Tower Hamlets Council is under increased scrutiny following concerns raised about a potential optimism bias
in its self-assessment of progress on key improvement recommendations. Failure to address these concerns could lead to further intervention, including the appointment of commissioners.
The Overview & Scrutiny Committee convened on Monday to discuss findings from a Local Government Association (LGA) Corporate Peer Challenge progress review. The committee also received an update on the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Corporate Improvement Plan. The agenda included a review of the Strategic Delivery and Performance Report Year 4 Quarter 2, and the Budget Monitoring 2025/26 – Quarter 2 report.
The LGA Corporate Peer Challenge progress review, conducted in October 2025, evaluated the council's leadership, governance, financial planning, and capacity to deliver its priorities. While the review acknowledged progress on 17 of the 18 recommendations from the 2023 Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC), it highlighted concerns about the council's tendency toward internal optimism bias. The CPC-Progress-review-report provides a detailed view of the peer team's assessment of progress against each recommendation and outlines necessary next steps.
Specifically, the LGA Corporate Peer Challenge progress review identified instances where the council's self-assessment was overly optimistic. For example, the recommendation concerning the Workforce Strategy was rated 'amber' despite limited progress. Similarly, the recommendation on membership of committees was rated 'green', even though there was room for greater collaboration among members from all political parties. Overall, the peer team disagreed with the council's self-assessment ratings.
According to the Public reports pack, the peer team disagreed with the council's self-assessment ratings of progress against recommendations. The report also noted that political representation falls short of expectations for gender balance and inclusivity, despite the establishment of the Women's Commission. To address this, the council has launched the 'Be a Councillor' campaign to promote opportunities for women and underrepresented groups in local government, aligning with the LGA's efforts in this area. Furthermore, the Women's Commission, launched in 2024, is working to address inequalities for women in Tower Hamlets and is supporting the development of a new Women's Strategy, slated for publication in 2026.
The progress review took place against the backdrop of a government written ministerial statement issued in November 2024, which accepted the conclusions of a Best Value Inspection. This stated that the council is failing its best value duties on continuous improvement, governance, leadership, culture and partnerships. The envoys' first report to the Minister was published in July 2025, finding that there had been some good progress in the council's initial response, but that it needed to build on these foundations and move to delivery at pace with a focus on outcomes and measurable change.
The MHCLG Corporate Improvement Plan progress update included the Continuous Improvement Plan, which aims to shape the council's improvement journey with colleagues, elected members, partners and residents. The plan responds to external advice and challenge, and will continue to iterate through continuous engagement and an emerging evidence base. Over 2,500 employees shared their views in the staff survey, and over 1,450 attended the Chief Executive Roadshows. The council recruited over 100 Your Voice Forum members to co-produce key strategies and share views on projects.
The plan is structured around four programmes:
- Vision, Partnerships and Participation
- Governance, Political Culture and Decision Making
- Culture & Workforce
- One Corporate Team
The Minister's response to the envoys' first report called for clear evidence of political and officer leadership gripping and driving change and noted that the option to escalate the intervention to commissioners remains.
