Council makes shortlist of national local government awards

The Council has been shortlisted in the ‘Most improved council’ category of the prestigious 2025 LGC Awards, run by the Local Government Chronicle.

The hotly contested awards, open to all 317 local authorities in England, invited councils to submit entries across 22 categories.

Swindon’s entry drew on feedback from residents, colleagues and the independent views of Ofsted and the Local Government Association (LGA) to evidence improvements made over the past year. The Council’s submission referenced the development of the Swindon Plan, finalised in July last year, following a borough-wide engagement exercise that generated feedback from 700 residents, colleagues, and partners to help shape the organisation’s long-term priorities.

Last September, the Council worked with the LGA to invite a team of senior councillors and officers from other local authorities to undertake a ‘Corporate Peer Challenge’, which included a four-day onsite visit alongside seeking feedback from Swindon residents, its workforce, and partners. The report highlighted efforts made to embed an open, transparent, and collaborative culture at the Council.

As the Council grapples with significant financial pressures and ongoing work to improve services, the LGA’s report also commented that: “Members and officers at SBC have achieved much in the past 15 months and should be congratulated for putting in place sound foundations upon which to build.”

In a demonstration of stronger self-awareness and transparency within the organisation, the Council self-referred itself to the Regulator of Social Housing in September 2024 and is currently undergoing the first of its planned programme of four-yearly landlord inspections.

Rather than wait for the inspection outcome, the Council has already shared a draft housing improvement plan with the regulator, informed by an independent mock inspection completed in late 2023. Delivery of this improvement work is being overseen by a Housing Improvement Board with tenant and cross-party councillor representation.

Three positive Ofsted monitoring visits last year also recognised the progress made to improve services and the support provided to families, children, and young people.

The Council’s award submission also referenced the results of the 2024 Resident Survey, which show that resident satisfaction has increased over the past year in relation to many of the key metrics including how well the Council runs things, trust, value for money and how well it acts on the concerns of local residents.

An uplift in results from the 2024 colleague survey included a 9 per cent increase in the number of colleagues who would recommend the Council as a great place to work and a similar increase in those who want to remain working at the organisation for the foreseeable future.

Representatives of the Council will now be invited to present at a judging day in London in April, before the final winners are announced on Wednesday, 11 June.

Councillor Jim Robbins, Leader of Swindon Borough Council, said: “I’m really delighted for everyone at the Council that the impact of our hard work over the past year has been independently recognised through being shortlisted in these national local government awards.

“We’ve been able to evidence to the judges the progress we are making to improve services, strengthen community engagement and our organisational culture.

“Particularly given the challenging financial outlook for local government, I’m proud that Swindon has stood out in its ability to improve and be a force for positive change.

“But we aren’t complacent. Our entry acknowledged that we won’t rest until we are delivering consistently good services for our residents whilst progressing our Swindon Plan priorities to build a fairer, better, and greener Swindon.”