One Coventry Performance Plan 2023-24 - Print version

Foreword

Coventry City Council’s One Coventry Plan sets out our city-wide vision and priorities until 2030. It builds upon the progress that the previous plan made, but acknowledging the challenges we face in delivering priorities and realising our vision. The plan recognises that the role of the Council is changing and sets out what we can and cannot do; highlighting the importance of partnership working and that positive impact will only be achieved if we all play our part and work together to ensure that Coventry continues to be a thriving city.

 The One Coventry Plan focuses on three overarching areas:

• Economy and skills and ensuring that as we grow our local economy in Coventry, that this growth benefits all communities 
• Continuing to work to reduce the inequalities that exists between people living in our richest and poorest communities
• Tacking the causes and consequences of climate change, both the council but with partner organisations.

The One Coventry Performance report aims to measure and monitor impact against priorities with the One Coventry Plan by presenting quantitative metrics alongside qualitative insights including case studies demonstrating impact.  Together, this describes the impact the council and its partners have had at both a corporate and service level. 

Following the 22/23 Performance report, it was agreed that going forward we would publish this report bi-annually.  This current report includes data from the year April 2023-March 2024, with the next bi-annual report including data from the year October 2023-September 2024 (due to be published in December 2024).  This will allow more timely monitoring of the of the One Coventry Plan and a better understanding of the impact of our activity.  Increasing frequency of this reporting is our first step towards a more dynamic approach to performance management to provide ongoing assurance and scrutiny of the direction of travel. It will also ensure that the council and partners can take the opportunity to respond to any identified issue in a timely way.

Overview

What is One Coventry?

One Coventry is a values-based approach that describes how we work together with our communities and partners to improve the city and the lives of all who live, work and study here.

It is a way of working that enables us to focus on the things that people value most, helping us to make the biggest possible impact on the lives of local people.

Our One Coventry approach focuses on enabling people to live their best lives in a vibrant and prosperous city. This can only be achieved by listening to and collaborating with, those who live, work, visit, and do business in our city, by having different conversations and building on the great things that are already happening.

What is the One Coventry Plan?

Coventry City Council’s new corporate plan: The One Coventry Plan 2022-2030 was informed by Coventry residents and outlines our vision and priorities for the next eight years. The plan describes the way that we bring people and organisations from across the city together, to work as one; in order to make the biggest positive difference to the lives of those who live work and study here.

The One Coventry Plan sets out the strategic vision for the City of Coventry to 2030 and our approach to increasing the economic prosperity of both the city and region by improving outcomes and tackling inequalities within our communities; and tackling the causes and consequences of climate change.

These are things that the Council cannot do alone. We must continue to work in a way that ensures we maintain continued financial sustainability of the Council, as well as strengthening the Council’s role as a partner, enabler, leader and as an anchor organisation in Coventry.

Our refreshed plan is more focused on the needs and aspirations of our communities than ever before. We have listened to and reflected on what people have been telling us and considered the key issues facing the City.

In summary, our three delivery priorities are:
1. Increasing the economic prosperity of the city and region.
2. Improving outcomes and tackling inequalities within our communities.
3. Tackling the causes and consequences of climate change.
The two enabling priorities are:
1. Continued financial sustainability of the Council.
2. The Council's role as a partner, enabler and leader.

How we measure our progress

This bi-annual report sets out our performance against each of our three key priorities and two enabling priorities for the period April 2023 to March 2024. It identifies trends, provides performance metrics, with supporting qualitative information via case studies, to enable an assessment of the progress made. It also includes contextual insight into our overall performance and comparison with regional and national benchmarks where applicable.   

Metrics

The Council uses agreed metrics to show progress against its priorities. This is supported by a wider basket of metrics including equality and perception metrics that help explain the trends and story behind the headlines. Metrics are selected from key strategies and aligned to directorate priorities and equality and health inequalities objectives. Further information including infographics, open data, maps, and the Coventry citywide intelligence hub [http://www.coventry.gov.uk/infoandstats].

The One Coventry Plan 2022-2030

 There are 73 metrics of which 2 are unable to reported for this year as information is not available and 4 have not been fully developed and are recorded within the ‘progress not available indicators’.

The One Coventry Plan 2022-2030 is measured against 73 metrics. 2 are unable to reported for this year as information is not available and 4 have not been fully developed and are recorded within the ‘progress not available indicators’.

Of the 62 metrics available, 37 had improved; 6 stayed the same; 19 declined.   

In summary 69% (43/62) of the directional metrics (excluding cannot say or not available) improved or stayed the same.

The four indicators which are not fully development are within the following  priorities:-

Tackling the causes and consequences of climate change  (3 indicators to be developed)

1. Increased use of renewable energy and heat decarbonisation will be collected via the Household survey from Autumn 2024
2. Biodiversity net gain (measure of tree planting and biodiversity) has recently been incorporated into national planning policy and in future registration with Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs of offsetting sites will be available to measure this.
3. Number of planning policies in line with the Global Goals for climate action.  Current local plan review is looking to include further planning policies in response to climate change and specialist consultancy support has proposed policies which respond both to climate change goals and national legislative frameworks.  Locally, these measures are undergoing local viability testing ahead of next stage of plan review consultation required ahead of submission to the planning inspectorate.

 Continued financial sustainability of the Council (1 indicator to be developed)

4. Households at risk of digital exclusion will be measured via survey from Autumn 2024

A challenging global economic context

The West Midlands economy has shown resilience in the face of challenging national economic conditions, in which the economy dipped into recession in the second half of 2023 (reflected by GDP contracting by 0.1% in Q3 and 0.3% in Q4) before returning to growth in Q1 2024 (GDP growing by 0.7%), with many economic forecasters projecting UK economic growth in 2024 and 2025 to be higher than previous projections. While inflation has fallen over the course of the past year, from a high of 10.1% in April 2023 down to 3.4% in March 2024, interest rates have remained high, rising to 5.25% in August 2023, where they have stayed. These factors, coupled with ongoing international conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, have kept energy prices high and compromised trade routes, adding to shipping costs.

However, against this economic backdrop, business activity in the West Midlands has continued to grow, albeit modestly. The regional Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed that business activity in the region only dipped into negative territory for one month (September 2023) and has otherwise remained in the positive, peaking at 54.2 in May 2023, representing slow but steady growth (any score over 50 represents an expansion of activity). In terms of business optimism, the West Midlands has remained one of the most positive regions, maintaining a future activity index of above 70 throughout the year.

As well as challenges around high costs and elevated interest rates, businesses have also faced labour market difficulties this year. Economic inactivity remains high, with long waits for NHS treatment exacerbating the legacy effects of the pandemic. While the rate of unemployment has remained steady, the number of vacancies has remained high, which has contributed to skills shortages and wage growth.

International trade continues to be restricted by the new trading rules introduced after the UK formally left the EU. These have been made only tougher with the recent introduction of the checks on imports from the EU, which have added cost, additional administration, and further border delays. While it represents just a small fraction of the lost trade with the EU, the UK has signed up to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which will cut red tape for exports and reduce tariffs with countries, such as Brunei, Peru, and Malaysia.

International competition from countries including the USA and the EU, supported by government subsidies and America’s Inflation Reduction Act, had made the UK a less attractive location for investment. However, there was positive news, particularly for Advanced Manufacturing, as the West Midlands was given the green light for an Investment Zone centred around the Coventry Airport site, now known as Greenpower Park which has outline planning permission for the UK’s largest gigafactory. It is hoped that the benefits offered by the arrangement, which includes generous tax reliefs, will encourage significant investment in the site, and neighbouring sites which are also part of the Investment Zone.

Regeneration work continues around the city, with the first stage of archaeological preparatory works now complete as part of the first phase of the City Centre South scheme. The £400m+ scheme will transform the south side of the city, with new homes, retail and restaurants, along with new public spaces. Detailed Planning Consent is now in place for the first phase of the scheme and preparatory works and demolition are due to begin during 2024/25, with the project due for completion in 2034.

Government figures for Foreign Direct Investment in 2023/24 show that the West Midlands was the strongest region outside of London for FDI, with 133 projects in the region. More than a third of these projects (53) took place in Coventry and Warwickshire and created 2,161 new jobs. This represents a 5% reduction on last year’s figure but is marginally better than the national picture where the number of projects dropped by 6%.

Coventry & Warwickshire placed second for FDI Strategy and with top 10 placings for Economic potential and business friendliness in the FDI Intelligence Magazine’s annual FDI European Cities and Regions of the Future Awards 2024.

Coventry and Warwickshire attended UKREiiF (the UK’s Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum) in May 2024, as part of a West Midlands regional presence. The West Midlands had the largest pavilion at the show, allowing Coventry & Warwickshire to have its own exhibition stand and providing space for a packed meetings and events programme. Coventry’s strengths in the low carbon sector were profiled alongside E.ON and our key projects such as the Investment Zone, Greenpower Park, Friargate, City Centre South, Cultural Gateway and the Strategic Energy Partnership were promoted through a number of speaking opportunities. The new Coventry Investment Prospectus was launched at the show to a key audience of investors, developers and other property professionals, showcasing investment opportunities in new regeneration projects in addition to our strategic sites and investment opportunities in transport and digital innovation and green futures projects. Work continues to follow-up on the productive introductions and conversations started at UKREiiF.

Regional gross domestic product (pound per head

Following a number of years of strong growth, Coventry’s local economy has slowed down since 2016, increasing the impact of the financial challenges presented by the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. The total annual GDP in Coventry (the value of all economy activity within the city) stood at £10.723 billion in 2022 (the most recent data), which is a 3.5% contraction on the previous year’s figure. 

When exploring economic output per head of population, measured in Gross Value Added (GVA), However, Coventry was the only Local Authority in the WMCA to see its GVA per-head fall between 2022 and 2021 (measured in 2019 prices), albeit it by less than 0.1% (across the WMCA region GVA per-head rose from £22,678 in 2021 to £23,318 in 2022).

Despite these challenges the city’s economy has many strengths. Coventry is home to some world class business clusters and retains a competitive advantage in some key industries including advanced manufacturing and engineering.   At the West Midlands regional level, Advanced Manufacturing has suffered due to JLR’s shift in focus from volume to profit, halving production and creating more value outside the region. Creative and Cultural activities have grown significantly across the UK but remained flat in the West Midlands and Tourism (accommodation and food) has fallen significantly in the West Midlands, while remaining flat nationally.

All this data suggests that further interventions are required to realise the West Midlands’ economy’s growth potential and tackle barriers to economic growth and business growth, particularly relative to other regions.

Wage growth has been strong in Coventry, rising above the GB average for the first time in over 20 years.  The Median Full Time gross weekly pay rose 10.5% to £698.80 in the city in 2023 compared with the previous year, moving it above the West Midlands (£651.60, a 6.0% rise), and Great Britain as a whole (£682.60, a 5.9% rise).  Through the Job Shop, the Authority continues to work with Coventry residents and businesses alike to ensure that as many local residents as possible are accessing good quality employment opportunities.

Working with existing businesses in the city to grow and expand

The number of enterprises in the city in 2023 grew by 40 compared with the previous year, to stand at 10,335. This is a rate of 300 per 10k population which is lower than Warwickshire (451), WMCA (316), and national (407). However, this progress should be considered in the context of a challenging business environment with historically high interest rates, elevated costs of both energy and materials, and the UK economy briefly entering recession in 2023. Support from the Council and our partners to encourage new business start-ups and the growth and the continuing expansion of existing ones remains a key area for development.

Business Support Programmes

A new suite UK Shared Prosperity Fund-funded business support programmes began in Q4 2023, operating under the banner of Business Growth West Midlands, after European Regional Development Fund (ERDF – the primary funder of business support activities over many years) ended in June 2023. While the overall level of UKSPF funding is lower previous sources, we have put together a comprehensive and integrated business support offer, which includes account management delivery to support businesses through their growth and development journey, specialist assistance focussing on start-ups and social enterprises, tailored decarbonisation support, and accompanying capital grants. Whereas our previous programmes funded through ERDF had Coventry & Warwickshire-wide geographical coverage, the new Business Growth West Midlands service is now focussed on businesses in Coventry alone (plus those in the other 6 WMCA Constituent Authority areas).  As of the end of the 2023/24 financial year, the Business Growth West Midlands Service had given in-depth support to 480 Coventry businesses, and awarded 31 grants, offering a total of £449,497 to local firms.

Delivering Capital Regeneration Schemes

City Centre South

City Centre South will transform seven hectares of the city through a new mixed-use development scheme that will provide approximately 1,550 new homes, a high-quality public realm environment and exciting leisure and retail spaces. Key milestones achieved this year include: the securing of a detailed Planning Consent for the first phase of the scheme; the completion of the first stage of archaeological investigation ground investigations and the provision of fantastic new Shopmobility facilities in Salt Lane. Many of the existing businesses in the area have moved to new premises, including the Council’s Job Shop, which has relocated to the West Orchards Shopping Centre.

