted in the report include: 

· The Council displays good community leadership and the culture of the Council is open with good working relationships between councillors, officers and partners.

· The close local partnership working is making a real difference to local people.

· There is “strong and focussed leadership” from the Leader and Chief Executive supported by capable senior officers.

· There is a track record of sound financial management.
Areas identified for more work and improvement were:

· Concerns about some aspects of Children’s Services highlighted in the Joint Area Review which will require immediate attention.

· Some of the internal processes e.g. performance management need to be more consistently applied across the Council if they are to make a difference to what we deliver for local people. 

· The size and geography of the Council means that it has to pay constant attention to creating capacity.  Recent management reorganisation was seen as contributing to that gap.  It was felt that capacity could be improved and better focussed if the current Cabinet portfolios were re-examined.

· The report also identified the opportunity to strengthen the role of Scrutiny both in policy development but more particularly in making better use of performance data.

Neil Pringle, Chief Executive of Herefordshire Council, said: “This report confirms the sound platform from which we need to continue to build. 

“The strengths we have significantly outweigh our weaknesses and it is important to acknowledge that that continuing performance is driven by all our staff. 

“Throughout the inspection both teams commented on the openness, willingness and ability of the staff they met.”