Council of the Year

This award is only open to a council or, in exceptional circumstances, a partnership of councils. The winner of this award will be the council which, on the basis of sustained performance, has the most learning to offer other councils. The winner will be able to demonstrate a level of excellence and innovation that takes its work well beyond basic service provision. We seek to stress that this award is not about size, or about any natural advantages that a council might enjoy due to its location, but about the delivery of quality outcomes and community leadership, and a council doing the best for its area.

Submissions should focus on:   

• Summarising your council’s vision, its current objectives, the steps it is currently taking to achieving those objectives and your success in doing so, within the relevant timescale
• Specific evidence of the quality of the council’s performance in relation to:
  • The performance of and outcomes achieved by the major services;
  • The council’s response to continued reductions in public expenditure;
  • Community leadership;
  • Collaboration with other councils and partners, including where appropriate involvement in devolution agreements with government;
• What makes your council distinctive;
• What you think makes your council excel and what you feel other councils could learn from what you have done.
• The council’s contribution to sector-led improvement.

Award entries will be judged on:

• The scale and sustainability of the council’s achievements and the quality of the evidence to substantiate them;
• The success of the council in combining significant public service improvement and reform with budget cuts and efficiency savings;
• The contribution of the political and managerial leadership, partnership working and community engagement;
• The council’s success in addressing key challenges such as: economic growth, housing, the ageing society, health inequalities and children’s services;
• The council’s contribution to the wider local government sector;

This award will be judged through both a site visit by judges and by a presentation to judges. Entrants are urged to use the visit to give judges access to the people – officers, members, staff, the public and representatives of local public sector partners, the business community and third sector organisations – who can prove the council’s success in the above criteria.