Government appointed commissioners set to hand powers back to Liverpool council
Commissioners brought in to run parts of Liverpool City Council after allegations of corruption have recommended that some powers be handed back to the authority.
But the eagerly-awaited move after nearly three years came with a caveat that some oversight should continue.
The Government stepped in over the running of the council after an inspection was ordered in December 2020 following the arrests of a number of people.
The most high profile was then-mayor Joe Anderson, who was held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation. Mr Anderson has always denied any wrongdoing and to-date no charges have been brought.
Now the commissioners have recommended services be handed back to the council in June, but that a statutory improvement board, to provide “oversight, advice and challenge” be put in place until March 2025.
Lead commissioner Mike Cunningham said the first year of the intervention had been “difficult”, but progress had been made in the past 18 months.
He said: “We’ve always said that the council does not have to be outstanding for intervention to conclude, it has to be just good enough and large areas of the council are good enough.
“But what we are not yet seeing is that those improvements are sufficiently well embedded or sufficiently well evidenced to be able to give assurance to the secretary of state that a full intervention can now completely conclude."
The commissioner added: “Residents of Liverpool are absolutely entitled to be mistrusting of Liverpool City Council because they have not had a good service for many years. Trust takes a while to build up.
“The challenge for Liverpool City Council – and it’s a challenge for the council, not the residents – is to build that trust again.”
The authority’s chief executive Tony Reeves stepped down in June 2022, shortly before a report from the commissioners was published in which they recommended expanding the intervention to oversee finance.
Council leader Liam Robinson, who took up his post in May 2023 after the role of elected mayor was abolished, said: “Nobody ever wanted commissioner intervention, but as soon as that happened, it was incumbent on us to work very, very closely with the commissioners, to have the right professional, working relationship, to work our way through this improvement journey that’s got us to this point today.
“From my perspective now, it’s over to us. Getting all of those powers back means it’s down to us to keep improving the way the council operates for people in the city.”
He said he believed the culture was “significantly improved”.
The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has said Secretary of State Michael Gove is minded to extend the intervention by appointing an statutory assurance and improvement board and has asked for representations before a final decision is made.
Thirteen people have been arrested and released under investigation as part of Operation Aloft, the police probe into alleged fraud involving the council.
A Merseyside Police spokesman said: “We can confirm that Operation Aloft, an extensive investigation into fraud, which includes bribery and corruption, is ongoing and an evidential file has been submitted to the CPS for consideration.”
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To know...