Friargate Business District

Coventry’s newest office building, Two Friargate, formally opened this year, providing 134,000 square feet of Grade A office space. The building has now welcomed its first new occupants, with teams from Octopus and Segro now moved in. Ofqual has also taken space in One Friargate. The Friargate Business District was further expanded with the opening of the new four-star, 100-room Indigo Hotel in January, a £20m project which took just 19 months to complete.

Palmer Lane

Work began this year on a new project to uncover a section of the River Sherbourne as part of a new regeneration scheme on Palmer Lane. The site is the only part of the city where the river is visible, and the plans will see a new public space created there. Work includes the demolition of the culvert – a large concrete slab, which sits over the river. The scheme, which is a joint project between CCC, Historic Coventry Trust, Severn Trent Water, and the Environment Agency, will cost £2.4m and will create a pleasant public area, with steps leading down to the river, green landscaping, and improvements to biodiversity and planting. The project is due for completion by the end of 2024.

Supporting the Creative, Cultural, and Tourism Sector

Following a record year for the tourism sector in 2022/23 and building on the successes of the UK City of Culture 2021 year programme, Coventry has been named as one of the best cities to attend cultural events in the UK. New research by IT firm Adobe Express found there are 1,782 festivals or creative events in the Coventry area (including Leamington, Kenilworth and border areas of Solihull borough) this year, placing it above London and Manchester.

The growing interest in the city’s events, opportunities and attractions is also reflected in the number of residents signing up as new GoCV members, which has grown at an increasingly rapid rate since 2021, driven heavily by work to publicise the app. The member total now stands at over 100,000, and the number of GoCV+ members also continues to rise, and now stands at more than 8,000.

Construction work is now underway to develop the former IKEA store into the City Centre Cultural Gateway, which will further build on the legacy of the UK City of Culture year. The project consists of three phases:

• Phase One:  convert specified floors into bespoke facilities for the storage, care and management of nationally significant arts, cultural and heritage artefacts. This will become the Collections Centre, a joint venture with Arts Council England, the British Council, and Culture Coventry Trust.
• Phase Two: a cultural hub, proposed by Coventry University, to provide a range of cultural educational, engagement, training and professional development opportunities.
• Phase Three: to carry out ‘shell and core’ works to the remaining floors to make them ready for future lease opportunities.

The ambition for this project is to create a beacon of cultural activity for the city, to secure partnerships with two national cultural organisations and strengthen the partnership with Coventry University through the development of a ‘Cultural Hub’. This will facilitate the growth and development of wider cultural partnerships in the city, thereby contributing to the city’s Cultural Strategy. It will also present further opportunities for the city to work collaboratively for exhibition content and curation, including at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum.

Cultural events in the city have received additional funding as part of the Commonwealth Games Legacy Fund. The Godiva Festival and Caribbean Reggae Fever are just two of the events in the Region that have benefited from the £3m fund.

Helping people into work

Employment rate

Coventry’s employment rate for working age residents has increased from 71.9% in 2023 to 72.2% in 2024, reflecting the impact of local employment initiatives to mitigate the challenging business environment since the pandemic. Levels of economic inactivity in the city have reduced although only by 0.1% to 22.3%, remaining above the national figure which has increased by 0.2% to 21.4% and the West Midlands figure with inactivity rising by 0.7% to 21.9% across the region. For Coventry the rates of inactivity are also partly magnified by the city’s high student population.

Unemployment rate

Coventry’s unemployment rate has seen a small reduction from 5.8% in 2023 to 5.6% in 2024.  The national rate has remained static at 3.8% (Mar 24).  These figures reflect the challenge the city faces in recovering from the pandemic in the face of tough business conditions caused by high prices and interest rates.  Additionally changes within the benefit system have seen a movement of claimants from inactive benefits to Universal Credit, further increasing overall unemployment rates.

Using Local Skills Improvement Plan intelligence to build on our Skills Strategy work

The West Midlands and Warwickshire Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) was developed by Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce and presents findings from extensive business engagement on key skills needs. This document has informed our ongoing Skills Strategy Framework for Action work, strengthening our focus on ensuring Skills Providers are effectively engaging with businesses and providing the right skills offers. In addition, the LSIP unlocked the £10m Local Skills Improvement Fund for the regions FE Colleges. We have worked to ensure that this fund provides good value for Coventry residents and businesses in areas such as a regional Adult Skills Portal and improved employer engagement for Coventry College.

Supporting Young People into Work

The Coventry Youth Hub provides a fully integrated service for all young people who are aged 16-29 and claiming Universal Credit, enabling Job Shop advisors and JobCentre Plus staff to support Coventry’s young people to re-engage with training and the labour market. This year the Coventry Youth Hub has supported 466 young people into part-time and full-time work. Due to the work of the Job Shop, the average number of supported interventions required to help young people secure good quality work has decreased to 5.5, from 7 the previous year, demonstrating the great links between the Job Shop and local industry.  Coventry continues to maintain a relatively low Youth Unemployment rate of 5.6% of 18–24-year-olds, compared to the West Midlands average of 7.3%.

An Enhanced Job Shop Service Offering

As part of the City Centre South developments, Coventry City Council’s Job Shop has relocated to its new premises at the West Orchards Shopping Centre. In order to meet the challenge of tackling the number of people classified as economically inactive, the Job Shop has implemented a new ‘hub and spoke’ delivery model, which will widen its reach with Job Coaches providing tailored support across the city.

The new Job Shop boasts a new customer sign-in system which can be used in 10 different languages, a large street-facing shop window, and a total of 19 screens displaying content such as job opportunities, events and partner / business recruitment activity.

The Job Shop first opened in Hertford Street in March 2012 as part of Coventry City Council's Jobs Strategy to help local people find work and after proving a huge success it found the need to move to bigger premises in the Bull Yard in 2013. Since 2013, more than 60,000 Coventry residents have registered and the Job Shop team has supported over 15,000 people into good quality employment, whilst working with 200 businesses each year to support their recruitment.

In 2023/24 the Job Shop achieved 6,301 new customer registrations, and 46,059 customer engagements (i.e. CV writing, 1:1 support, job searching etc). The Shop helped 818 of its customers to get jobs this past year and supported over 200 local businesses.  These figures are slightly lower than the previous year reflecting the transition required following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union and the subsequent closure of all European Social Funded Employment Initiatives. 

Progress continues to be made through the Coventry Skills Strategy Framework for Action by increasing the number of adults moving into employment through successful employer co-designed pre-employment courses, which provides unemployed residents with the skills businesses require. In academic year 2023/24 (to date) 688 Coventry residents have moved into paid employment directly after completing their courses. This is up from 363 in academic year 2021/2022.

Case Study 1

Since the new Job Shop location opened its doors in May, the shop has been busier than ever before. Many customers have been supported into work, further training and education. One of the first customers we supported in the new shop had many barriers for her to achieve her next step in her career. This included, being a recent migrant and being new to the UK job market, lack of work experience in the UK and lack of suitable roles for their skillset in Coventry. Being a primary carer for her children also limited the roles available to her, as well as being unable to travel far for roles due to not being able to drive. After extensive job searching and a recommendation from a friend, they visited the Job Shop for some support.

The first step was to ensure that we set short term and long-term goals. Before we started looking for suitable roles, we wanted to improve the quality of their applications to better suit the UK market and enhance their CV in readiness to send to employers. On offer at the Job Shop there are many workshops that customers can attend, these include CV Workshops, Job Application Workshops and Job Ready Workshops. The customer attended all 3 of these workshops and found them extremely useful, especially as they were during times that coincided with school hours, meaning they had plenty of time to pick up their children from school.

Due to the customer’s lack of experience in India and the UK, the next step was to look at what type of roles are in the local area and what skills, training and qualifications they require to be successful at interviews. The participant has extensive experience in the banking sector, specializing in HR. These were the sectors that they wanted to continue working in, if this provided the flexibility needed with childcare. The customer found this extremely useful, as it boosted their confidence, knowing that there is a role suitable for them in the local area. However, due to their lack of experience in customer service, we discussed how to overcome this, and agreed that volunteering was the best way forward.

The participant successfully completed a series of volunteering sessions with the Job Shop to enhance their customer service skills. During these sessions, they provided valuable assistance in both the reception and computer areas, proving to be a significant asset to the Job Shop. With the Job Shop's support, the participant was able to better structure their job search activities, which in turn, led to multiple job interviews as they improved the quality of their applications.

After being offered a role at one company, with the help of the Employer Engagement Team, we were able to negotiate flexible working hours, which included some homeworking due to childcare responsibilities. This is something that the customer was overjoyed with.

In the space of a month, the customer’s attitude towards work, completely changed. Instead of being anxious about how work in the UK would affect childcare, and if they would find suitable work related to their previous experience, they are now awaiting a start date with their dream UK job with a small business in the city centre!

Case Study 2

In June, a customer came into Job Shop looking for employment support after he recently completed his English and Maths course. Having been out of work for a while, this had impacted his confidence when looking for work.  As our support is tailored for each individual, I initially booked him in for weekly 1-1 appointments with myself, as well as a Confidence and Motivation Workshop in the Job Shop.

During our 1-1 appointments we found that he had a lot of IT barriers, which in turn meant he was unaware of how to effectively job search and had issues with completing job application forms online. We also found that his CV had been written with pen and paper, therefore the first step was to support him in typing this out for him, so that he would have a digital version when applying for jobs online. During his initial appointment, the customer was also booked with the Adult Education Service to complete a Digital Skills Assessment as part of the 50+ Choices Workshops for jobseekers over the age of 50 we have running at the Job Shop.

During the following appointments, we identified suitable job opportunities that would work for him alongside a possible IT course in September. Despite his qualifications and experience, he often found it challenging to stand out in a competitive job market. As this process took a little longer than what the customer expected, his financial situation became a source of worry for him, therefore we booked an appointment with an inhouse Money Advisor to seek some support with their budgeting, and to see if he would be eligible to claim any additional financial support.

Whilst this was taking place, the customer started to get more and more invitations to interviews, this boosted his confidence massively, especially after attending an interview skills workshop.

At the end of July, the customer was successful at an interview with a company for one of their part time cleaning roles. This was perfect for him as the shifts align perfectly for when he will also be starting their IT course in September to improve their digital skills.

He was thrilled and extremely grateful for the help and support received.

Young People Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET)

Coventry’s 2023 combined figure of 3.5% is an improvement on the last five years’ performance and represents an all-time low. Coventry remains below (better than) both England and West Midlands average NEET performance. Coventry City Council have successfully commissioned Prospects (part of Shaw Trust) to carry out NEET tracking and engagement work. This partnership has continued to support Coventry young people to achieve positive destinations.

These figures demonstrate Prospects’ systematic approach, robust tracking and excellent partnerships with schools, colleges, the Coventry Job Shop and training providers. The figures are testament to the careers education, advice and guidance provided by every secondary school, college and training provider in Coventry which enables Coventry’s young people to engage in the right provision, grasp opportunities and aspire to be their very best.

Increasing the economic prosperity of the city and region metrics

Metric	Previous	Current	Comparators	Progress	Target	Status
Regional gross domestic product (pound per head)	£31,578 (2021 provisional)	£33,117 (2022 provisional)	West Midlands Region £30,117, (2022 provisional), England £37,8520 (2022 provisional)	Improved (or target already acheived)	To increase	On-target
City centre footfall (% of 19/20 outturn)	56.5% (2022/23)	69.1% (2023/24)	Leicester City Centre 76.8% (2022/23)	Improved (or target already acheived)	To increase	On-target
Visitor trips	11,050,000 (2022)	N/A	N/A (No data), England N/A (No data)	Not available or no updated date	To increase	No target set
Resident employment rate (proxy for new jobs)	72.1% (Jan-Dec 2022)	72.2%(Apr 23-Mar 24)	West Midlands Region 75% (Apr 23- Mar 24), England 75.5% (Apr 23 – Mar 24)	Similar, unchanged or statistically insignificant	To increase
Unemployment (model-based)	4.9% (Jan-Dec 2022))	5.4% (Dec 2023)	West Midlands Region 4.8  (Dec 2023), England 3.7% (Dec 2023)	Got worse	To decrease	Off-target
16-17-year-olds not in education, employment, or training (NEET) including not knowns	3.9% (NEET 2.1%, Not known 1.8%) (2022)	3.5% (NEET 2.2%, Not Known 1.3%) 2023	Statistical Neighbours 6.2% (NEET 3.8%, Not Known 2.4%) 2023),   England 5.2'% (NEET 2.8%, Not Known 2.4%) 2023	Improved (or target already acheived)	Below (better than) national average and Statistical Neighbours	On-target
Destination of school leavers aged 16+	91.6% (2020/21)	92.1% (2021/22)	Statistical Neighbours  91.9% (2021/22), England 93.6% (2020/21)	Improved (or target already acheived)	Above or equal to national average	Off-target
Destination of school leavers aged 18 after reaching the end of 16 to18 study	78% (2020/21)	82% (2021/22)	Statistical neighbours 79.5% (2021/22), England 82.6% (2021/22)	Improved (or target already acheived)	Above or equal to national average	Off-target
Apprenticeship levy transferred to support non-levy paying firms in Coventry	£55,642 Transferred 2022/23 Total pledged - £426,485	£32,459 Transferred 2023/24 Total pledged - £445,477	N/A	Got worse	To increase	Off-target
Job Shop Customers Going on to Get Jobs	N/A	818 (2023/24)	N/A	Cannot say, no clear direction of travel	To increase	No target set
Active enterprises (number and rate per 10,000) (proxy for new businesses)	374 (10,295) (2022)	369 (10,335) 2023	WMCA 397(2023), Warwickshire 542 (2023), England 509 (2023)	Improved (or target already acheived)	To increase	On-target
Change in Council Tax Base (change from 2009 base) (proxy for number of new houses in the city)	112.42 (2022/23)	113.27 2023/24	CIPA 113.11 (2023/24), England 114.64 (2023/24)	Improved (or target already acheived)	To increase	On-target
Proportion of neighbourhoods amongst the 10% most deprived in England (measure of deprivation)	14.4% (28 out195 Coventry LSOA’s) (2019)	N/A	WMCA 26.4% (2019), England 10% (2019)	Not available or no updated data	Below national average	No target set
Investment income secure	£2.9m (2022/23)	£5.3m (2023/24)	N/A	Improved (or target already acheived)	Above Budget	On-target

