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Commissioners: council lacks focus and robust delivery plans

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CROYDON IN CRISIS: Government releases report critical of the lack of progress and slow pace of improvements in finances under Tory Mayor Jason Perry. By WALTER CRONXITE, Political Editor

Six weeks out from the local elections, the government has published a damning report from its Commissioners at Croydon Council which is hugely critical of failed Mayor Jason Perry and council bosses Katherine Kerswell and her successor as chief executive, Eliane Jackson.

The council’s plans to end its repeated deficit budgets are “at risk due to a lack of focus, prioritisation and robust, agreed delivery plans”, the report says. This is after almost six years of Section 114 notices, Reports In The Public Interest from external auditors, and oversight from the Commissioners’ predecessors, the “improvement” panel.

Unimpressed: Commissioner Ged Curran’s report won’t help Mayor Jason Perry

The latest report, written by lead Commissioner Ged Curran, states that the council’s reliance on interim managers and a high level of “churn” among staff is also undermining any continuity in efforts to fix the problems.

The Commissioners’ report states that the council’s budget for 2026-2027, which was only passed last month with the latest, 5% Council Tax increase, will need to be updated in May after further work by the council’s new finance director, Conrad Hall.

That revised budget seems likely to include more spending cuts and further reduction in Council Tax support for the borough’s poorest and most vulnerable.

Curran’s report states that council staff have “engaged well” with his team of Jackie Belton, Abi Brown and Debbie Warren, and it nods approval at the recent senior appointments in Jackson and Hall, following the departures of CEO Kerswell and finance chief Jane West.

But critically, the report says that the council risks failing to deliver on its agreed “transformation plan” – a programme of cut-backs – which was key to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government agreeing a £119million bail-out (capitalisation directive, in councilspeak) as recently as last month.

“Croydon has… changed the perception that the council believes that it has done all it can to improve its financial position,” Curran says in his report, without offering either examples or evidence of that changed perception.

“The Council continues to carry a high level of debt and to run a deficit and has identified a number of steps it can take to improve its position in addition to its Transformation Programme.

Slow motion: Jason Perry has failed to deliver changes at the pace expected

“The Transformation Programme has the potential to contribute to the savings needed, but delivery is at risk due to a lack of focus, prioritisation and robust, agreed delivery plans. Urgent action by the Council is needed to address this if the Transformation Programme is to deliver the projected savings.

“Further risks to delivery include the lack of a consistent performance management culture which would enable the council to make the best use of its limited resources.

“A significant number of interim managers and in some areas high staffing churn within the council makes this long-term cultural change harder to establish.”

Off the back of a very bad few weeks for Tory Perry, losing a High Court challenge over his money-spinning low traffic neighbourhoods and the collapse of a £22million property deal in Coulsdon, the eight-page report from the Commissioners, their first since they were appointed last July, is broadly dismissive of most efforts over the past five years to sort out the cash-strapped council’s finances.

Croydon Council has debts of £1.4billion, just as it did when Perry was elected Mayor in 2022.

Since then, Perry has increased Council Tax by 33%.

And since 2023, Perry’s council has borrowed an additional £320million in emergency financial support.

Inside Croydon approached Jason Perry for his reaction to the Commissioners’ report, but he had not responded by the time of publication, probably too busy at some lame photo op as he tries to salvage his political career.

Read more: £84,000 per year Tory Mayor approves his own pay rise
Read more: Budget-buster Perry hires another six-figure salaried ‘interim’
Read more: Council’s agency staff bill includes £726 per hour consultant
Read more: Kerswell takes another pay-off as she quits as council’s CEO

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