Local Government Reputation Campaign

Local government plays a huge role in people's lives and, according to the Treasury, is the most efficient part of the public sector making 1632.6m a day in savings. So why is it that public satisfaction of council services is improving, but the public perception of councils is not?

To start off the Reputation Campaign, in the Spring of 2005, the LGA commissioned MORI to hold a series of focus groups across England and Wales in a range of authorities including several `excellent' performers. They showed that, despite improved council services, public perceptions of local government generally remain where they were decades ago. Most people see their council as remote, low profile, bureaucratic and inefficient.

Further MORI research revealed that, at the moment...

  • just one per cent of people would talk highly of their council unprompted
  • only five per cent know a great deal about what their council does

MORI went on to analyse hundreds of its residents surveys from across Britain. From these they identified a number of key services and issues that have the greatest impact on how local people judge their authority. With councils that excel in each of these areas, MORI then identified 12 core actions that all councils can adopt.

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