Camden Council is set to implement actions stemming from a Corporate Peer Challenge report, aiming to enhance its services and strategic direction.
The Corporate Peer Challenge, conducted in November 2025 by a team from the Local Government Association, identified Camden as a well-run and high-performing council with a strong culture of relational practice and a commitment to inclusion.
The report acknowledged Camden's existing initiatives contributing to inclusive growth, such as Good Work Camden and the Council's track record in social value procurement and planning.
Following the challenge, 12 recommendations were made, which the council has addressed in a newly agreed Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan. These recommendations include being bold in sharing Camden's story, further data-driven prioritisation, evolving place-based models, focusing on value for money, and preparing a strong induction programme for councillors for the May 2026 elections. The plan outlines how Camden will act on the report's findings, focusing on areas such as developing a clearer borough-wide inclusive growth offer, strengthening coordination, and evolving place-based models.
Key actions include continuing to develop the council's strategy and progress major initiatives to ensure residents benefit from economic growth and local development. The plan also reaffirms Camden Council's model of leadership and relational practice, with a commitment to further embed its approach to data-driven prioritisation. The report noted that the relational leadership approach championed by the Corporate Management Team can have profound effects on staff and subsequently on local communities and is driven by a focus on core purpose and values. Keep developing and deepening this approach.
Camden Council's Cabinet agreed to the Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan on September 8, 2026. A further report will be presented to Cabinet within a year to review progress on these actions. The Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan indicates that a further report will be brought to Cabinet within a year of the report (which was considered by Cabinet in January 2026) to set out progress. Specific timelines for individual actions are provided within the action plan, such as Summer 2026 onwards
for Recommendation 1.i, Winter 2026
for Recommendation 3.ii, and commencing in 2026. Published by the end of 2027
for Recommendation 8.
To ensure residents, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, directly benefit from economic growth and local development, the council will articulate a clear, borough-wide inclusive growth offer, co-produced with residents and partners, and strengthen coordination through a single delivery framework or refreshed economic strategy. This will support confident engagement with pan-London and international partners, align investment and delivery, and ensure that growth delivers tangible benefits for all communities across the borough, building on initiatives such as Good Work Camden and STEAM pathways. While the plan mentions the intention to develop a clearer, lightweight evaluation framework and a more systematic process for identifying, scaling and embedding what works,
specific metrics or indicators for measuring the success of the inclusive growth offer are not detailed.
The council also intends to evolve its approach to place-based models beyond major regeneration areas to enable a bottom-up approach to inclusive economic growth. The Camden Town Place Board has been established and reports to a Directors Group, and the Council will review this as a model of place-based governance. However, specific examples of how these place-based models will differ from current approaches are not detailed.
The Insight, Learning and Impact team are embedding a data-informed approach to organisational focus, bringing together the right data to understand what to prioritise, help test and validate existing priorities, and understand what success looks like to de-prioritise. A detailed and interactive dashboard for the quarterly Insight Learning and Impact report will incorporate historical data, Local Outcomes Framework outcomes, benchmarking data, and Statistical Process Control signals.
Camden Council's Cabinet agreed to the Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan on September 8, 2026. The full details of the decisions can be found in the Decisions 08th-Sep-2026 19.00 Cabinet.pdf. Further information is available in the Public reports pack 08th-Sep-2026 19.00 Cabinet.pdf and Agenda frontsheet 08th-Sep-2026 19.00 Cabinet.pdf.
