Striving to Thrive: Councillors' Reflections on Local Democracy – New Report

Download the report here

A new report by the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE), drawing from a survey of councillors from across the UK, has presented a range of findings on the elected members of local authorities, including insights into their demographic profile, standards and behaviour, experiences of harassment and abuse, as well as their views on the effectiveness of devolution, political structures, and the future of local democracy. 

The third in a series of surveys going back to 2004, the research also includes comparative analysis, demonstrating the impact of changes and developments over the past 20 years – such as austerity and local devolution deals. Quite startlingly, the research found councillors to be increasingly pessimistic about their capacity to bring about impactful change, even though just under two-thirds of councillors still believe their local authorities are “strongly committed to improving services”. Over seven in ten councillors also agreed that the financial position of their authority was preventing service improvement, indicating the significant impact that ever-tightening budgets, spending constraints and the proliferation of S.114s having on the ability of authorities to deliver for their communities. 

Other key findings include: 

·Efforts to widen access to elected roles in local government are still not working. The survey findings demonstrate that on average, councillors are older than the general population, more likely to be male, tend to not be in paid employment, and are disproportionately white. 

·Continuing policy stagnation. There is a striking resemblance to the 2014 edition of this survey in terms of councillor views of the challenges and obstacles that have hampered local governance. 

·Local political structures continue to divide councillors. Only a third of respondents agreed that council structures enable them to engage effectively with their communities, whilst less than half (44.3%) agreed that decision-making is transparent and they are provided with the right information to make decisions. 

·More needs to be done to challenge unacceptable behaviour and intimidation. The research uncovered the shocking statistic that 81.2% of respondents had reported an incident of intimidation or harassment from the public towards a councillor, officer, or other council staff. One in five said that an incident required a safety action plan to be put in place to protect councillors or officers. 

·Devolution and localism are increasing the centralisation of power. Half of all respondents were concerned about increasing central control over local priorities and policies despite the efforts to implement devolution deals and increase localism across the UK. Six in ten councillors in Scotland and five out of ten councillors in Wales agreed that devolution had increased central control over local authorities. In England, five out of ten councillors agreed that localism policies have increased centralisation. 

The report offers a number of recommendations to address the concerns identified by elected members. Regarding the issue of representation and access, APSE recommends that remuneration practices for councillors, along with pension, maternity and paternity rights should be standardised across the UK and brought further in line with that of MPs. Councils must also be allowed to conduct business through hybrid working models – allowing better access for people with disabilities, caring responsibilities, and those in employment – as well as develop concrete plans and development strategies to ensure access to political office is open to people of all backgrounds. Steps must be taken to address the intimidation and abuse of councillors by including a legal right to withhold home addresses from publicly available documents, dedicated police support and consideration of a specific crime of aggravated assault committed against councillors in the course of their duties.

Additionally, local authorities should evaluate the democratic decision-making process to ensure councillors are fully consulted and engaged in decisions impacting their wards and that robust mechanisms are in place to allow councillors to carry out their responsibilities as elected representatives – including the possibility of implementing alternative political structures to ensure appropriate democratic oversight at a local level. 

Mo Baines, APSE Chief Executive, said: “As well as offering a snapshot of councillor opinion across the UK, this report further highlights the complex and multi-faceted role that councillors carry out. The survey paints a gloomy picture of the morale amongst elected members, who often feel as though they are undervalued, lacking the appropriate level of democratically bestowed power, and threatened in their day-to-day work.

“It is crucial we recognise how much of our citizens’ interaction with the state is at the local level. Everyday functions such as refuse collection, road maintenance, planning permission, leisure, and green spaces to name but a few, are often far more strongly felt than the machinations of central government. These are not abstract concepts – they directly impact how people perceive their quality of life. It is the responsibility of local councillors to make these decisions. Therefore, the Government must ensure that councillors are afforded the appropriate support, recognition, and protection to allow them to carry out their roles. Councillors are democratically elected representatives like any other and deserve to be treated as such.”

Professor Steven Griggs said: “Our evidence reveals the policy cul-de-sac in which the debate over the role of councillors has been stuck in recent years. It remains the case that far too many councillors do not believe that they can influence decision-making and this cannot be good for the health of local democracy."

Notes to editor

• The Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) is a not-for-profit local government body working with over 300 councils throughout the UK. Promoting excellence in public services, APSE is the foremost specialist in local authority frontline services and operates one of the UK’s largest research programmes in local government policy and frontline service delivery matters.
• This research was commissioned by APSE. The report authors are Neil Barnett, Leeds Beckett University; Steven Griggs, Staffordshire University; David Howarth, Essex University; and Jonathan Rose, De Montfort University.
• The data in this report was collected from a survey of 393 councillors from across the UK. The survey was conducted between 14 April 2023 and 18 May 2023, with data collected online.
• For further press enquiries, or to arrange an interview, please contact APSE Communications Officer George Barton at [email protected]