Technical Notes 2026, Issue 142 - Local Government Benchmarking Framework 2024/25- October 2026 Update
Report by:
Ann Davie, Chief Executive
TN Number:
142-26
Subject:
Local Government Benchmarking Framework 2024/25- October 2026 Update
Responsible Officer:
Joseph Greatorex, Corporate Performance & Research Manager
Publication:
This Technical Note will be published on the Council’s website following circulation to Members. Its contents may be disclosed or shared outwith the Council.
The Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) provides evidence of trends in how councils allocate resources, the performance of key council services and levels of public satisfaction with the major services provided and commissioned by councils. The data supports evidence-based comparisons between similar councils providing an essential tool for policy makers and the public over time
The key criterion applied to the suite of indicators is that any one of the indicators must be able to be collected on a comparable basis by all 32 councils. The indicator set is not static but intended to evolve alongside the needs of local authorities and regular revisions are made to the indicator set
The 2024/25 benchmarking data is being published in stages on the Improvement Service website with the final version, reporting on the full indicator set, due to be published in August 2026. On 10 March 2026 a national overview report of the data available to date was produced by the Improvement Service
Following on from the initial publication of dataset in March a report was considered (EDC/010/26/JG) at the April meeting of Council outlining the contents of the National Overview report and Council’s performance in relation to the Framework. At this time, however, 2024/25 data was still unavailable for a number of indicators in the dataset and the Council instructed an update on the position following the publication of the full suite of indicators
As of September 2026 the 2024/25 data has now been updated for the below indicators in relation to Climate Change and Children’s Social Work.
Climate Change
C02 emissions per capita
C02 emissions within scope of LA per capita
C02 Emissions from transport
C02 emissions from electricity
C02 emissions from natural gas.
Children's Services
Gross Costs of Children Looked After in Residential based services per child per week
Gross Costs of Children Looked After in a community setting per child per week
Proportion of Children being looked after in the Community
Proportion of Children meeting developmental milestones
School Attendance Rates (Looked after pupils)
School Exclusion Rates (Looked after Pupils)
Proportion of Child protection re registrations within 18 months
Proportion of Looked After Children with more than 1 Placement in the last year
Proportion of Children Living in Poverty (after Housing Costs).
Appendix 1 provides an updated analysis of the dataset for 2024/25 including these additional indicators. In addition to this update an improvement narrative has also been provided in relation to any indicators that fall into the bottom quartile of Scottish Local Authorities
In terms of the overall analysis of indicators the addition of 14 indicators has not had a material impact on the overall proportion of indicators demonstrating improvement or decline though there are some minor proportional variations
The Council will continue to engage with the Local Government Benchmarking Framework, and a further update will be provided upon publication of the 2025/26 Improvement Service National Overview report and publication of the majority of 2025/26 Data in the Spring of 2027.