Improving outcomes and tackling inequalities within our communities

• 77% Adult social care met through short-term reablement (23/24)
• 84 Children in care (rate per 10,000) (2024)
• 1164 Homeless cases prevented and relieved (23/24)
• 76.8 Male life expectancy at birth (2020-22)
• 81.6 Female life expectancy at birth (2010-22)
• 5883 Fly-tips reported in the city (23/24)
• 106.8 Crime rate per 1000 population (23/24)
• 103 First-time entrants to the youth justice system (23/24)
• 2064 people received commissioned support for domestic abuse (23/24)
• 3650 people receiving long-term adult social care support. That is a rate of 1319 per 100,000 (2024)
• 64.5% satisfied with care support (people who use adult social care services 23/24)
• 91.1% attending a good/outstanding primary school

Delivering services which can respond to the needs of residents across all communities in Coventry

Stark inequalities exist in Coventry which see a baby being born in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the city having an average life expectancy of ten years less than a baby born at the same time in one of the more affluent areas. To address such inequalities, the council must think differently about services it delivers, how easy it is for all residents to access these services, how our most vulnerable residents experience these services and what services need to do to ensure they result in a positive benefit for all residents.

Refreshing our Marmot city approach to reduce health inequalities

Coventry has had Marmot City status for over ten years, underlining an on-going commitment to reducing health inequalities in the city. Health inequalities are caused in part by health services, but mainly by wider determinants that impact health including education, housing, and employment. Work to reduce health inequalities has been driven by the Marmot Partnership, with the wide membership reflecting the focus not just on health services but also on broader determinants. While the Marmot city approach has had significant impact, particularly in relation to skills and employment, it is important that all services understand the links between life circumstances and access to good services. Where a resident lives, their level of education, what job they have all influence their ability to benefit from our services. The conditions people live in will determine their access to services, the quality of the service they receive and the benefit they will gain. When we design services with our most vulnerable residents in mind, then the service is improved for all residents. This is the ethos of the Marmot approach to reducing inequalities and needs to be understood by all services to see the reduction in inequalities that we have committed to.

We don’t always know how best to deliver a service to meet the needs of all our residents.  For example, working long or anti-social hours, having significant caring responsibility, not having English as a first language and living somewhere with limited public transport options can all have an impact on access to services, the residents’ experience of these services and the benefit that they gain from them.  It is important that we understand which residents are (and more importantly those who are not) benefiting from services.  We need to better understand reasons for this and redesign services accordingly.  Existing initiatives within the council like the new customer experience team, commitment to better collation of data and focus on performance management through safeguarding and performance board, and National Institute for Health Research funding to develop a Health Research Determinants Collaboration could all be mobilised to improve services for all.

Life expectancy

The life expectancy at birth of the average person in Coventry is 76.8 years for males and 81.6 years for females.  Following a 10-year plateau, since 2019 this figure has fallen for both, in line with England and West Midlands trends. However, this masks significant health inequalities across the city as illustrated in the bus route number 7 graphic below.  

Coventry bus route number 7 runs between Brownshill Green in the north-west and Bell Green in the north-east of the city. It crosses some of the city’s most affluent areas, as well as some of the most deprived.

The Coventry map graphic sets out the bus route (in black) across the city; and the base map sets out the neighbourhoods (known as MSOAs (Middle Layer Super Output Area)) of Coventry. The colours represent the average life expectancy at birth of residents in each of Coventry’s neighbourhood areas (MSOA) in 2016-2020.

On the ‘bus stop’ graphic, the height of each bus stop represents the average life expectancy at birth of residents in each area in 2016-2020. Life expectancy serves as a useful summary measure of mortality, as it quantifies the differences between areas in the years of life lived; and therefore, illustrates the stark health inequalities across the city.

Cleaner streets, supported by action against fly-tipping

The number of fly-tipping incidents reduced from 6,840 in 2022/23 to 5,883 in 2023/24.   The Environmental Enforcement Team exceeded the target of the 5% reduction and will continue to drive down fly tipping through a combination of education and enforcement focussing attention on the streets that are causing the most issues. Working closely with colleagues in streetpride and domestic waste, it is hoped that we will see further reductions over the coming years, whilst maintaining or increasing the current level of enforcement.  

Good development at age 5

By the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage (5 years old), a child is defined as reaching a 'good level of development' (GLD) if they have attained the expected learning outcomes in a number of key areas of learning.

There has been an improvement in performance in Coventry in 2023. 63.9% of all the city’s five-year-olds achieved a good level of development at age 5, in 2023 up from 61% in 2022.

We have seen a bigger gain in the percentage of children achieving GLD when compared with statistical neighbours, although our figures remain below national average.

Early years continues to be a citywide priority through the Early Years Strategy and the Start for Life programme.  Key activity within this work includes improving support for children’s speech, communication and language development through workforce development and improving opportunities for families to play and learn together within the home environment and local community. The use of two ‘Apps’ – ‘Easy Peasy’, and ‘50 things to do before you’re 5’ has been effective in providing universal and targeted support.

Data for children’s achievement communication and language indicates a 1.4 ppt improvement from 2021/22, with 76% of all children achieving this Early Learning Goal showing we are making some strong progress through current initiatives.

Case Study – 50 things to do before you’re 5

This app helps children reach important milestones, by providing 50 low or no cost ideas for play, to the people caring for them. Activities have a strong focus on communication and language. The app can be translated into 132 different languages. Since its introduction in 2023 we have seen 1,360 unique downloads reaching over 6% of the under 5 population. The app is used by a number of practitioners across Education, Children’s Services, Health and Libraries and is advertised across a number of Council venues. A number of schools have also delivered family learning sessions centred around the use of the app. Throughout 2024 we will continue to promote the use of the app as we work towards a delivery target of 3,000 users.

Overweight and obese children

Coventry has seen a small improvement the rates of obesity in both reception and Year 6 pupils.  Coventry has taken part in a pilot programme run by Newcastle University, who were commissioned by the Secretary of State, to evaluate the impact of additional resources for parents as part of the National Childhood Measurement Programme.  This involved using body image scales and a website to support parents around maintaining healthy weight in children.  The findings of the pilot should be published in the next few months and Coventry are using the local data to help target interventions and improvement to the service.  The Family Weight Management Team, who are part of the Family Health and Lifestyles Service in Coventry, delivered by South Warwickshire University Foundation Trust, have reviewed and redesigned their service offer.  This work commenced in July 2023 and the team introduced new ways of working towards the end of 2023 and this will continue to be reviewed and evaluated to monitor progress.

A food-resilient city where no one goes hungry

Coventry Food Network (CFN) is registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). CFN is a dynamic multi-agency partnership with the specific aim of providing a coordinated and sustainable infrastructure for the provision of accessible, nutritious and affordable food for those most vulnerable in society; supporting people with dignity and helping them to navigate their way out of the challenges and drivers of food poverty. Food is used as a tool to build more resilient communities in which people’s health and wellbeing are improved and their lives become more manageable.

A number of valuable initiatives and events have evolved through this partnership:

• CFN continues to work closely with Coventry City Council to create and deliver a system of emergency food provision to those eligible for government support through the Household Support Fund (HSF).
• CFN has invested in a shared database, which has been rolled out across the fifteen food hubs and currently is use by all HSF providers. This has been a critical element in supporting the re-design of HSF process.
• CFN continues to work with an ever-increasing range of partners across public, private and voluntary and community sectors. 
• CFN is building on its successful community engagement model, by entering into discussions and sharing information with the Integrated Care System (ICS) and the broader health sector.
• With support from CCC, CFN is leading an approach which facilitates tailored ‘wraparound’ responses to progress households from dependency to independency, at their own pace by addressing complex needs contemporaneously, rather than by the referral/linear approach, historically adopted. 
• CFN continues to work with Fare Share to pursue the potential of established relationships with food suppliers beyond donations to purchase. 
• CFN & Coventry Foodbank collaborated to provide practical and innovative solutions, sharing knowledge, space and financial resources:
  • Purchase of a shared walk-in freezer, to minimise food waste; Foodbank contributed 25% cost and housing freezer, with CFN contributing remaining 75%.
  • STEP Support System: Coventry Foodbank invested time in developing and testing, with CFN investing financially to enable roll out across frontline support organisations. (The STEP System is an application that offer our communities effective signposting to relevant organisations).
• CFN distributed circa 32,000 food parcels between April 2023 – March 2024.
• CFN distributed circa 28,000 HSF food parcels between April 2023 – March 2024

Tackling inequalities through a collaborative approach

Community and neighbourhood integration

Public, voluntary and community sector organisations are working together through trusted relationships to understand and address the priorities and needs of residents and the community. This includes enabling accessibility through integrating and collocating services in community venues to provide immediate, holistic, person-centred support, partnering with local school leaders and youth organisations to better enable them to help families and vulnerable young people in need. Partners are focusing on the cost of living, crime, health and wellbeing initiatives and events.

There are many examples of how working in this way is making a difference to the lives of local people. For instance, a partnership approach to targeting interventions to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in neighbourhoods, is helping residents to feel safe and secure where they live.

Opportunities have also been taken to integrate and co-locate services in community venues. This integration of services means that more residents have been able to access support when they need it, in known and trusted places. This support has included helping people to find a place to live; improving access to education; enabling them to secure training and employment; supporting them to become more financially resilient and improving their health and wellbeing.

Engagement with local stakeholder groups

The Council’s Community Resilience team works closely with community groups and organisations across the city; enabling new groups to be created and sustained and in turn to

Prioritising work with community groups and organisations who support people; for example, friendship groups and peer mental help support groups as this helps to alleviate the burden on social care as well as health services.

Helping individuals who have a good idea for a group or charity to get established and/or supporting existing groups to ‘keep going in these difficult times’.This is done by tailoring support to the group in question – it could be they are helped with setting up a constitution or legal governing document for their organisation or helped by connecting them to similar community groups across the city or with a local area so that they can work together.

Supporting with communication and marketing so that the group can recruit new volunteers or trustees as well as address the ever-present problem of funding.The team support community organisations to attract funding; during the period April 2023-March 2024 the team supported a total of 160 applications and secured over £1.4 million of external funding for groups in Coventry.

Community Messengers

The Community Messengers network was established in the summer of 2020 so that community leaders could work with public health team around covid prevention and vaccination take up. 

The group comprises of well-connected community leaders and influencers from various voluntary, community, resident, and faith organisations. These individuals collectively form the Community Messengers group. 

Community messengers work best when there is genuine co-production and collaboration on projects and examples include work on the response to the COVID pandemic and, more recently, The Improving Lives for Older peoples work.  It is important that the group asked for feedback at a stage where their input can still influence the outcomes. The group acts as a genuine ‘critical friend’ and provides real anecdotal information and community stories that have positively influenced plans and practices. The group is founded on a mutual understanding that individuals’ time and feedback will be respected and acted upon.

Meeting the public sector equality duty

The Council has continued at pace to deliver on its obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty and advance the growth of its diversity and inclusion agenda more broadly. Work to progress the Council’s Equality Objectives for 2022- 2025 has continued; the five objectives outline how the Council will meet requirements to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people of different groups.  
 
Between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, Coventry City Council completed 37 Equality Impact Assessments, of which 4 were internally focused EIA’s and 33 were external EIA’s relating to service provision.

An additional 17 Equality Impact Assessments were complete as part of the budget setting process for 2024 to 2025

National Highways and Transport resident survey showed a slightly decreased satisfaction with accessibility, both overall and for those with disabilities.  The Council’s Disability Equality Action Partnership continues to work on equality and inclusion for people with disabilities - bringing together Coventry residents, charities, voluntary organisations, service users and public sector partners from across the city and region.  The DEAP meetings held during 2023-24 considered a wide range of issues including those relating to transport and accessibility – and was consulted on major projects including Blue Ribbon Roundabout and City Centre Traffic Improvement schemes. 

