Government intervention at Croydon

Updates following the announcement that the government are ‘minded to’ appoint commissioners at Croydon.

Update July 2025

On 17 July 2025, the Minister for Local Government Jim McMahon confirmed in a Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament that the Secretary of State had appointed Commissioners at Croydon Council.

Full details of the background and documents relating to the intervention, including the Commissioners letters of appointment can be found on the UK Parliament website.

The Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, has said he expects "the Council to drive its own improvement with the support, challenge and advice from the Commissioners."

The commissioners are:

  • Gerard Curran (lead commissioner)
  • Debra Warren (commissioner)
  • Jackie Belton (commissioner)
  • Councillor Abi Brown OBE (commissioner, political and governance)

Commissioner fees are £1,200 per day for the lead commissioner and £1,100 per day for the commissioners, up to a total of 150 days annually for each individual, except the commissioner (political and governance) which is up to a total of 120 days annually.

Contact the commissioners by email: commissioners@croydon.gov.uk.

Why the decision was made

On 12 June the government announced that it was ‘minded to’ appoint commissioners at Croydon and invited representations ahead of a decision. You can read the 12 June Written Ministerial Statement.

The council submitted a formal representation to the government, putting forward preferred options for working with them. Local partners submitted representations supporting the council’s position.

The government has now considered those representations and announced their decision in the 17 July Written Ministerial Statement.

Why the government are 'minded to' appoint commissioners

The government’s ‘minded to’ announcement followed the publication of the final letter from Croydon's government-appointed Improvement and Assurance Panel (IAP).

In its representation to government, we disagreed with the conclusions in the IAP letter and put forward an alternative suggestion for working with the government from July. 

Croydon has worked with an IAP since 2021, following our financial and governance collapse in 2020. 

Since then, we have made good progress in improving our council. This has been recognised by a wide range of partners, from our children’s services being rated ‘good’ by Ofsted, to the Regulator for Social Housing, our auditors and the Local Government Association (LGA).

Read more about improving our council.

We have met 96% of the actions in our Exit Strategy – our jointly-agreed plan for the IAP to leave Croydon in July 2025. Staff across the council have played a really important role in making this positive change for residents.

We have worked with our government-appointed panel for several years. If at any time the panel or the government felt that there was any action the council should be taking and was not, they had the power to instruct us. We are pleased that this never happened.

Croydon’s financial position remains incredibly challenging, among the most difficult in the country. This is due to a combination of our historic debt, and the pressures that all councils are facing, with rising demand for our services, and extra costs in delivering them. These challenges are so serious that we cannot meet the Exit Strategy requirements on becoming financially sustainable.

You can read:

Croydon's position

We are pleased that the government has appointed a team of highly experienced officers and for the first time a political commissioner to bring additional focus to our journey of continuous improvement. We look forward to benefitting from their expertise, advice and challenge, as we work in close partnership with them for the people of Croydon.

We fully understand that the government needs assurance that the council is doing all it possibly can to meet its Best Value Duty to residents. 

Whilst this was not our preferred model for delivering this assurance, we remain committed to working constructively with government and the commissioners to get our council in a sustainable position, while continuing to deliver the services our residents depend on.
 

Control of the council

There are no changes to the council’s leadership, political or officer.

The Executive Mayor remains the political leader of the council and councillors are the elected representatives. Senior officers remain in post.

The statutory Directors of Children’s Services, Adult Social Services, Public Health and Monitoring Officer all retain their statutory duties.

The statutory posts of the Chief Finance Officer - Section 151 officer and the Head of Paid Service have had their statutory functions transferred to the commissioners. 

Council services

There are no immediate changes to council services bar those which have been announced.

Any changes to services are still subject to the usual consultation processes by law.

We are already delivering a huge amount of improvement and change as part of our transformation plans and this will continue. We will continue to involve and consult with staff, residents and partners on these as appropriate.

The commissioners will want to work with us to see what other improvements we could bring in especially in reducing the operating costs of the council.

Council contractors and partners

Our arrangements with suppliers will remain subject to the same contract law, that does not change following the appointment of commissioners.

Future Croydon

We developed our Future Croydon transformation plan because we agree that the council’s finances are not sustainable. We want to become more cost effective and efficient, while driving growth and investment in our borough.

These plans remain just as important as ever, and we will be continuing to progress them at pace. However, we have always been clear that, whilst necessary, Future Croydon will not solve all of the council’s financial challenges. 

As the Improvement and Assurance Panel stated in their letters and in their Exit Strategy, there is a need for the government to help resolve the issue as well as the council. 

The Mayor’s Business Plan

The Mayor’s business plan: 2022 to 2026 remains our corporate plan, that sets our priorities and our service plans. 

The plan is about transforming the council into one that delivers sound and sustainable local government services, and in so doing will transform our borough into one that Croydon residents can once again be proud to call home.