Islington Council Responds to LGA Peer Review with Action Plan

Islington Council has responded to feedback from a Local Government Association (LGA) Corporate Peer Challenge by approving the publication of an action plan to address recommendations made by the peer team.

The Islington Council Executive convened on Thursday, 17 July 2025, to discuss the action plan.

The LGA Corporate Peer Challenge identified areas where the most significant improvements could be made, resulting in ten recommendations. The specific challenges and weaknesses, along with the detailed actions the council will take to address each recommendation, are outlined in the CPC Action Plan Final and Islington Council Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan.

LGA Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan

The action plan addresses ten recommendations made by the LGA peer team, who conducted a Corporate Peer Challenge in February 2025. The peer challenge assessed Islington's performance across several key areas, including local priorities and outcomes, leadership, governance, financial planning, and capacity for improvement. A return visit from the peer team is scheduled for December 2025 to assess progress.

The action plan, once agreed, will be published on the Council's website and on the LGA's website in July 2025.

Costs associated with preparing the Corporate Peer Challenge were covered within existing budgets, and all costs related to implementing the action plan will also be met from existing budgets.

Councillor Una O'Halloran, Leader of the Council, thanked the peer team and everyone involved, calling the challenge a really fair balance .

One member noted the positive nature of the action plan and enquired about future peer reviews. Councillor O'Halloran responded that another review in the next council term was a good, strong possibility .

Progress against the action plan will be reported to the Executive within the quarterly performance report. As an example, the KPIs for the 1 Stacey Street contract will focus on outcomes for residents such as number of positive move-on, number of health outcomes, as well as social value and carbon reduction initiatives.