A key highlight from the past year has been the installation and opening of an additional five new Changing Places Toilets in the city as part of a grant received from the Department for Levelling Up’s funding programme – taking the city-wide total to twelve of these facilities now available for use by people with the most complex disabilities

Case Study – Changing Places toilets

A new Changing Places toilet was opened in Spring 2024 at the War Memorial Park. The unit is one of the most advanced forms of accessible toilets. It includes specialist equipment with plenty of room for the user and carer.

The Council has installed five new Changing Places Toilets at the War Memorial Park, Coombe Abbey Park, Shop Mobility, Albany Theatre and at Tesco – Cross Point.

Visitors have been impressed. Bushra Shah, who is in Y9 at Sherbourne Fields School, was one of the first people to visit the facility at the Memorial Park. She said: “It’s amazing. It’s also useful and it’s got everything you need. You don’t have to go home and can enjoy more time out.”

Marie Geary, a teacher at Sherbourne Fields School, added: “We all know how important it is to get outside and enjoy a day in the park in the fresh air. It’s great that we have this venue because we don’t have to make extra plans, we can be more spontaneous and spend all day here. It makes a big difference.”

Changing Places are toilet facilities for people with profound and multiple disabilities. The toilets are fitted with specialist equipment such as a hoist and changing bench.   They provide sufficient space for up to two carers to support the person with a disability to use the Changing Place. 

The toilet facilities will ensure that people with severe disabilities and their families or carers will not have to worry about whether there are suitable toilet facilities when they go out shopping, plan a day out or travel. 

Coventry City Council were awarded more than £260,000 of government funding to install the five new Changing Places toilets in the city to help improve lives of severely disabled residents.  

There are also seven other Changing Places toilets registered in Coventry, at: The Reel Store; Wilfred Spencer Centre; Asda Whitley; Central Library; University of Warwick Sports and Wellness Hub – Dry Sports and University of Warwick Sports and Wellness Hub – Pool side and Coventry University.

The Wave and the Coventry Railway Station also have the facilities. 

Tackling violence, including domestic abuse and sexual violence

Decrease in crime

Total recorded crime in Coventry decreased in April 2023 to March 2024 by 10.1% from 42,867 in 2022/23 to 38,509 in 2023/24. This accounts for 106.8 crimes per 1,000 population. Total recorded crime in Coventry from 1 April 2024 to 31 July 2024 had reduced by 4.2% compared to the same period in 2023.

Out of the seven policing areas, Coventry ranked 2nd and accounted for 11.7% of total recorded crime (TRC) [2nd to Birmingham by volume. Coventry is ranked 4th highest by crimes per 1,000 pop; behind Solihull, Birmingham and Wolverhampton]. The top three offence types were 'Assault without injury - Common assault and battery', accounting for 11.2% of TRC (4,345 offences), compared to the previous year this is a decrease of -8.1%. 'Theft from shops and stalls was the second highest offence type, accounting for 6.7% of TRC (1,763), compared to the previous year this is an increase of +44.3%, followed by 'Theft from a motor vehicle' accounting for 6.2% of TRC (2,410), compared to the precious year this is a decrease of -17.4%. 

Hate crime

Police in Coventry take hate crime very seriously and respond to and investigate all reported hate crime in the city. A Hate Crime report can now only be finalised by a Police Inspector (as opposed to a Sergeant), providing an extra level of scrutiny.

West Midland Police (WMP) recorded 884 hate crimes in Coventry during 2022/23 and 842 Hate Crimes in Coventry for 2023/24. The positive outcome* rate for Hate Crime in Coventry for 2022/23 was 10.79%, for 2023/24 was 12.59%. * a charge to court, criminal caution or community resolution where the offender admits responsibility and a sanction is recorded.

We have continued to deliver training courses to raise awareness of how to report incidents of Hate Crime. Targeted merchandise with details of how to report have been distributed across the city. Staff in family hubs have been trained on reporting incidents and supporting victims in making a report. We are currently running awareness training around the “Stand by ME” (standbyme.uk [https://url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/ZnKuCZ4kwtOKjkytz6zRX?domain=standbyme.uk]) campaign that gives anyone the tools to identify discrimination and how to support victims if they witness an incident.

Domestic abuse

Domestic abuse is largely a hidden crime with only 20% of cases being reported to the police. There is evidence that independent specialist support and advocacy is vital to the ongoing safety of victim-survivors providing emotional support, safety planning, reducing the risk of harm and improving recovery and outcomes. Coventry recognises the importance of these services in tackling domestic abuse and that interventions at the earliest opportunity improve outcomes. Ensuring more victim-survivors are receiving the right help at the right time and accessing support from the specialist support services is a priority for Coventry. Coventry now has an Early Intervention Team based at Coventry Central Police station offering support, at the earliest opportunity, to victim-survivors reporting to the police and also has a growing multi-agency network of domestic abuse champions support survivors of domestic abuse across 

Coventry to access specialist support. Since April 2024 there has been an increase in the number of officers investigating Domestic Abuse Crimes in Coventry, an increase in the number of suspects arrested, an increase in positive outcomes and an increase in the use of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (expeditious and interim form of police led Restraining Order).

Case Study

“Children at risk of criminal exploitation and serious youth violence are safer as a result of the effective partnership work undertaken by both statutory services and the third sector to reduce risks in places and spaces as well as for individual young people in Coventry. Mature partnership arrangements are in place. Since 2019, partners in Coventry have continued to focus on serious youth violence and exploitation. Their response to the new serious violence duty, through the Coventry Serious Violence Prevention Partnership led by the police, with strong links to the West Midlands Regional Violence Reduction Partnership and Coventry Safeguarding Children Partnership, further builds on the learning from the city’s experience of serious youth violence”. 

Household Support Fund

We ensure that residents experiencing financial hardship can access the right support at the right time. Since the beginning of April 2023, we have supported 10,513 households through our application-based process on the following support types:

Note: This is the number of households supported, if a household receives multiple awards they are counted once only. 

• 6,816 households awarded food support provided by our local food network.  
• 9,755 households awarded energy support (top ups/cash)  
• 547 households awarded essential items linked to energy and water (white goods, boiler repairs) 
• 1,382 households awarded supermarket vouchers for clothing.  
• 278 households awarded essentials items not linked to food, energy and water (beds, curtains where none existed before)  

The total grant determination for HSF4 was £6.4m. During the entire 12 month period, we supported residents by making awards to an estimated value of £6.4m. Over a third of households required a single award to support them through a particular period of financial hardship. Approximately one third of households received more than three awards. We work creatively with partners to ensure people can access the support they need and reach out to individuals and families facing complex challenges to enable us to bring partners together to secure a long-term solution. 

Case study 1

Date of application: 21 January 2024

Support required: Household essentials

CS1 is a Longford resident in his 40s who made an application for carpet. CS1 is in receipt of Universal Credit and unable to work due to severe epilepsy.

The condition resulted in falls and often epileptic fits during their sleep, and with no carpet in the bedroom, this meant falling on to hard concrete floor. CS1 was embarrassed about his property and did not allow visitors of friends or family for this reason.

CS1 was in debt as had taken out a loan to clear an overdraft. 

This application was successful and was awarded carpet for his bedroom.

CS1 was signposted to debt support organisations and referred to a Welfare Benefit Adviser to work on income maximisation.

Case study 2

Date of application: 31 May 2024

Support required: Fuel and household essentials

CS2 is a resident in the Lower Stoke ward, a lone parent with four children aged 12, 4, 2, and 9 weeks. CS2 is unemployed and in receipt of Universal Credit.

The 9-week-old baby had just recovered from viral meningitis and had just been discharged from hospital. CS2 had separated from their partner who left the family home leaving them with a £1500pcm rent to cover from Universal Credit before bills and daily living costs. A family member was having to support CS2 with food and nappies from their state pension.

CS2 was applying for new beds for the children and a cot as the baby was getting too big for their moses basket. The 2- and 4-year-old were sleeping in CS2’s bed.

This application was successful, and the customer was awarded a cot and beds/mattresses for the two younger children. CS2 was also awarded a Love2Shop voucher to purchase bedding and clothing and a washing machine.

A referral was also made to Early Help for support with debt and housing issues.

Low-income family tracker project (LIFT)

The Council continues to employ the LIFT data analysis tool to identify some of our most vulnerable households. The technology uses data held within the Council’s council tax and benefits systems to identify some of our most financially vulnerable households. The software can also identify households that may be entitled to additional council and government support which they’re not currently receiving. The initial project was hugely successful and helped to identify several million pounds in unclaimed benefits and pension credits for Coventry residents. In 2023/24 we have built on this early success and used the tool to assist in migrating people to Universal Credit, identifying unclaimed Pension Credit and Attendance Allowance and we are looking at how the data can help us increase the take up of free school meals. We are also working closely with partners at Central England Law Centre to identify residents who may have been incorrectly subjected to a cap on the total amount of benefits they can receive.

The Council’s use of the LIFT software demonstrates our ongoing commitment to supporting our most vulnerable households and using data we hold to deliver better outcomes for local people.

Holiday and Food Activity Programme

More than 4,000 eligible children and family members benefitted from the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. This project aims to address some of the inequalities experienced by children during the school holidays. It not only delivered over 150 positive activities, but also guaranteed that children benefited from a meal.

Approximately 30% of children who attended summer 2023 HAF activities were identified as children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. As part of our focus on activities for children with additional needs, there was a partnership approach between the HAF programme and Coventry’s special schools which was funded through Coventry Building Society investment.  This resulted in 6 out of the 8 Coventry special schools hosting or partnering with other organisations to deliver a wide range of activities including: swimming, crafts, outdoor games, horse riding, cooking, sensory play, sports, trips (e.g. Cadbury World, Lego Discovery etc.)

This provided an opportunity for partners to be more involved in the delivery of HAF and supported provision of some fantastic holiday opportunities for children and young people with SEND.

Protecting children and supporting families to give children the best start in life

Reduction in the number of children in care

Since the introduction of Coventry Family Valued, the number of children in the care of Coventry City Council, excluding Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) has decreased year on year. UASC are excluded from total numbers because Coventry made the proactive decision to contribute to the national crises around this issue and therefore the overall number of looked after children is not a like-for-like comparison. On that basis, the overall number of children in care has reduced from 735 in 2021, to 684 in 2022 to 659 in 2023 and by the end of March 2034 fell to 627.

In summary, the number of children in care has reduced and is getting closer to levels in comparator LAs.

The Family Valued Strengthening Families change programme is designed to spread restorative practice across children’s services. A key element is the focus on Strengthening Families through Relationship Based Practice. There is a desire to empower and enable families to find solutions, to build their own networks and for families to make changes, build resilience and most of all to remain together. The Family Valued project seeks to safely reduce the numbers of children in care and improve the quality of children’s lives and future outcomes, by enabling them to live safely outside of care and within their family and community networks where possible. A key part of this work has been Coventry’s reunification work which has seen 38 children safely reunified to live with family from care.

Repeat referrals to children’s social care

The continued emphasis on embedding the Coventry Family Valued Project and the quality of support children and families in the city receive has maintained a re-referral rate (20.9%) below Statistical Neighbours (23.6%) and the England Average (22.4%). The MASH has a continuous development quality assurance programme which has a focus on re-referrals to improve our understanding of themes and trends. This identifies areas of practice improvement required to sustain emphasis on reducing re-referrals whilst measuring impact and outcomes for children and families.

Children in Care who have previously been in Care

The percentage of new children in care, who were previously in care has decreased dramatically from 9.6% in 2021/22 to 5.3% in 2023/24. This is an increase from 3.4% in 2022/23. This overall decrease reflects the impact of the Family Valued approach by ensuring that the right children come into care at the right time. However, the slight spike from last year reflects that for some children situations can still change suddenly and service needs to respond to risk appropriately.

Emily and Jason's story

Emily is 11 years old. Emily went into care when she was 6 years old. During her time in care, Emily lived in eight different foster homes. When Emily was in care she felt angry and her behaviour often showed how angry she was feeling. Emily's foster carers struggled with her behaviour, and Emily felt rejected by her foster carers. She came to expect that adults would eventually 'give up' and she would need to move again.

Jason is Emily's dad. He worked hard to make changes in his lifestyle. He worked with drug and alcohol services, he completed parenting courses, and he accessed emotional support. Emily wanted to live with Jason and said that her life as a looked after child was 'not normal'.

A reunification assessment was started, and alongside the assessment, the Reunification Project supported Emily and Jason to improve their relationship, increasing family times sessions as the assessment progressed. The assessment concluded that Jason could provide the safe and consistent care that Emily required, and after a short period of transition, Emily went home to live with Jason.

As part of the family's reunification plan, a Family Group Conference took place, and wider family were able to identify how they would support Emily and Jason, alongside the support which was offered from the Reunification Project to support the transition from foster care to returning home, family counselling.

Since Emily has returned home to love with Jason, she seems much happier, and school have said she appears settled, and is making really good progress.

