June 10, 2021, is a dark date in the history of the city of Liverpool.
After a damning report following an inspection by Max Caller CBE in December 2020 and March 2021, Robert Jenrick MP, then Secretary of State for Communities, Housing and Local Government, felt fit to impose a team of four officials to oversee improvements at Liverpool Council.
Mr Caller’s inspection identified a series of failings at the Cunard Building and told Mr Jenrick the authority needed “a reset” and as a result, the then cabinet minister confirmed he would call upon the quartet to monitor change within the local authority for three years.
READ MORE: Worst street for antisocial behaviour in Merseyside
This month marked the halfway point of the intervention, with an expectation from the city council and commissioners themselves that June 2024 would lead to the end of government oversight in Liverpool.
In appointing the officials led by former police boss Mike Cunningham, Mr Jenrick said it was not one he had taken lightly and “reflected the severity of the failings at Liverpool City Council.” In his first public comments, Mr Cunningham said he would be “part of a wider commissioner team that will support the council as it continues its improvement journey to better serve the people of Liverpool.”
Mr Cunningham and his team, Jo Killian, Neil Gibson and Deborah McLaughlin, delivered their first report on progress inside the city council three months after being appointed. Their initial verdict was not a glowing one.
In a letter to Michael Gove MP, who was in his first stint as Levelling Up Secretary at the time, Mr Cunningham stated how the council was “at the beginning of a long improvement journey and has a great deal to do in the next three years.” Leadership was criticised for lacking a desire for change at pace, while the officials said they had “been troubled by the standards of core competencies such as report writing, forward planning for decision making and customer service.”
It would be ahead of the second assessment by the commissioners that the biggest shockwaves would be felt. In July, Tony Reeves, the then Liverpool Council chief executive, dramatically resigned from his post after revelations surfaced about a catalogue of council mistakes that added millions onto the city's electricity bill.
Mr Reeves, whose relationship was said to be fractious with the commissioners, was personally singled out for praise in the original Caller Report as driving change. A month later, without a chief executive in place, the commissioners would significantly expand their presence across the authority by requesting a fifth official with a specific remit for finance, as well as delivering a withering assessment of progress by the council.
Greg Clark MP, the third Levelling Up secretary during the 18 months of government intervention, also revealed plans for a new strategic panel to work with the council on its future plans, which will be chaired by Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram. The details of this group have still yet to be formalised four months on.
In their second report, the Whitehall appointed team said leadership at Liverpool Council had not displayed “sufficient pace, urgency or grip” to tackle the issues it faced. Officials said key aspects of the council were failing and required urgent reform and overall and the city council was not meeting its statutory duty to provide best value and must take “urgent action”.
Mr Cunningham told a meeting of the audit committee in September the “greatest disappointment and surprise” had been the need to explain to “officers and some politicians” how much would need to be rectified at the Cunard Building to get the council back on the straight and narrow. The expansion of the commissioners remit was not met warmly by political leads at the Town Hall, with Mayor Joanne Anderson and members of her cabinet saying council staff should have been left to solve the authority’s problems, rather than a new finance lead.
That official, Stephen Hughes, formally took up his post last month as council officials were wrapping up their budget proposals for the next financial year. A third update had been expected from Mr Cunningham’s team this month, but with Mr Hughes’ appointment, that will now be released in February.
They did however say at the start of December that after months of hard work on all sides, a glimmer of hope about the future of the city council was beginning to shine through. Amid a £73m financial blackhole to fill which could lead to service and job cuts, lead commissioner Cunningham said for the first time, the team were “optimistic” about the city’s direction of travel.
Freshly appointed Mr Hughes, who previously held a role at Brent Council, said what the council relayed back to him and the other commissioners “gives us confidence that they are committed to making changes work but the proof is in the eating in this instance.” He said officials needed to see commitment delivered in terms of practical impact and that partly is a political will, but equally it’s about the capability of the organisation to deliver.”
With Michael Gove back at the helm in Whitehall and elections on the horizon for Liverpool in May it's not yet known what the future holds for the commissioners and council.
READ MORE:
Worst street for antisocial behaviour in Merseyside
Toddler dies day after being sent home from A&E
'I was told I'd be dead in 12 months if I didn't lose weight'
Developers promise 'huge year' for multi-billion Liverpool Waters
Chilling warning days before Elle Edwards gunned down in Christmas atrocity
