Corporate Peer Challenge 2025

Worcester City Council undertook a Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) in April 2025.

The Local Government Association (LGA) led process involved senior councillors and officers from other authorities, visiting Worcester to give an external perspective and an independent view of the City Council’s way of working.

pdf Their report (669 KB) delivers a positive and strong view of the Council and offers constructive suggestions for some further improvements can be made.

The CPC Team spent four days on site at the City Council and were also taken on a familiarisation tour of the city centre.

They heard a range of feedback and concluded that the Council is ‘well led’ politically and managerially.

The CPC Team also repeatedly heard positive messages from stakeholders about the Council’s role as a partner and commended the way that all political parties have worked together for the benefit of the city.

Their LGA report says that Worcester City Council has a ‘huge amount to be proud of’ and they also commented that the authority is ‘ambitious’ for the city.

The report says that the council is working on some ‘very impressive’ projects and highlights its collaborative working on the Shrub Hill regeneration and The Arches project.

The CPC report adds that the City Council has a ‘caring and collaborative’ culture and its staff feel committed to the authority.

It commends the positive joint working between Council staff and Councillors. Also, the collaborative working was praised between Councillors across political parties.

Read the Corporate Peer Challenge report

Following publication of the CPC report the Council was required to produce and publish an Action Plan within five months of the time on site. The Action Plan was agreed by the Policy and Resources Committee on 16 September 2025.

Read the CPC Action Plan

As part of the CPC process the CPC Team held a progress review in January 2026 to assess progress made to address the recommendations of the original report.

The CPC Team found that the City Council has shown ‘strong engagement’ with the recommendations made in the CPC Report.

The CPC Team said that they ‘heard consistent evidence’ that the City Council has ‘maintained momentum’ on its CPC Action Plan ‘despite the significant and competing demands’ presented by Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).

The progress review found evidence of ‘strengthening relationships and maturing partnership focused ways of working’, including in culture and economic development as the City Council prepares for life beyond its current structure.

Read the CPC Progress Review