Integrated early help, education partnership work and implementing the Family Valued programme

Supporting families through offering the right help at the right time with the right people

The Early Help Partnership’s Strategy for 2023-2025 outlines our shared vision and ambition for Coventry to be "the best city in the UK for all our children, young people, and their families, to live and grow up in." We aim for children to be valued, feel safe, be healthy, and have opportunities. Through our Early Help offer, we connect people to provide the right help at the right time with the right people, enabling all children and families to thrive. This initiative is primarily delivered through the Family Hub and Start for Life Offer, available to all families with children aged 0-19, and up to 24 for young people with SEND. It operates on a connected partnership basis, providing bespoke family support for those needing additional help from the Supporting Families programme. Coventry holds national trailblazer status in delivering the Family Hub offer and has received government investment to expand our support for children in the first 1001 days of life, ensuring every child gets the best start. We continue to collaborate with partners to meet the government’s Supporting Families targets, helping families through early help assessments and plans that lead to sustainable changes and improved outcomes for children and young people.

Improving the educational attainment of our children and young people

School performance

Nearly nine out of every 10 children in Coventry attend a school that is rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, the schools’ inspectorate. In March 2024, 85.8% of secondary-aged pupils attended a good or outstanding school which is the same as March 2023.  The figure for primary-aged pupils has improved to 91.1% and for pupils attending a special school has improved significantly to 91.7%.  We remain aware that every inspection provides a grade at a particular point in time and all schools have made significant efforts regarding school improvement progress since their last inspections.  Each overall inspection outcome also comprises of a range of sub-judgements – even where schools are below an overall Good grade, key strengths are identified in inspections.  For example, many of these schools received Good judgements for “Leadership & Management” and “Behaviour & Attitudes” at their most recent inspections.

Pupil attainment

In January 2021 the Government announced that in response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, that it was not appropriate for many exams and assessments to proceed as planned. It was confirmed that students taking GCSE, AS and A levels regulated by Ofqual would be awarded grades based on teacher assessment. Teachers were required to use a range of evidence to make a judgement about the grade at which their students performed, with a focus on the curriculum content that students had been taught.

Every school and college were required to put into place an internal quality assurance process, which was defined in their centre policy. The exam centres’ internal quality assurance included the standardisation of marking and grading judgements. As part of the external quality assurance, exam boards reviewed the centre policies for all centres, requested evidence from all centres and checked the evidence used to support teacher grades for some students in a sample of centres.

In both 2020 and 2021 grades awarded via teacher and lecturer assessment nationally were significantly higher, overall, than they had been in 2019.

For 2022, Ofqual announced that grading for pupils in England would again make provision for pandemic impact but anticipated that grades were expected to fall to a mid-point between those in 2019 and 2021. From 2023, it was expected that grades would revert to a more normal distribution. As such, 2022 has been described as a transition year.

Key Stage 2

In Summer 2023, 56% of children attained the expected standard in the combined measure reading, writing and maths by the end of Key Stage 2.  This is an improvement from 2022, in line with statistical neighbour average, and closed the gap to the national average (60%).

There has also been a focus on improving Careers Education in our schools with the launch of a new Coventry Careers Hub, delivered in partnership with Think Higher (part of the University of Warwick). All Coventry schools and FE colleges are engaged with the Coventry Careers Hub, supporting them to improve their achievement against the 8 Gatsby benchmarks (national measures for assessing the quality of careers activity provided by schools). The Coventry Careers Hub have had a particular focus on ensuring that schools that previously achieved less than 3 of the Gatsby Benchmarks were supported to achieve 3 or more. The Careers Hub have helped to ensure that 100% of schools have moved into this position. Further actions have been taken to support schools to increase the number of Gatsby benchmarks achieved between 4 and 7, and 35% of schools have been supported to achieve all 8 Gatsby benchmarks.

The Local Authority continues to work with schools within the Coventry Education Partnership to identify impactful opportunities for collaboration in school improvement. One such area is the Primary Aspirations Strategy, where a steering group has been established and the first ever Coventry Primary Aspirations Week was delivered in March 2024.

Case study

The first ever Coventry Primary Aspirations Week ran from Monday 4 March to Friday 8 March. Over 500 primary school children took part in the week’s events, with volunteers from businesses and organisations across Coventry visiting schools to talk about job roles, what the organisations do, and to encourage the children to think about their possible careers in the future. The children, aged between 7-11, were given the opportunity to learn about things such coding and how it can be used in job roles, how gaming organisations use project management and about roles that include art and creative skills. Children were given the opportunity to ask questions and talk about their possible future career choices too. Councillor Dr Kindy Sandhu, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said: “I am really proud of this initiative and the feedback we’ve had from schools and children has been nothing but positive. We really wanted to give the children an opportunity to think about their futures and imagine the type of careers they might want to purse. We know that children’s aspirations are shaped by their life experiences and the theme for this year was “To be it, you need to see it”, so we wanted to create an event that gave children the chance to broaden their horizons.” The Primary Aspirations week was launched to coincide with National Careers Week, which aims to support young people in their awareness of future career pathways. The aim for Primary Aspirations Week is to encourage primary school-aged children to think about possible career choices in the future, and how to develop some of the skills they might need to get there. Jo Stanley, the headteacher at Little Heath Primary School, which played host one of the events, said: “It was a fabulous opportunity for primary children to hear from external speakers who brought their own experiences and skillset to inspire the children. The morning had an immediate impact on the children to think about their own skills and future aspirations outside of the classroom too.”

Key Stage 4

The Government made changes to Key Stage 4 assessment arrangements in 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to the impact of the pandemic.  2023 saw a return to previous methodology and, as a result, trend comparisons are made back to 2019 which is the most recent comparable data set. 

At Key Stage 4 we saw a rising trend in all areas, with the improvement in Coventry data closing the gap with the national position for all attainment measures. Attainment 8 score is the average measure of an individual student's attainment across their 8 best performing subjects taken at GCSE level. The Attainment 8 score of individual students is then used to help calculate each school and the local authorities’ overall Attainment 8 score. In Summer 2023, the Attainment 8 score for schools in Coventry was 43.8.  This is an improvement on the equivalent score from 2019 (pre-pandemic) of 43.6 and is above statistical neighbours.  In addition the gap with the national average has closed since 2019.

Progress 8 is a 'value-added' measure that indicates how much a secondary school has helped pupils improve (or progress) over a five-year period.  In Summer 2022, the Progress 8 score for schools in Coventry was -0.05. This is slightly below the national figure (-0.03) but is an improvement from the equivalent measure in 2019 and also better than the figure for statistical neighbours (-0.14).

Enabling people to live independently

People receiving support from adult social care and their carers

Adult Social Care provides a wide range of services to people across the City. Where people require input from social care, we work with people to maximise their independence to ensure they receive the right level of support they need in the right place. 

As of 31 March 2024, there were 3,650 people receiving long-term ongoing support from adult social care (a rate of 1,319 per 100,000). The number of people we support with ongoing care and support, is a good indicator of how successful we are as a Council at supporting people to remain independent within the community. The service works in a way that promotes people’s independence, thereby reducing reliance on social care support. However, the number of people referred to the service for care and support continues to rise. This is placing increasing demand on a workforce, which is facing recruitment challenges. Consequently, a risk management prioritisation system is applied to ensure that available resources are targeted appropriately. The percentage of annual reviews completed for 2023/2024 is 55.6% showing an improvement from 49.2% in the previous year.

Phils Story – Case Study

What was the situation?

Phil is a 48-year-old man who was born blind and with good hearing, he attended a specialist school for children who are blind. Phil also has a history of low mood and self-harm which included him hitting his ears which he has done since being a child

which is a coping mechanism but which unfortunately caused permanent hearing loss and he now wears bilateral hearing aids.

Phil is therefore deafblind. Deaf blindness is a combination of sight and hearing loss that affects a person’s ability to communicate, access information and get around.

Phil receives an individual Service Fund (ISF) and manages his own care and support needs with Penderels Trust supporting via a Direct payment managed account. An ISF is a flexible way in which a person can pay for their care and support arrangements, similar to how a Direct payment works.

What did Adult Social Care do?

Phil was subject to a safeguarding enquiry as he was being emotionally and financially abused by someone who had befriended him, this led to great anxiety for Phil and him having arrears for his rent.

A social worker supported Phil to identify what we wanted to happen. Phil said he wanted the abuse to stop and would like to be more independent and access the community as easily as sighted people do. Phil feels that being blind holds him back from being able to live life how he would like to.

Phils social worker was a qualified deafblind assessor having received specialist training to assess the needs of deafblind people.

So, a safeguarding plan was put in place, which included the support of the police and we agreed to gradually transfer his package of care to a specialist support agency, Deafblind Enablement, where all support workers are qualified deafblind Communicator-Guides. These are highly trained to be the eyes and ears of people living with dual sensory issues.

What difference did it make and how are things now?

Phil’s Communicator-Guide told us how things are now.

Since Phil has had his Communicator-Guides his world and confidence is expanding. Phil was in a strict routine of going places only he knew about, eating the same foods and visiting the same places. He didn't have the confidence to integrate new ideas or places. After having conversations with Phil we discovered lots of things we could give him access to information on. He is a lover of cats, so we took him the cat cafe in the city, which is now a favourite place of his, he didn't know places like that existed. We explained the many restaurants in the city and now Turtle Bay and the Rosebud Cafe are a favourite of his. We arranged meetings at the job shop, as Phil was discussing he wants to find purpose in his life, he is enjoying the confidence course that was offered and potential volunteer opportunities. Phil is a fantastic musician and we have been supporting getting him voluntary 'gigs' at care homes in Rugby and Coventry. We found standalone pianos in Leamington at the train station where he now likes to play, and he's enjoyed members of the public coming across to sing whilst he plays. The Lief cafe is a new discovery for him and the managers asked him to play on a Saturday. The team work together to make sure that he is well supported in his endeavours, He loves to spread joy through music and it is in his words “his therapy”. 

The best thing I have witnessed with Phil is when we were able to support him to go to Theatre as he hadn't been, there was an audio described performance and he was very excited and dressed in his suit. As we were waiting there, was another blind man from Nuneaton sitting next to him and I was able to introduce them. They arranged drinks after the show and the audio describer of the performance joined us for a drink in the bar after. Phil was so happy. Phil's new friend called to arrange Christmas drinks. Phil’s world has expanded so much that interaction with others and feeling part of the community enables him to have wonderful memories.

Phil’s social worker said ‘Working with Phil initially was daunting as he had been living for many years without the appropriate level of support and this, directly lead him to make many unsafe/risky decisions. I researched extensively to further understand how and why such decisions were being made to comprehend what drove these. Working together with Phil we were then able to create a package of care that worked with him’

It was a pleasure to have worked with Phil and seeing how much his situation has transformed with the appropriate support, is the cherry on the cake!

Satisfaction with adult social care

In 2023/24, 64.5% of adult social care and support service users responding to a survey expressed satisfaction in the service they received, which is an improvement from 60.5% in 2022/23. Performance is comparable with national data of 64.4%. In addition, we continue to seek views of those in receipt of services and listen to feedback from people throughout the year, not just via the annual survey. Adult social care has an equal responsibility for anyone providing unpaid care within the city. Anyone providing necessary care to another adult is entitled to a Carer’s assessment. 33.2% of carers expressed overall satisfaction with adult social care in 2023/24, which is a slight improvement on 32% when the survey was last completed in 2021/22.

We continue to increase our engagement with the community and have held a number of ‘ASC engagement events’ in various locations across the city.  This engagement activity has enabled the council to raise awareness of the Adult Social Care offer and how it can be accessed.

Short-term reablement services

In 2023/24, 77% of people received a short-term service with little or no ongoing support. This improvement from 75% in 2022/23, is comparable with the national average. Our promoting independence and therapeutic approach is something which Coventry is proud of, because it enables people to maximise their independence and stay within their family home for as long as possible, thereby improving outcomes. Our effectiveness in this area is evidenced by the relatively low numbers of people requiring ongoing care and support in Coventry. This year we worked with health partners across organisations as part of the Improving Lives programme. This has demonstrated that by co-locating and working in partnership we can deliver an improved and more responsive coordination and delivery of health and care within an individual’s own home when urgent and emergency care is required.

The aim of this programme is to deliver integrated care that supports people in Coventry with urgent need by providing a service based on what they need rather than just being based on the existing services we have. The programme also ensures that the people in Coventry receive care in the community for as long as possible and only access care when necessary. The implementation of local integrated Teams is demonstrating positive outcomes for the people of Coventry.

Preventing and relieving cases of homelessness

The council has secured a successful prevention or relief outcome for 1,164 households who were owed a Homelessness duty in the year 2023/2024 against a target of 1,150. The service remains committed to preventing homelessness and providing early intervention despite significant challenges; and continued increased demand for homelessness assistance which is in line with national trends. The main reasons for losing settled accommodation in Coventry continues to be the end of private rented accommodation, domestic abuse, and being asked to leave by family members. There has been a significant increase in demand for the homeless service. However, this is too often at the point where homelessness has occurred and cannot be prevented. Where early intervention is not successful, residents face fewer options in seeking alternative accommodation, due to a largely competitive private rental market and limited alternative options as the number of available social lettings and privately rented properties decreases annually. The target for 2024/2025 is 1250 successful outcomes for those owed a homelessness duty.

