Merthyr Tydfil Council is an “improving council with the potential to do more”, according to the findings of its first panel performance assessment under the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021.
The act requires councils to commission an independent external panel at least once between ordinary elections to assess how well the council is performing.
Assessment findings
The assessment found the council appears to be at a significant point in its development with a growing recognition that, to become more sustainable and to break entrenched inequalities within its communities, it must now focus with greater pace and purpose on transformation.
It said the Marmot agenda stands out as a major opportunity to align the council, its partners, and its communities around a shared long-term ambition for the area. In June 2025 Wales became the world’s first Marmot nation, adopting Sir Michael Marmot’s eight principles to tackle health inequalities. Merthyr Tydfil is one of five councils that has received funding to become a trailblazer for it.
Overall, the panel found that the council is exercising its statutory functions effectively. This conclusion is based on regulator reports, an independent financial assessment, and reinforced through discussions with officers and councillors which provided consistent evidence that the council is meeting its core statutory responsibilities.
Strengths and opportunities
The council demonstrates a number of clear strengths, the report said. It is viewed as “punching above its weight” in some areas and has made visible progress in recent times, which should be recognised and celebrated.
“There is a fierce passion for Merthyr Tydfil, both as a place and as an organisation, and a shared recognition across members, officers, and partners of the scale of the challenges facing the area and the need to respond to them collectively.”
“The council is also seen as working well in a crisis, reflecting resilience, commitment and a strong sense of local responsibility.
“There is also a strong sense of opportunity. Staff are enthusiastic about the potential that transformation can bring, and there is a clear appetite for change, with staff keen to see this supported by visible progress and practical delivery.
“The emerging One Merthyr partnership with the third sector is a positive example of innovation in how the council is beginning to work differently with others, while the wider discussions reflected a desire to build on recent improvement, create more strategic capacity and channel existing energy into long-term change for the benefit of communities.”
Recommendations
The assessment also makes a number of recommendations which include:
- Uniting behind a long-term shared ambition to break inequality within Merthyr Tydfil
- Creating capacity by focusing leadership and resources where they are needed to lay the foundations for the next generation
- Making the transformation programme a key priority for the council, recognising that this will release capacity to progress delivery of the shared ambition
- In order to achieve transformation and delivery of the shared ambition, the council needs to adapt its focus and approach to collective and strategic leadership
- Retaining the positives of a friendly and familial culture and take deliberate steps to move to a ‘high-challenge high-performing’ council
- Being deliberate about partnerships: establish, develop and sustain them around the shared ambition on breaking inequality
- Engaging meaningfully with Merthyr Tydfil’s numerous and diverse communities, creating an ongoing relationship to progress delivery of the shared ambition
- Ensuring that while focusing on transformation and a long-term shared ambition, delivery of immediate and tangible symbols of change would give the council hope and encouragement
- Telling the proud and confident story of Merthyr Tydfil: its heritage, its progress, the council’s successes, and the hope for the future
- Being demanding of itself and for the people and communities of Merthyr Tydfil
Next steps
The panel considered two areas of local focus identified by the council which include how well prepared the council is to meet the challenges in delivering sustainable services through its transformation programme, financial and workforce planning and how well placed the council is to work effectively with partners and maximise resources across sectors.
There are also three statutory performance requirements that formed part of the assessment. These are all being actively considered by the corporate management team alongside the summary of recommendations set out in the report which are intended to support the council’s ongoing improvement journey and inform its next phase of development, the report said.
Cabinet and senior officers will recommend that the council accepts the recommendations in full. The council has produced an action plan in response to the recommendations as well as a six-month delivery plan set against the original cabinet priorities published in 2024.
