The commissioners at Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council have reported that the authority is “showing signs of positive progress” through financial stability and leadership.
In their first report since the statutory intervention, the commissioners detailed that over the first three months of being in post the council has delivered the initial phase of its improvement plan as well as making progress on leadership and culture in the authority.
The report, released to the public on 1 December, stated: “Since being in post, we believe the council is already showing signs of positive progress, but there is of course a lot more to be done.”
Ministers decided to intervene in Sandwell in March 2022 following a series of reports from Grant Thornton, the Local Government Association and CIPFA, which highlighted mismanagement in parts of the authority.
The commissioners appointed to the council were Kim Bromley-Derry, managing director commissioner and Jim Taylor, best value commissioner.
One of the reasons for government intervention in Sandwell was the council’s “ineffective approach to budget monitoring and setting”. The commissioners’ report detailed that the authority has made significant improvements in this area by setting a balanced budget for 2022/23 “without the use of reserves for the first time in a number of years” and increasing its general reserve.
The report also highlighted that the council had made changes within its senior officer team to address previous leadership instability.
However, the commissioners stated that more work needed to be done in securing improvement concerning the proper functioning of the scrutiny and associated audit functions as well as actions to secure continuous improvement in all services.
In response to the commissioners’ first report, Kerrie Carmichael, Sandwell Council’s leader, said: “We continue to make the necessary changes and we are very pleased to see the commissioners reported in such a positive way to the government in June.
“Since this report, we have worked on a number of areas where we needed to improve and have made massive progress across the board.”
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