Integrating our Refugee and Migrant Communities

Coventry reinforces its commitment to creating a welcoming and inclusive city for all. Building on a legacy of success, we seek to adapt and evolve to address the unique challenges faced by our refugee and migrant communities. Our efforts continue to align with the One Coventry Plan.

Responding to Global Humanitarian Crises

Coventry, as a city of peace and reconciliation, remains a place of sanctuary for high numbers of those seeking refuge from global crisis in the UK. We continue to extend our support to Afghan, Ukrainian, and Hong Kong communities, prioritising long-term integration and self-sufficiency.

UK Resettlement Scheme - building on a decade of success

Celebrating 10 years of our Migration Team and resettlement programme, we proudly reflect on welcoming over 1000 refugees since 2014. Our commitment to continuous improvement remains, as we strive for even greater integration outcomes.

Adapting to policy shifts

Navigating a dynamic policy landscape, the City Council has proactively responded to the Illegal Migration Act (2023) and Safety of Rwanda Act (2023), working towards reinforcing safeguarding measures and fostering close collaboration with third-sector organisations to ensure comprehensive support to those impacted. Individuals being accommodated for longer is having a significant impact, producing many complex cases which require sensitive navigation across services.

We stand by the minority of migrant workers impacted by the Carers Act 2022, advocating for fair employment and compensation. Through strategic partnership with Central England Law Centre we continue to provide guidance to affected individuals.

Homes for Ukraine has been a significant undertaking, with the programme now being extended and evolving significantly as the war continues. With over 519 Ukrainian arrivals in Coventry, we have successfully ensured minimal homeless presentations.

Asylum seekers across the city

Coventry hosts over 1,400 asylum seekers in dispersal accommodation across the city at any given time. This is in addition to the 482 asylum seekers housed in contingency hotels and initial accommodation. Following the introduction of the Streamlined Asylum Process by the Home Office in July 2023, there has been an acceleration in positive decisions for asylum seekers. Consequently, the city experienced a significant increase in newly granted refugees needing assistance and support, many of whom are very new to the country.

This influx has brought unexpected challenges to the city, including the need for housing, employment, and integration support. In response, the Local Authority Liaison Officers within the Migration Team have developed enhanced pathways in collaboration with colleagues from across the Council as well as external partnerships. These efforts aim to provide crucial support for these vulnerable newcomers and to develop programs to start their integration journey as early as possible.

Our approach remains flexible as we continue to assess the impact on the city and mobilize resources and direct them where they are most needed.

A collaborative approach to empowerment

To strengthen our support for refugee and migrant communities, we're enhancing our partnerships and service delivery. Through these partnerships, we aim to foster innovation in service delivery, encourage collaborative city-wide projects that bring fresh perspectives and efficient solutions to the challenges faced by our refugee and migrant communities.

Empowering new arrivals to thrive

Refugees face a unique set of barriers to landing a job, (re)starting their careers in the UK and applying their many skills and experiences to the UK labour market.

For refugees, a job is about more than simply making a living and gaining financial independence. It’s a chance to make friends, be a part of the community and fully contribute to UK society – all with a new sense of purpose and identity.

In light of this, we have developed enhanced support package for new arrivals including our specialist intensive English language course with sector-specific language training, boosting employment opportunities to refugees and newly arrived communities.  Our employment support has expanded to include a volunteer placement programme, offering diverse opportunities for valuable work experience and community and integration.

Case study

Laila, a 22-year-old Afghan refugee, arrived in Coventry in March 2023 after living in a Home Office hotel for 6 months. Feeling isolated and lacking social connections, she joined the STEP Forward programme which supports women to learn new skills and take steps towards employment, education and training. Through the programme, Laila gained essential life skills, improved her English, and built a social network. She is now eager to continue her education in college and pursue her dream of becoming a nurse. The programme also connected her with Coventry City Council's Employment Officer to help her create a CV and find volunteer opportunities. Laila's case demonstrates the success of empowering refugee women to integrate into their new communities and achieve their goals.

"This class is really good! It helps me practice English, learn new things, and even use a laptop. I look forward to coming every week because it gets me out of the house. I feel so supported here and appreciate the free resources. STEP Forward is great!"

Migration in numbers

• More than 1100 asylum seekers supported (over 900 of these have been granted leave to remain through the Streamlined Asylum Process in the last year) including signposting and referrals to key integration services including Housing, Civic orientation, Language, Welfare benefits.
• 321 women helped to improve wider integration outcomes i.e. ESOL, digital and financial literacy skills  
• 84 Young people aged 16-29 not in employment, education or training helped through the Your Vision Your Future Project
• 147 refugees resettled between April 2023-March 2024. This includes 65 adults and 82 children
• 190 refugees completed intensive English language course linked to employment support provided by Adult Education Service and the Migration Team
• 94 clients supported into employment  
• 40 Volunteers trained some of whom are actively contributing to City Council projects and services.
• 24 Roma community members supported with ESOL and conversation classes

Monitoring data: April 2023- March 2024

• 286 Hong Kong (British National Overseas) received
• 382 asylum seekers in temporary accommodation 
• 1483 dispersed asylum seekers in Coventry
• 142 Ukrainian new arrivals under the Homes for Ukraine scheme

Coventry City Council remains committed to creating a welcoming environment and shared prosperity, where everyone can thrive, contribute to our community, and build successful futures.

Improving outcomes and tackling inequalities within our communities metrics

Metric	Previous	Current	Comparators	Progress	Target	Status
National Highways and Transport resident satisfaction surveys  - accessibility :a - For Ease of Access overall b - For Ease of Access (for those with disabilities)	a-69% b-62% (2022)	a-68% b-59% (2023)	England a-72% b-63% (2023)	Got worse	To increase	Off-target
Crime (rate per 1,000 population and number of crimes)	121.5 (42,867 crimes, +6.6%) (2022/23)	106.8 (38,509 crimes, -10.1%) 2023/24	Wolverhampton 114.3 (31,126 crimes), Birmingham (144,274 crimes)2023/24 England N/A (No data)	Improved (or target already achieved)	To decrease	On-target
First time entrants to youth justice system (rate per 100,000 young people aged 10-17)	93 (34) (2022/23)	103 (38) (2023/24)	Family group average of 226 (Jan 23- Dec 23), England 167 (Jan 23 – Dec 23)	Got worse	To decrease	Off-target
Number of people receiving commissioned support for Domestic Abuse	1579 (2022/23)	2064 (2023/24)	N/A	Cannot say, no clear direction of travel	None Set	No target set
Good level of development at age 5	61.1% (2022)	63.9% (2023)	SN 64.3% (2023), England 67.2% (2023)	Improved (or target already achieved)	Better than statistical neighbours	Off-target
Pupils attending a good /outstanding primary school	89.4% (March 2023)	91.1% (April 2024)	Statistical neighbours 94.5% (March 2024), England 93.9% (March 2024)	Improved (or target already achieved)	≥ National Average	Off-target
Pupils attending a good /outstanding secondary school	85.8% (March 2023)	85.8% (April 2024)	Statistical neighbours 88.2% (March 2024), England 86.8% (March 2024)	Similar, unchanged or statistically insignificant	≥ National Average	Off-target
Pupils attending a good /outstanding special school	77.1% (March 2023)	91.7% (April 2024)	Statistical neighbours 93.3% (March 2024), England 94.0% (March 2024)	Improved (or target already achieved)	≥ National Average	Off-target
Key stage 2 expected standard in reading, writing & maths	53.6% (2022)	56.0%  (2023)	Statistical Neighbours 56.3% (2023), England 59.5% (2023)	Improved (or target already achieved)	Better than SN
Key stage 4: attainment 8	43.8 (2022)	43.8 (2023)	Statistical Neighbours 43.5 (2023), England 46.4 (2023)	Improved (or target already achieved)	Better than SN	On-target
Key stage 4: progress 8	-0.03 (2022)	-0.05 (2023)	Statistical Neighbours -0.14 (2023), England -0.03 (2023)	Improved (or target already achieved)	Better than SN	On-target
Overweight or obesity among children in Year 6	41.1% (39.5%-42.6%) (2021/22)	40.5% (39.0%-41.9%) (2022/23)	WMR 39.3% (2022/23), England 36.6% (2022/23)	Improved (or target already achieved)	To decrease	On-target
Children in Care (rate per 10,000 population under 18 & number)	93 (724 children) (March 2023)	84 (674 children) (March 2024)	Statistical Neighbours 88 (2022/23), 71 England (2022/23)	Improved (or target already achieved)	<89	On-target
Repeat referrals to children’s social care	19.1% (March 2023)	20.9% (March 2024 provisional)	Statistical Neighbours 23.6% (2022/23), England 22.4% (2022/23)	Got worse	<23.6%	On-target
Percentage of new looked after children who were previously looked after (rolling 12 months)	3.4% (March 2023)	5.3% (March 2024 provisional)	N/A	Got worse	<6%	On-target
Homelessness cases prevented and relieved	1077 (2022/23)	1164 (2023/24)	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	>1350	Off-target
Overall satisfaction of people who use services with their care support	60.5% (2022/23)	64.5% (2023/24)	Peer Group 61.7% (2022/23), England 64.4% (2022/23)	Improved (or target already achieved)	>62%	On-target
Overall satisfaction of carers with social services	32.0% (2021/22)	33.2% (2023/24)	Peer Group 35.9% (2021/22), England 36.3% (2021/22)	Improved (or target already achieved)	>32%	On-target
Adult social care service users receiving long term on-going support	3595 people (1,299 per 100,000) (31 March 2023)	3650 people (1319 per 100,000) (31 March 2024	Peer Group 1444 per 100,000 population (31 March 2023), 1405 England per 100,000 (31 March 2023)	Similar, unchanged or statistically insignificant	<1380	On-target
Adult social care outcomes met through short-term reablement service	75.0% (2022/23)	77.1% (2023/24)	Peer Group 74.4% (2022/23), England 77.5% (2022/23)	Improved (or target already achieved)	>65.1%	On-target
Percentage and (number) of children (aged under 16) living in Relative low-income families	26.7% (18,273) (2021/22 Provisional)	27.7% (19,571) (2022/23 provisional)	West Midlands Region 28.4% (2022/23 provisional), England  19.8% (2022/23 provisional)	Got worse	To decrease	Off-target
Male life expectancy at birth	77.2 years 2019-21	76.8 years 2020-2022	West Midlands Region 78.1 (2020-22), England 78.9 (2020-22)	Got worse	To increase	Off-target
Female life expectancy at birth	81.8 years 2019-21)	81.6 years 2020-2022	West Midlands Region 82.2 (2020-22), England 82.8 (2020-22)	Got worse	To increase	Off-target
Fly-tips reported in the city	6,840 Incidents, 6,662 Enforcement Activity  (2022/23)	5,883             incidents              6,176 Enforcement activity 2023/24	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	To reduce fly tipping by a further 5%	On-target

Tackling the causes and consequences of climate change

• 8239 tonnes of CO2 emissions from our operations (23/24)
• 78% of trips into/out of central Coventry by light vehicles (2023)
• 34.2% Household waste recycled and composted (23/24)
• 98% of both principal and non-principal roads in a good/acceptable condition (23/24)
• 87% of unclassified roads in a good/acceptable condition (23/24)
• 1277 Electric vehicle charging points in the city (23/24)
• 73 Council vehicles that are zero carbon emission (from 4 in 2021) (2024)
• 295 car occupant road casualties (2023)
• 89 pedestrian road casualties (2023)
• 62 cyclist road casualties (2023)
• 23 powered two-wheeler casualties (2023)

Climate Change – Climate Change Strategy

Coventry has an ambition to become the UK’s leading sustainable green city, taking a central role in the Green Industrial Revolution and improving the quality of lives for all. We are facing unprecedented environmental challenges that threaten the health and prosperity of our planet. Whilst the challenges are significant, this is also a major opportunity to create positive change that can improve the quality of life, health and wellbeing of our residents and create a more prosperous vibrant city. The Council has an important leadership role to play in tackling the causes and consequences of climate change, one its core delivery priorities in the One Coventry Plan.

Coventry was one of the first cities in the UK to launch a Climate Change Strategy back in 2012. The Council launched a new draft Climate Change Strategy in 2023, setting out the Council’s ambitious vision for creating a sustainable net zero city of the future. The Strategy was subject to public consultation and the final version will be launched later this year, alongside a Climate Change Action Plan. The Strategy provides a foundation for the major climate and sustainability challenges and opportunities our city faces and focuses on five pathways to sustainability to address this, based on the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives’ (ICLEI) Five Development Pathways:

• Route to Net Zero Pathway: renewable energy generation; heat networks, retrofitting properties; electrification of vehicles; public transport; active travel, low carbon economy
• Circular Economy Pathway: minimisation of waste, maximising recycling participation and creating new markets to save money and re-use resources.
• Nature Based Pathway: supporting nature’s recovery, maximising the value and use of our blue and green infrastructure for nature and communities, as well as climate resilience, understanding the distribution of species and their conservation status.
• Adaptation and Resilience Pathway: understanding and addressing key risks associated with climate change and a greater incidence of extreme weather events such as flooding, heatwaves, and droughts, and creating more resilient infrastructure, systems and services to adapt to a changing climate.
• Fair Green Future Pathway: delivering a just transition for Coventry, ensuring action taken to tackle climate change helps to address existing inequalities and inequities and not create new ones, leaving no one behind as we move towards a low carbon economy.

