Barnet Council rejects claims to be sixth worst local authority, calling data ‘misleading’

Barnet Council has dismissed research suggesting it is the sixth worst local authority in the country, calling the data “misleading” and not showing the “full picture”.

The Office for Local Government (Oflog) has published data ranking all 317 councils in England. Barnet came in at 312, while neighboring borough Haringey came in at 307 and Enfield at 303.

The results, which are available in timethey also include a ranking of five council services, which informed the overall assessment of each council.

These services were finance, waste, roads, social care and planning, with Barnet ranked 274th, 301st, 77th, 301st and 254th respectively. However, Barnet criticized Oflog’s methodology, calling it “extremely narrow and deceptive”.

A council spokesman said: “Along with the rest of local government, we believe that the limited Oflog data cited in time the report is extremely misleading.

“The Oflog website itself warns users that the data itself does not present the full picture and should be used to generate questions and not to reach judgements.

“The data does not reflect the performance of our services as a whole and is inconsistent with the feedback we receive from residents. Also, the data used is not the most recent, with most of it dating back to 2021/22.”

time the article said that not all local authorities provided all five services, in which case they were given an “average score”. Of the top 30 councils, only one provided all five services, the City of London, which came 25th.

Although the figure for providing all five services is increasing, of the top 150 councils only a minority provide all five.

The article said Oflog’s aim was to provide “authoritative and accessible” performance data to “support the improvement of local government”.

However, Barnet Council questioned the results, adding that the Association of London Governments had written to the Department for Upliftment, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) expressing its concerns and the role Oflog played in supporting councils.

In terms of its planning services, according to the DLUHC, Barnet determined 100% of major applications on time, and in terms of all planning applications had the second highest number of decisions made in London.

Barnet Council also sets its collection targets for funding every four years, adding to the belief that the year-over-year representation from Oflog did not present a “full picture”.

The council spokesman added: “We regularly assess the performance of services for our residents to ensure they remain of a high quality and take action where improvements need to be made.

“Nearly four in five (79%) of our residents think the council is doing a good job – up from 2020 (72%), while 65% of residents are happy with the way Barnet Council is running things – more than the London and national average. .”