More than two years of formal support provided by Welsh Government to Merthyr Tydfil Council will soon end after the progress that has been made. The finance and local government minister Rebecca Evans announced on Wednesday, March 16 that the support package that has been provided to the council since 2019 will stop at the end of the month because of the progress made by the council, although she recognised there are more improvements needed.
The support package, which was agreed in June 2019, followed a request from the leader at the time Councillor Kevin O’Neill and was also in response to concerns raised by Audit Wales. In their letter in 2019, they raised concerns about the financial challenges, service pressures, leadership, capacity and governance issues the council faced.
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An improvement and assurance board was brought in and short term external advisers were appointed for specific areas like education, social services, corporate governance and leader, cabinet and member development and there was training for members and officers. In October 2021, in light of the progress being made by the council, the minister agreed to a final transitional phase of support ahead of the statutory support ending and the council moving to locally-led arrangements for overseeing improvement.
The transitional phase was agreed with no fixed end-date, as this was dependent on the council’s progress against an agreed framework of key tests developed to provide assurance to the minister and the council that Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council no longer required statutory support. The use of external advisers in education and social services ended in October, with the council putting in place their own arrangements securing additional capacity in these areas.
The minister agreed the board would remain in place until such a point where she could be assured that all the agreed key tests had been met, or sufficient plans were in place and progress was being made, and robust locally-led governance arrangements had been established. Last month, she asked Audit Wales, Care Inspectorate Wales and Estyn for their views on the council’s current position and progress made to date as well as from the core team appointed to the improvement and assurance board.
She also asked for an update from the council themselves on the progress made and plans for local governance arrangements to ensure improvement could be maintained beyond the ending of the remaining statutory support. She said the recognition of the progress made by regulators, the board and the council along with the strengthened financial position and stronger governance and performance management arrangements means the organisation is now “much better placed” to drive its own improvement.
But she said this does not mark the end of the council’s improvement journey. She said the council recognises that there is more to be done particularly around scrutiny, reshaping and strengthening their workforce and working on plans to address their longer term financial sustainability and have put in place their own arrangements to “continue to drive that improvement".
Rebecca Evans said: “I would like to thank the council, the improvement and assurance board and the external advisers for all the work they have put in and the progress which has been made since 2019. The ending of formal statutory support represents an important milestone for the council. Whilst it is not the end of the improvement journey for Merthyr, the council is now in a much better place to drive forward self-improvement.”
Councillor Lisa Mytton, the current leader of Merthyr County Borough Council, said: “Reflecting on our journey since we originally approached Welsh Government for support, there is a marked difference in the organisation that we are today. However, our journey does not end here. The council will continue to work on plans for addressing its longer-term sustainability and we are looking to engage with appropriate experts to continue this conversation.”
Steve Thomas, chair of the improvement and assurance board, said: “Our team has been in Merthyr Tydfil for over two years and worked with the council to make significant changes to secure measurable progress in its corporate governance. We have also worked extensively in the key areas of social services and education and both services have far greater resilience today than in 2019. Their finances are in order, and they have achieved good statutory inspection outcomes. As a result, we feel the authority is now ready to self-sustain its improvement.”
In a joint statement, Merthyr Tydfil’s MP Gerald Jones and MS Dawn Bowden said: “For almost three years, Merthyr Tydfil Council has been subject to intense, statutory intervention to help the authority deal with deep-seated issues with governance and particular areas of council services. This is due in large part to a lack of political leadership that saw the previous council leader receive an unprecedented seven-month suspension and the ruling political group spend more time arguing amongst themselves than addressing a deeply damning audit report.
“Today’s decision by the Welsh Government to reduce, not remove, the package of support available to Merthyr Tydfil Council is a welcome first step to the council delivering for residents and businesses. The council should not have been in this position in the first place, and it should not have taken three years to see tentative signs of progress. Quite simply, Merthyr Tydfil deserves better.
“As the Welsh Government have stated today, ‘there is more work to do’ and ‘this does not mark the end of the council’s improvement journey.’ We pay tribute to those who are continuing to work to put the council back on track – especially hard-working council staff – and we look forward to seeing more progress in the coming weeks, with the council having made use of the support available to them.”
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