The Strategy sets out the opportunities and challenges we face as a city, alongside practical recommendations which have been adopted in our Climate Change Action Plan. The Action Plan will contain a significant number of projects and opportunities to take positive action on climate change and will be used to track progress. It’s important to note that whilst the Council has a key role as a leader and enable in tackling the causes and consequences of Climate Change, the level of change and support needed will require a city-wide effort from residents, communities, businesses and organisations from across Coventry to all play a part.  The city’s independent Climate Change Board now has over 25 member organisations working in collaboration creating a catalyst for change.

To complement and inform the Climate Change Strategy, the Council commissioned Professor Andy Gouldson, Co-lead of the Economic and Social Research Council Place-Based Climate Action Network, to create a Net Zero Route Map for Coventry [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/file/40013/net-zero-carbon-route-map-for-coventry]. The Net Zero Route map makes a series of recommendations and priorities areas to focus investment and action. The Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan also provide an opportunity to consolidate and promote much of the work that the Council is currently doing and planning via the Future Cities Board, alongside partnership work with stakeholders including the city’s Independent Climate Change Board.

Climate Change Strategy Consultation

It is important that we understand the views of residents, businesses and organisations across the city regarding issues related to climate change and sustainability to help shape the Strategy. The Council has a role of leader and enabler when it comes to taking action on climate change and creating a more sustainable future for our city, but we can’t do it alone and need to take communities with us on this journey.

The Council undertook extensive consultation of the draft climate change strategy last year, seeking to understand the views of the people of Coventry on the Strategy, pathways and key themes within them, to identify which issues are most important to people and find out if anything should be added or amended within the Strategy to influence the final version of the Strategy and accompanying Climate Change Action Plan.

Over 80% of respondents told us they are ‘concerned’ or ‘very concerned’ about climate change. People are becoming increasingly aware of the impacts of human activity on our planet and suffering climate anxiety. Many respondents told us the most important aspect of tackling climate change is to ensure a positive future for the next generation. The responses contained a broad range of issues, which included people wanting to see the Council be more ambitious in tackling climate change, more opportunities for community involvement and engagement in projects, concerns about the impacts of development on green space and trees, and support for domestic retrofit.

It is important for us to understand what needs to be done to win the hearts and minds of the 19% of the population who don’t consider sustainability and climate change to be an issue of concern. A number of comments from this group reflected some cynicism, with concerns about people’s freedoms being reduced, scepticism of the science, a feeling that it is too vast an issue to worry about and that individuals can’t make a difference when faced with major polluting countries and corporations. Some fed back that they had bigger worries related to the cost of living. The collective impact of ‘a business-as-usual approach’ from the 19% could be significant on the City and its ability to address the issues facing the population.  Their inaction would not only make it more difficult to achieve the targets but observing their lack of behaviour change could be a significant disincentive to others. 

Given the importance of this issue and the fact that behaviour change is going to be one of the key actions required to help reach net zero, far more effective engagement and community involvement is required going forwards to raise awareness and empower people to take positive action. The Council will produce a communications and engagement plan setting out how it plans to do this as part of delivery of the Climate Change Action Plan.

Route to Net Zero pathway

Coventry City Council recognised the importance of this issue well before many authorities were declaring emergencies. In 2008 the Council was a founding signatory of the Global Covenant of Mayors which has set a target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.   In 2021 Coventry signed the Declaration Covenant of Mayors interim target of achieving a 55% reduction in carbon emissions from 1990 levels by 2030, which we are well on track to achieve. We will strive for a 68% reduction by 2030 in line with government targets, but this will require national drivers and significant investment from government, coupled with activity at a local level to be achievable. For Coventry, whilst we recognise the importance of targets to provide focus, our focus is taking action and being innovative to tackle climate change and build a green economy.

To enable a full and independent analysis of the city’s impact on carbon emissions, and to better inform priority areas within the strategy, the Council (alongside Coventry’s independent Climate Change Board), commissioned Professor Andy Gouldson to produce a Zero Carbon Routemap for Coventry. The Routemap identified that Coventry’s direct carbon emissions (scope 1 and 2 emissions ) fell by 48% since 2000. Whilst the Council and city have made some positive steps in tackling climate change, much of the reduction in emissions is down to changes on a national level which includes changes to our energy infrastructure (removing fossil fuels from energy generation in favour of renewables) and industry moving away from manufacturing to more service led. There is still a long and challenging journey ahead to reach net zero, which is why the Council have entered into a fifteen year Strategic Energy Partnership with E.ON to take a bold and innovative approach to decarbonising the city at pace and scale.

The Routemap also analysed carbon emissions per sector, identifying homes and transport as the two biggest sources of emissions (30% and 29% respectively) and two key sectors to prioritise. Industry (16%), commercial buildings (15%) and waste (10%) are also key sectors which should be considered.

Council’s carbon emissions

The carbon footprint measures carbon emissions that are under the Council's direct control. These include carbon emissions from Council buildings, fleet vehicles, business travel, street lighting and emissions from outsourced services. The table below provides a comparison to the previous year. There has been significant progress in decarbonising the Council’s estate over recent years.  Since 2021, the Council have overseen over £7 million of energy projects funded from various grants, which have delivered:

• 1,130 kWp (kilowatt peak) of Solar PV
• 3,902 m2 insulation
• 2,293 LED lights
• 7 air source heat pump (ASHP) installs
• 2,018 kWh (kilowatt hours) battery storage
• 63 pipework insulation
• 1,108 m2 window glazing improvements

This means that 39% of energy used by Council buildings is now from renewable sources. Furthermore, 16% in 2022-23 was ‘locally sourced’ (district heat and Solar PV) and the Council has entered into a new energy contract recently which will provide a higher mix of renewable energy sources to power the estate. The Council will continue to access funding and finance to continue the decarbonisation of its estate, working with the Strategic Energy Partnership to support delivery.

Figures shown in 1,000 kgCO2e [tonnes of CO2e]. *Scope 1 emissions of 2020/21 have been revised upon review. **Scope 3 building emissions of 2021/22 have been revised upon review.

The carbon emissions are broken down into scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions, the definition of which are:

Scope 1 direct emissions: activities owned or controlled by your organisation that release emissions straight into the atmosphere. Examples: emissions from combustion in boilers we own, emissions from owned or controlled vehicles.

Scope 2 energy indirect emissions: released into the atmosphere associated with the consumption of purchased electricity, heat, steam, and cooling. The most common type of Scope 2 emission is electricity purchased from the National Grid.

Scope 3 other indirect emissions: those at sources which we do not control, and which are not classified as scope 2 emissions. Examples of scope 3 emissions include business travel not owned or controlled by the Council (e.g., use of public transport), commuting, or use of ‘grey fleet’ (employees’ own cars used for fuel expenses) and the energy consumed in goods and services that we have procured.

There is an overall decrease in Scope 1 & 2 emissions of approximately 3.71 % compared with the previous year. This represents a reduction of 69.11% from the 2008/09 baseline.

Emissions from fleet fuel consumption reduced by 4.15% from 2022/23. Scope 1 building emissions decreased by 3.76% from last year. There have been continuous gas reductions this year as the energy efficiency measures installed last year have become fully operational.

Scope 2 heating emissions have decreased by 21.27% which can be largely attributed to improved heating controls and a warmer winter. Electricity used in council buildings and streetlighting have also continued to decrease.

Scope 3 emissions have increased 17.7% compared to last year. An increase in Scope 3 electricity emissions may be from additional data availability this year from maintained schools compared to previous years and due to the Council taking on responsibility for the utilities for extra buildings/locations

Carbon disclosure

The CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) is an internationally recognised benchmark that helps companies and cities disclose their environmental impact.

 The Council is currently achieving a “A-” CDP score; which is an increase from a “B” score from 22/23, demonstrating the progress the city is making. The Council will continue to strive towards achieving an “A” score., which has only been achieved by seven local authorities in the UK to date.

Supporting businesses

The Coventry & Warwickshire Green Business Programme was aimed at supporting businesses with a shift to a low carbon economy by delivering a cohesive package of support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The programme supported businesses with the provision of knowledge and data for them to make informed decisions on how best to achieve energy and resource efficiency, through the provision of energy and resource efficiency audits and hosting events and webinars via the Green Business Network. The programme subsequently supported SMEs with grant funding (Up to £50k) to enable them to install energy and resource efficiency measures (e.g. insulation, improved heating, renewable energy, more efficient processes). This facilitated economic growth and led Coventry & Warwickshire businesses having reduced energy bills, maintenance costs, waste disposal costs and carbon emissions, whilst also benefitting from increased competitiveness, efficiency, and improvement to working conditions.

The Programme was closed in June 2023 due to European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding ending, but since the start of the programme in 2016 achieved the following:

• Offered support to 577 businesses
• Paid over four million pounds in grant claims
• Saved over 15,000 tonnes of carbon per year
• Led to creation of at least 60 new jobs
• Organised over 45 events
• Developed a Green Business Network with over 2,700 members

Support for Coventry businesses is now from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), which is to help communities, support people living or working in the UK, and help businesses operating in the UK. The programme will be providing SMEs with Net Zero Energy Efficiency Capital Grants which aim to remove financial barriers and enable SMEs to make carbon savings and energy efficiencies by investing in a host of measures such as solar panels, LED lights etc. to enable businesses to save energy. 

There is also a Decarbonisation programme, funded by BEAS (Business Energy Advice Service) which will provide investments focus on physical improvements and developing a more efficient use of resources, water and waste. Energy audits identify cost-effective energy-saving measures for your business and provide expert advice guides business to embed low-carbon strategy measures to support Net Zero targets. There are BEAS Capital grants of up to £100,000 to support business to implement energy efficiency measures within their business premises.

Strategic Energy Partnership

Coventry City Council has joined forces with E.ON to launch an innovative 15-year partnership. Our organisations are working collaboratively to revolutionise energy usage in Coventry for the benefit of local people, the environment and the wider economy.

The joint venture partnership will transform the city’s approach to carbon reduction, providing the expertise and resource to help deliver decarbonisation at scale and pace. Working with a private sector partner, who is willing to invest time, resources, expertise and capital, will help to deliver cleaner, greener energy and drive a new green economy that will bring jobs and skills to the city. This is an important partnership for the city to help us achieve our ambitions to lead the Green Industrial Revolution.

The partnership is believed to be a first for the UK and will see our organisations collaborate on revolutionising energy use in the city for the benefit of local communities and the wider economy.  It will enable long-term and sustainable infrastructure planning, investment and support the route to net zero through innovative energy generation and security solutions, sustainable transport and decarbonisation of buildings and homes​.

Social value is embedded in the Strategic Energy Partnership and will address the needs of the city, providing real place-based benefits that are meaningful, appropriate and proportionate. Each project that the Strategic Energy Partnership implements will have a social value action plan, to ensure that local people, communities and businesses benefit - increasing economic prosperity, improving outcomes and tackling inequalities.

The Council and E.ON will work together to develop ideas and projects for the benefit of Coventry residents and develop strategic plans aligned to all five priorities of our One Coventry Plan. There are four themes that will drive the partnership forward:

• clean local energy,
• jobs and skills,
• innovation and scale and,
• community benefit.  

The partnership will produce five-yearly Strategic Business Plans [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/sep] complemented by specific actions in Annual Business Plans, plus a social value action plan, which set out the ambitions of the partnership and ensures a strategic and holistic approach to decarbonisation. 

The partnership is producing an energy masterplan for the city (due to complete autumn 2024), identifying the developing city’s energy needs and opportunities. The energy masterplan for Coventry will provide a long-term energy vision, reference point and proposed pipeline of commercially viable and technically feasible energy projects which will form part of the pipeline of work that the Strategic Energy Partnership will take forwards to delivery.

Projects underway include:

• a solar in schools programme to lower carbon and reduce energy costs for schools.
• an electric vehicle charging programme to further increase the number of charge points in Coventry, off-street, on-street and charging hubs.
• delivery of the Home Upgrade Grant scheme (HUGS) installing energy efficiency and renewable energy measures in eligible residential properties.
• There is an overall decrease in Scope 1 & 2 emissions of approximately 3.71 % compared with the previous year. This represents a reduction of 69.11% from the 2008/09 baseline.

Low emissions pathway

Circular economy

Coventry produces around 122,000 tonnes of municipal waste a year. Only a small percentage of the city’s waste goes to landfill (1.8% of household waste for 23/34). The majority of Coventry’s non-recyclable waste is incinerated at a facility at Bar Road, not far from the city centre. The facility has been retrofitted over the years to improve efficiency through generating power and more recently heat which supplies a number of key buildings in the city via the Heatline network, including the Council estate, the Wave Leisure Centre, Cathedral and will soon expand to provide heat to Coventry University campus.

