Coventry City Council was one of the fastest-improving councils in the country under CPA, progressing from the lowest category in 2002 to the highest category in 2008. The poor rating in 2002 shocked the council because while it recognised that some services were performing poorly, others were performing well. Inevitably media coverage and public interest followed. This was a challenging period for the council. However, there was also a strong sense that things could only improve from this point.
The council introduced a series of initiatives to help it improve. It drew up a modernisation and improvement plan to provide a framework for recovery across the organisation. The council worked to ensure that there was cross-party agreement on the plan, demonstrating the commitment that existed across the political spectrum. It also invested in ICT and communications and strengthened training and development for councillors. Actions focused on the key service areas that had scored poorly under the CPA assessment. Measures were also taken to address the overall culture of the organisation.
Coventry City Council was required to take part in an Office of the Deputy Prime Minister led engagement process and was assigned a lead official to provide support through this period. With a newly appointed chief executive and management team in place, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister established an improvement support panel rather than put in place full government intervention. The panel's purpose was to monitor the council's progress against its improvement plan, and its members included directors from the organisation as well as external representatives, the chief executive of the local primary care trust, a representative of the Chamber of Commerce, and staff from the IDeA.
The new chief executive provided the council with the direction and strong leadership that it required. The message from the top was clear: Coventry was one council, working and improving together. Improvement was a corporate priority and there would be no more working in silos. The change in culture was also reflected in a rebranding of the city council.
The new chief executive also focused on improving management skills and performance management. New management development programmes were introduced, with the aim of encouraging a common ethos across the organisation and bringing together new and old officers of the council. This commitment to staff has become an integral part of the council's culture and many of the initiatives set up during the early phase of its improvement are still in place.
Key services that had received poor ratings under CPA were highlighted. One such area was social services, where special measures were required. A new director was appointed who placed an emphasis on performance management to raise service standards and improve outcomes for local people. The new director also brought a much-needed morale boost to the council's social workers by celebrating the department's successes.
In 2005, just three years after receiving the shock of a poor CPA assessment, Coventry City Council was awarded a 3-star rating, and in 2008 the council rose to the top 4-star category. Over this period, user and employee satisfaction rose and good performance was recognised by the award of Beacon status for the council's work in reducing health inequalities and in providing effective environmental health services