Ealing Council has been described as “well-led” and “moving in the right direction” in an independent assessment carried out by senior figures from the Local Government Association (LGA), though the review also warned of steep financial pressures, housing demands and weaknesses in key services.
The Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC), held between 13 and 16 May 2025, brought experienced council leaders and officers into the borough for four days to review governance, finances and performance.
The team’s final report praised “effective and collaborative political and managerial leadership,” naming council leader Councillor Peter Mason and chief executive Tony Clements as “widely respected.” It highlighted the turnaround in children’s services from “requires improvement” to “good” in May 2024 as a “significant achievement.”
The review said Labour-run Ealing had “achieved much under the current political and managerial leadership” and was pursuing a “strong and purposeful vision for change,” with a “transformative drive” to improve outcomes across the borough’s seven towns. It urged the council to move from “discovery to courageous delivery,” using the Connected Communities vision as the central framework for transformation.
Performance in some services drew recognition. The peer team noted that Ealing is consistently amongst the top performers for processing planning applications and, on the latest benchmarking, is the second top performing borough in London for recycling. The council’s nine resident-focused priorities, supported by three cross-cutting objectives on climate, equalities and jobs, were judged to rest on a “robust” performance management framework.
But the report also highlighted weaker performance. It found that “the council performs less favourably to other London boroughs for the time taken to process housing benefit claims/change events, which also received a ‘red’ RAG rating in the council’s own performance report. This is linked to a surge in housing benefit claims related to the rise of households in temporary accommodation and supported exempt accommodation.”
It added that “the borough’s rising demand for temporary accommodation is reflected in the latest LG Inform data. This shows Ealing’s figures are above the London borough average.” As of quarter three in 2024/25, “the number of households in temporary accommodation exceeded the council’s own target… they still stand at 2,972 households… (target is 2,750).”
There were further concerns around housing and care. The council’s landlord function remains under a Regulatory Notice for non-compliance issued in May 2022, with external auditors highlighting “a significant weakness relating to progress on the regulator’s recommendations.” In adult social care, the Care Quality Commission rated services as “requires improvement” in January 2025.
Ealing also faces acute financial pressures. Demand-led social care and temporary accommodation costs underpin a projected budget gap rising from £14m in 2026/27 to £57.7m by 2028/29.
The council’s reserves, though still low compared with other London boroughs, have improved. Over the past four years, Ealing has avoided reliance on them and rebuilt through budgeted contributions and modest underspends, mainly from treasury management. On the CIPFA resilience index, the council moved from 29th out of 32 in 2020/21 to 21st in 2023/24. The section 151 officer judged overall reserves “adequate” but comparatively higher risk.
The Housing Revenue Account remains tight. The council has relied on reserves to balance, with a forecast overspend of almost £1m at the third-quarter stage in 2024/25 and a proposed £2.283m drawdown. The 2025/26 budget adds a contingency and a small contribution to reserves, though the peer team warned that oversight would be needed.
Councillor Mason said: “When I became leader, we set out to become the kind of open, transparent and inclusive council I knew the residents of Ealing wanted us to be. I’m incredibly proud that the improvements we have secured have been recognised by the LGA in their thorough and independent review.
“We continue to be relentlessly focused on getting the basics right, holding ourselves to the standards that our residents expect from us, and being ruthlessly efficient in getting the best value for taxpayers’ money. We know we still have more to do, as we always will.
“This is the heart of our new approach to building stronger communities, full of pride, identity and purpose. Ensuring everyone gets to benefit from the growing prosperity in our seven towns. Delivering on our promise to give people power and control over the future of their neighbourhoods.”
As part of the CPC process, the council is required to publish an action plan within five months of the visit and report publicly on progress within 12 months.
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