Background and updates
Secretary of State confirms changes to the Statutory Intervention – 17 March 2026
Today the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government made a Written Ministerial Statement notifying the House that he is satisfied that the London Borough of Tower Hamlets is continuing to fail to comply with its Best Value Duty, including additional failure in relation to its Use of Resources.
He has exercised his powers under the Local Government Act to accelerate and strengthen the improvement work, issuing revised Directions under section 15(5) and 15(6) of the 1999 Act which in summary require the council to:
- continue to implement its Continuous Improvement Plan in a timely manner, including action to continue to address the Statutory Recommendations and significant weaknesses identified by the council’s external auditor,
- continue to achieve improvements in scrutiny, recruitment, transparency, procurement, contract management, internal investigations, officer structure and the scheme of delegation,
- co-operate with the Envoys to adequately resource and deliver the deep dive project into alleged misconduct at the council,
- disband its Transformation and Assurance Board and establish an Envoy-led Improvement Board to oversee its delivery against the ministerial Directions.
- take appropriate action to ensure compliance with its Best Value Duty in relation to Leadership, Governance, Culture, Partnerships and Community Engagement, Continuous Improvement and Use of Resources.
To safeguard the improvement process, the Envoys will be able to exercise the following functions of the council, which are to be treated by the Envoys as held in reserve. In summary, these functions are associated with the:
- governance, scrutiny and transparency of decision making,
- strategic financial management, financial governance and scrutiny of financial decision making,
- operating model and redesign of local services, and
- recruitment, appointment, structure, performance management and dismissal of senior and statutory officers.
To reflect the need for additional finance expertise and capacity in the Envoy team, the Secretary of State will appoint an additional Assistant Envoy with finance expertise in due course.
This decision follows the announcement of 17 January where the Secretary of State announced via Written Ministerial Statement that he was minded to amend the structure and remit of the intervention. The Secretary of State received five representations, including from the council. The decision was taken in consideration of all representations and the Ministerial Envoys’ Second Report, received on 30 January. The package, to be in place until 31 March 2028 is in line with the minded-to proposals, with some minor amendments.
You can contact the envoy team at envoy.support@towerhamlets.gov.uk.
Statutory intervention
On 22 January 2025 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced a statutory intervention into the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and appointed Ministerial Envoys to work comprehensively within the council, acting as advisors, mentors and monitors, to oversee our improvement work.
The Government published the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Ministerial Directions.
This decision follows the Ministers consideration of the Best Value Inspection Report, published on 12 November 2024.
Envoys first report
On 9 July 2025 the government published the Envoys first report to the Minister, the ministerial response and a written ministerial statement was made to the House.
You can read the full background to the intervention and access all government publications on the GOV.UK website.
The role of the Envoys is different to the role of Commissioners in other Government interventions and we retain all of our Executive Decision and Non-Executive Decision making Powers.
A key part of the package is our Transformation Assurance Board, chaired by Mayor Lutfur Rahman. On 14 April the Board agreed the programmes required by the Ministerial Directions:
- the Continuous Improvement Programme (CIP)
- a fully costed Political Mentoring Programme
- a fully costed Programme of Cultural Change to Rebuild Trust Between Officers and Members.
On 16 July 2025 the councils first report to the minster was taken to Full Council.