Ceredigion County Council website

The data, compiled by Data Cymru, shows that Ceredigion County Council has performed exceptionally well in areas such as:

• Educational attainment
• School leavers that are in employment, training or further education
• Preventing homelessness
• Assistance to improve dwellings
• Low levels of fly-tipping
• Percentage of municipal waste that is reused, recycled or composted
• Percentage of pupils taught Welsh as a first language

Compared to the other 21 Local Authorities in Wales, Ceredigion has the second highest number of performance measures in the best 25%, and the joint highest number of performance measures in the top 50%. These results place Ceredigion as one of the top performing local authorities nationally as measured by the Local authority Performance Profile developed by Data Cymru.

These results also show the important contribution that our residents make to our community, and demonstrate the excellent work achieved by Team Ceredigion, that includes Cabinet Members, Elected Members and Officers. 

Despite the significant challenges that Ceredigion faces through being one of the lowest funded authorities, along with the challenges around rurality and the sparse population, these results provide valuable evidence that the Council is not only exercising its functions effectively, but also making the best use of the resources available.

The results of the Profile, were considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Coordinating Committee at it's meeting held on 16 January 2025, alongside the results of the National Residents' Survey which was held during the Summer of 2024. Members noted a disconnect between the perception conveyed by residents through the National Residents' Survey, with that of the Local Authority Performance Profile results and the findings of the Ceredigion Self-Assessment report which was considered by Cabinet earlier this month.

The Profile shows that Ceredigion Council is the 4^th best in Wales in terms of the percentage of municipal waste reused, recycled or composted and that the Council ranks 5^th best in Wales in terms of the low number of recorded fly-tipping incidents (per 1,000 of population). However, 61% of people answering the National Residents' Survey strongly or slightly disagreed with the statement “my local area is well looked after.” Meanwhile, 35% of people strongly or slightly agreed with the statement, “my local area has a clean environment” and just 32% of people were very or fairly satisfied with the Council’s provision of waste management.

Three quarters of the Council’s budget is spent on Education, Social Care and Highways and Environmental Services and the Residents' Survey asked people about value for money and quality of services provided by the Council. The Residents’ Survey found that 76% of people do not think that the Council provides services of a high quality and 81% do not think that the Council provides services that represent value for money.

However, the Local Authority Performance Profile data puts Ceredigion 5th best in Wales in terms of the percentage of Year 11 school leavers who are Not in Education, Employment or Training; and 5th best in Wales in terms of the percentage of learners that achieve 3 or more A-levels at A* to C. Ceredigion is 4th best in Wales in terms of the percentage of households successfully prevented from homelessness.

Councillor Bryan Davies, Leader of the Council said: “The results of this independent Local Performance Profile re-enforces the findings of the Ceredigion Self-assessment. It's pleasing to receive assurances through an external piece of work that Ceredigion County Council is performing so well in many areas. The National Resident's Survey has also provided us with an extremely valuable insight into the matters and issues that concern our residents. There is a clear disconnect between perceptions and the findings of independent performance reports, which may be in part due to the crippling financial challenges facing all Local Authorities, and consultations being held at the time when the Council was considering possible savings to the Council’s budget. However it is important to note that we as a Council are asking how residents feel about our services, and we will be reviewing any specific issues raised in the survey in order to improve the services that we are able to deliver. 

“Maintaining a high standard of service delivery during a period of increased budgetary challenges is extremely important to us as Cabinet Members, and we work closely with officers in order to identify innovative ways of achieving our goals. Thank you also to the Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees who have scrutinised the data in detail with the support of officers, and for presenting their recommendations to the Cabinet. Working together is an important aspect of the Council’s work, which has contributed to our success.”