Trafford is a 3-star authority with a strong track record of improvement since its CPA assessment in 2005.
The council was judged as a fair authority in the 2002 corporate assessment – a rating repeated in the 2006 assessment under the CPA – The Harder Test. Key areas for improvement identified in 2006 included the need for greater clarity about the council's contribution to the community strategy, stronger action planning, better use of existing capacity and a more robust approach to supporting vulnerable people. A new chief executive was appointed in July 2005, a few months before the corporate assessment took place. This meant that the corporate assessment report was useful to help shape and reinforce views about the council's improvement priorities.
The chief executive and council leader saw CPA as a tool which reinforced many of their own conclusions and helped the council focus on key areas for improvement. The CPA scorecard provided the council with an annual update of its progress, and its direction of travel has been judged as improving either well or strongly every year since 2005. The scorecard also served as a way of publicising the council's achievements to staff, partners and residents.
Some of the changes introduced at Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council since 2006 include:
- a greater emphasis on leadership – additional capacity to reinforce the senior management team and a comprehensive management development programme which allowed the council to train and nurture its own future senior managers
- a stronger focus on people – more effective engagement and communication with staff and with residents, such as borough-wide and neighbourhood newsletters and higher-visibility senior managers (as part of this, the chief executive committed himself to meet as many staff as possible during his first year – a gesture appreciated by many staff)
- a renewed commitment to tackle inequality in the borough, including a stronger focus on support for those made vulnerable by their circumstances
- more robust user feedback arrangements – annual satisfaction surveys to better understand what is and is not working, and a programme of regular ward walks which involve officers, council members and other stakeholders.
Officers and council members routinely used corporate assessment reports and CPA scorecards to identify and follow up on excellent performance and innovative practice – and learn from the mistakes of others. The council also made good use of key lines of enquiry and, more recently, auditor guidance notes which helped it to understand the Audit Commission's focus of attention. It also used performance indicator data such as the value for money profile tool to support its benchmarking arrangements.
Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council was quick to seek out and embrace the support and expertise of others to help it improve. For example, it participated actively in the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities and commissioned external peer reviews, including a recent peer review to help it prepare for, and better understand the implications of, CAA.
The 2007 direction of travel statement identified a number of improvements over the 2006 corporate, including:
- clear, consistent and convincing managerial and political leadership, which allows staff to benefit from a clearer focus on what is important
- maturing partnership working arrangements, with some impressive outcomes including a significant improvement in deprivation levels
- a track record of strong and increasing customer satisfaction.