- Council praised for ‘commitment to continuous improvement’
- Progress in 17 of 18 recommendations from 2023 visit
- ‘High quality services’ delivered including ‘Outstanding’ Children Services, universal free school meals, school uniform grants and new youth centres
- A stable and more unified top team
- Staff and members dedicated to delivering the best outcomes for residents
Tower Hamlets has been praised for its ‘strong financial management’, ‘high quality services’ and ‘commitment to continuous improvement’ in delivering recommendations made by an LGA Corporate Peer Challenge two years ago.
The LGA Corporate Peer Challenge Progress Review published today followed a two day visit by experts in October to measure what progress had been made.
In 2023, the LGA praised the council for a ‘comprehensive understanding of the needs of its residents,’ but also found signs of a two-council culture as new members and officers began working together after the election.
Two years later, the LGA’s review report says, ‘the prevalence of a two-council culture or lack of trust were not raised by people’ and said the council had taken action to reduce the size of the Mayor’s Office to 9 staff ‘which is comparable to other Mayors’. The report praises the Council’s ‘stable and more unified top team led by the Chief Executive’, and the ‘dedication shown by staff and members to delivering the best outcome for residents.’
Following the review in 2023, the LGA Peer Challenge Team made 18 recommendations for the council to meet. The council created an action plan straight away to deliver them and in the Progress Review report, the LGA said ‘progress has been made on 17 of the recommendations.’
Since the original Peer Review, the council has worked with ministerial Envoys to put in place a comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP). The council will now include the new insights from the Progress Review in the CIP.
High quality service delivery
The review recognised ‘high quality service delivery’ for residents including Ofsted rating its Children’s Services as ‘Outstanding’ in January, and ‘progress in delivering strategic priorities’ including rolling out ‘universal free school meals for children up to 16, all children receiving a grant towards school uniform and a youth centre has been opened in every ward in the borough.’
Tower Hamlets is the only local authority in the country to offer free school meals at secondary school as well as primary schools. Last month it gave out its 2 millionth free secondary school meal after introducing them two years ago.
It is also leading London in the development of new housing. Last month, its Local Plan was approved for submission to the Secretary of State for independent examination. It includes plans for 52,000 new homes. In the past 12 months alone, the council has given permission for 8,000 new homes to be built.
Lutfur Rahman, Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets, said:
“The Corporate Peer Challenge Progress Review shows the significant improvements we have made in just two years.
“The LGA Peer Review in 2023underlined the importance of inclusive governance and I’m delighted that the LGA has recognised our commitment to continuous improvement, our strong financial management, high quality services and officers and members dedication to delivering for residents.
“There is always room to improve, and we are working with the Government Envoys and our Transformation and Assurance Board to achieve even more together through our Continuous Improvement Plan.”
Progress in delivering recommendations
The 18 recommendations are listed in the original Corporate Peer Challenge and the new Progress Review.
They include delivering a Strategic Vision for the borough which the council has developed with partners and is soon to publish; working more collaboratively with the voluntary and community sector on grant and building allocation which has resulted in ‘VCS colleagues being complimentary about improved engagement with the council;’ developing a Medium Term Financial Strategy which the council has published and better performance management which the latest visit now found to be ‘used more consistently.’
Other recommendations include reviewing the roles in the Mayor’s Office and reducing the size from 36 to 9 staff; streamlining internal governance arrangements that is better understood by officers; more timely and streamlined decision making by the Cabinet; improvements in the membership of committees including ‘effective work undertaken by Overview and Scrutiny; and putting ‘significant efforts and financial resources into member development.’
The council was also praised for strengthening its complaints process, publishing its Annual Governance Statement, getting historic accounts dating back to 2018/19 signed off by auditors and then setting the trend by being the first London borough to publish accounts for 2024/25.
The recommendation where the council has not yet met the expectation of progress is in developing a Workforce Strategy. The council has appointed a new Director of HR to start in two weeks who is charged with developing the strategy.
The Progress Review is published in the same week as the latest Annual Resident Survey results for the council.
The results, from an independent surveyor of a demographically representative sample of over 1,000 residents, found the council to be performing better than the national local authority average in almost every area.
- 69% say they trust the council a great deal or a fair amount compared to the local government average of 50%
- 69% say they are happy with the way the council runs things compared to the local government average of 56%
- 65% think the council acts on their concerns, compared to the local government average of 53%
- 65% think the council keeps them well informed, compared to the local government average of 47%
- 54% of residents feel the council provides value for money, compared to the local government average of 36%
Steve Halsey, Chief Executive of Tower Hamlets Council, said:
“Tower Hamlets has a set of challenges and characteristics that are unique. We are the most densely populated and fastest growing place in the country, along with having one of the biggest economies too.
“That means it takes time to change the governance, performance and processes and I’m delighted that we are making significant progress which has been recognised by the LGA. When I came to the council in 2023 we made this a priority and working with the LGA, we have delivered improvements as well as high quality services.
“Our success is evident from independent analysis. Our Children’s Services were rated outstanding earlier this year and we have just published our best Annual Residents Survey results which show that Tower Hamlets is performing better than the local government average in almost every area.
“But there is more work to do. Developing our Workforce Strategy is top of our agenda with our incoming Director of HR, and we are working closely with the Government Envoys on delivering our Continuous Improvement Plan”.
The new Corporate Peer Challenge – Progress Review is available here
The council’s latest Annual Residents Survey can be found here
Notes to Editors
Tower Hamlets is described as offering the best of London in one borough because it is/has
- The fastest growing and most densely populated place in the UK
- Our population has grown by 22.1 per cent since 2011 to 310,300.
- The youngest population in London and fifth youngest in the UK.
- The generate the third highest economic output in the UK with areas including City Fringe includes Whitechapel, Aldgate and Spitalfields, and two life science clustered planned for Canary Wharf and Whitechapel.
- World famous markets including Spitalfields, Columbia Road and Petticoat Lane. Brick Lane.
- Some of the UK’s best destinations including Tower of London, Young V&A and the Museum of London, Docklands, Tower Bridge, over 120 parks including Victoria Park, voted and part of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Major music festivals and events such as All Points East and In the Neighbourhood and the London Marathon.
- A centre for world class learning and innovation including Queen Mary University London, Barts NHS Trust hospitals which train more than 4,000
- people at any one time for medical careers and London Metropolitan University’s School.
- A world borough with a proud history of diversity, equality and inclusion with over 137 languages spoken and 43 per cent of residents were born in over 200 different countries. 91% of residents say they get on well with each other.
- Tower Hamlets is London’s history from the Battle of Cable Street and the roots of the Suffragette movement are in Roman Road, to the London docks were the drop-off point for immigrants to the UK as well as being the centre of world trade.
Posted on Thursday 4th December 2025