The new Sherbourne Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) opened in autumn 2024. This was a £58M joint project by 8 local councils - located alongside the existing Bar Road waste processing site on London Road. This state-of-the-art facility will significantly expand local recycling capacity with the ability to process 175,000 tonnes of mainly domestic recycling annually, by leveraging AI enabled robotic sorting equipment. The launch of the new facility is an important step in helping to boost the city’s recycling rates by expanding the variety of materials that can be recycling and will also enable us to sell back recyclables to new markets.

Recycling rates increased from 30.5% to 34.2% in 23/24, which can be partly attributed to the technologies being used at the new MRF leading to reduced levels of rejected materials. As the new facility opened part way through the year, it is anticipated that this will help to support increased rates in 24/25. Whilst this is positive progress, it is still below the England average of 42.5% and more work is needed in terms of educational campaigns to encourage more households to recycle, alongside working with those households where there are barriers to recycling, such as those in flats.

Nature and resilience

Alongside tackling carbon emissions, the government have committed to reversing the decline in nature and biodiversity.

The ‘State of Nature’ Report (2019) revealed that England is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world and 1 in 6 species are at risk of extinction. The Government has set a target to protect 30% of our land and sea for nature by 2030.  In Coventry, this currently stands at around 11% and a key challenge is to identify where the extra 19% (or 1874 hectares) is going to be found. This will require a step change in current land use planning to meet this target.

We are committed to tackling the biodiversity emergency here in Coventry, it’s essential to support the foundation of our society, and will help tackle climate change and create a more attractive greener city for everyone to enjoy, alongside supporting nature’s recovery.   There is a need to invest in gathering data to gain a more in-depth understanding of habitats and species in the city, to support targeted action to conserve and enhance existing habitats, alongside creating new ones.

Local Nature Recovery

Nationally a number of new legally binding initiatives have been launched: Biodiversity Net Gain, The Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) and Conservation Covenants which are intended to work together to address loss of wildlife. is a new legally binding spatial strategy to identify locations to improve nature and provide other environmental benefits, such as carbon sequestration, flood management and access to nature-rich spaces for health and well-being.

• Biodiversity Net Gain was made statutory in February 2024, though Coventry has been implementing an earlier model via the Warwickshire Pilot Scheme. Three different CCC- owned sites in different parts of the City have been identified as BNG Banks and are being submitted to the National Register so that accept payments under the scheme
• LNRS is a new legally binding spatial strategy to identify locations to improve nature and provide other environmental benefits, such as carbon sequestration, flood management and access to nature-rich spaces for health and well-being. CCC has seconded a member of staff to the WMCA to lead the project, a draft plan will be shared for consultation later this year
• Conservation Covenants are a new legal agreement securing the long-term management land for biodiversity or heritage.  The Council has submitted an application to become a Responsible Body and will be able to benefit from the new mechanism once this is allowed.

The Council will be working with partners to boost local nature recovery and improve access to nature, green and blue space for its citizens. This will include creation of a Green and Blue Plan for the city. Management plans promoting biodiversity in have been produced for all the Green Flag Parks and there is an ongoing programme of supporting local communities to engage with sites and implement enhancements. In partnership with the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust we are delivering a number of successful projects including the National Lottery Heritage-funded £3.3m River Sherbourne Project which aims to revitalise the river and create an urban living landscape and a £0.5m Species Recovery Project which will help secure water voles across the city and re-establish the native white-clawed crayfish which has been lost in recent years. Warwick University and Coventry University are both closely involved in the work and the Council provides funding for innovative eDNA research which has the potential to provide vital data on biodiversity. We are also part funding PhD research at Coventry which is extending the iTree study to investigate trees and biodiversity in the city.

A tree for every citizen

Trees are an integral part of the city’s landscape and our communities, lining streets, parks and gardens. Coventry is particularly blessed with a large and extensive tree canopy which currently covers approx. 12% of the city, with an aspiration to increase this to 30% over the next decade. The Council is responsible for the management of over 80,000 individual trees in parks, highways, and other green spaces and an estimated 200,000 woodland trees.

The importance of trees is becoming increasingly recognised not least through global changes which are and will affect everyone on the planet:

• Trees are important in our efforts to combat climate change capturing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.
• They help keep the air in our city clean by absorbing pollutants.
• They help keep our streets cool and provide shade from ultraviolet light.
• They hold water on their surface helping with flood alleviation.
• They provide a valuable food and habitat resource supporting countless birds, animals, and invertebrates.
• Trees are great for people's health and well-being and for bringing people together.
• They also have an economic value and can increase property values.

The Council has committed to an ambitious plan to plant 360,000 trees, one for every member of Coventry’s population over the life of the strategy: a tree for every citizen by 2033.

Between 2021-24 the Council have planted 42’000 trees, that form woodland extensions, and over 1560 semi mature trees have been planting in parks and on common land and increasing street trees. The Council are currently working to identify locations for further tree planting in 2025, across the Streetscene of Coventry, to enhance the areas most in need of trees.

Urban forestry strategy

In 2023, Coventry launched its first Urban Forestry Strategy (2023-2033), which seeks to “protect, promote, sustain and enhance our urban forest and to recognise its contribution towards the character, appearance and economy of Coventry for the benefit of all those who live, work and visit the area.”

It has also formed a partnership with a charity called Trees for Cities, that provide corporate sponsorship funding for tree planting projects, as well as access to the governments Urban Tree Challenge Fund which, will provide over £900’000 to Coventry for semi-mature tree planting.

Coventry has benefitted from the iTree study carried out by the West Midlands Combined Authority across the region by the shared data confirming where Coventry needs to take the greatest action when planting trees. This is in the corridor from the city centre through the Foleshill area and out Longford.

This has been supplemented by a study to identify planting opportunities in the street scene, that will provide new trees and small Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems within the highway network of Coventry, delivering a place-based approach to ensure appropriate species of trees are planted in the right location.

Climate adaptation and resilience

We are already experiencing climate change, with seasonal fluctuations and more extreme weather events including flooding and heatwaves. We know from researchers in the field and modelling of weather patterns in the Midlands that the future predictions of more extreme weather incidents are highly likely, and that the citizens of Coventry are likely to experience warmer wetter winters and hotter drier summers. Extreme weather events and climate change have wide-ranging impacts on people, property, infrastructure, services and the environment, and its imperative action is taken appropriately to reduce exposure to risks and create a more resilient city.

Rising temperatures are of particularly concern in cities like Coventry, as will be exacerbated by the density of concrete buildings and road surfaces which absorb and radiate heat, creating what is referred to as an Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect where the city is considerably hotter than the surrounding countryside with its reflective vegetated surfaces. This will result in an increase of cases of heat stress, which has the most impact on infants, the elderly and those more vulnerable due to existing health conditions.  Heavier rainfall is likely to cause more surface water flooding, which can impact on homes (over 10,000 homes in the city are vulnerable to flooding), businesses, transport and energy infrastructure.  An issue of emerging concern is the rise in vector borne diseases such as Lyme’s disease associated with ticks.

The Council are taking a pro-active approach, having established an Adaptation and Resilience Pathway working group, chaired by the Environment Agency to better understand the risks and adaptive capacity of the city. Under the Group’s recommendation, an Adaptation and Resilience Plan is being developed for Coventry, using a team of specialist consultants that have been appointed to work alongside the Sustainability Team and the partner organisations involved in the Climate Change Board’s Adaptation & Resilience Pathway Group.   This work is building upon the WMCA’s West Midlands Climate ‘Change Adaptation Plan 2021-2026' plan, developing a more localised picture of risks and opportunities.

The citywide Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Plan will set out the risks and steps the city needs to take to become more climate resilient. There are a number of different measures that can be implemented to create a more resilient city, which include natural measures such as the creation of rain gardens, wetlands and sustainable urban drainage systems. Tree planting can help reduce water run-off and create shade. Building design will need to be considered to provide cooling as well as heating.

The Government has chosen Coventry City Council to take part in a national pilot for local authorities reporting under the Adaptation Reporting Power (ARP4), to better understand the adaptive capacity of the nation, with the first report being expected by the end of 2024.

Affordable access to heating, and insulation - Keeping Coventry Warm

Just Transition

The impact of climate change and how we respond to it risks exacerbating existing inequalities in the city, as well as creating new ones. It is crucial we adopt an approach to deliver a ‘just transition’, whereby we move towards a low carbon economy and take climate action in a proportionate and considered way and use it as an opportunity to address existing inequalities rather than create new ones. Low-income households and disadvantaged groups are likely to contribute the least towards climate change, but often face the highest relative costs for essential services, suffering from food and fuel poverty and often subject to the poorest environmental conditions in terms of living standards and poor air quality, due to high traffic levels and lack of green space. Many local people are working in jobs which relate to the use of fossil fuels including the automotive and manufacturing industries and as we transition towards a low carbon economy many of these jobs will be at risk. The move to a low carbon economy will bring a significant number of skilled job opportunities to the city, such as the move to electric cars, renewable technologies and retrofit and Greenpower Park, which is a huge opportunity for local people. It’s key that the right training and skills opportunities are made available to support local workers adapting to new sectors. The Fairer Green Pathway Group with funding from the University of Warwick commissioned a Just Transition Report with a clear set of recommendations for changes in policy and actions to address the inequalities and to create a more equitable green future.

Residential Retrofit

Coventry’s Climate Change Strategy sets out how the Council needs to tackle the causes and consequences of climate change in a fair and equitable way. Retrofitting domestic properties is essential in achieving this, by reducing fuel poverty, energy bills and carbon emissions, and improving climate resilience, especially for the most vulnerable residents in our community. Urgency of retrofitting also aligns with the Net Zero Route map which was produced for Coventry, which identifies emissions from homes as the biggest contributor to the city’s carbon footprint, totalling 30% of all emissions.

Over the past 18 months, the Council has been accelerating action on domestic retrofit to help make homes more energy efficient, successfully attracting almost £30m external grant funding to support residents across all housing tenures in the city. However, the challenge within this sector is huge, the funding secured to date will improve the energy efficiency of up to 2,500 homes, but with 143,000 properties across the city and around 108,000 of those below Energy Performance Certificate C, activity needs to be significantly scaled up to help reduce our carbon footprint and to support the alleviation of fuel poverty across the city.

Coventry Council have been working with partners to ensure we provide Coventry residents with the skills required to benefit from retrofit employment opportunities. One example is a partnership with Citizen Housing, Coventry College and the employers Westdale and Dyson Energy Services, which has resulted in more than 30 residents moving into employment within the Retrofit sector to date.

Retrofitting of domestic properties will lead to:

• A reduction in Coventry’s domestic carbon emissions.
• A reduction in health-related morbidity and mortality associated with living in cold homes.
• A reduced demand placed on health and care services.
• Improved energy efficiency, reduced energy bills and increased thermal comfort

Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Case Study

Following the success of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Wave 1, which delivered whole house retrofit measures to 95 homes in the City, the partnership between Coventry City Council and Citizen Housing secured further SHDF Wave 2 funding to support another 2000 properties across Coventry.

The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) is a government-funded scheme aiming to improve the energy efficiency of social housing in England. It was designed to bring social houses up to an energy performance certificate (EPC) Band C, whilst delivering warmer homes with reduced carbon emissions and fuel bills, helping to tackle fuel poverty.

Wave 2 of SHDF started in April 23 and is on target to complete works to the 2000 properties before the scheme end date in September 25. The work, which is co-funded by Citizen Housing, follows a fabric first approach, installing external wall insulation, energy efficient doors and windows, increased loft insulation and improving ventilation to reduce the potential for mould growth.

One resident who received support through the scheme was Arthur Beale. External wall insulation, ventilation fans and loft insulation were all installed at his home and said he can feel the benefit of the works already.

Arthur said: “I am very happy with the work – my house is much warmer now it’s been done. Before I had the work done the walls in my house felt cold but now they are warm to touch and you can really feel it when the heating is on. I don’t have to put the heating on as much as I did before the works, which is a bonus and the work on the outside of the home makes it look much better too. I would definitely recommend these works to other people living in the city.”

Fuel poverty is a significant problem in Coventry, affecting 22.2% of households and almost 60% of homes in some areas of the city. This, combined with the cost-of-living crisis and a large number of energy inefficient homes in Coventry has meant there is a vital need to support these households.

Keeping Coventry Warm is Coventry City Council’s principal affordable warmth scheme. Delivered by local energy charity, Act on Energy, and funded by the Council’s public health department, the Better Care Fund and the Disabled Facilities Grant, the scheme provides a wide range of energy efficiency and fuel poverty advice, information, and guidance to residents, alongside physical measure grants for vulnerable and low-income households.

The scheme is targeted to support residents most at risk of fuel poverty, particularly those on low incomes and living with long term health conditions and vulnerabilities affected by living in a cold home. Keeping Coventry Warm funds grants, specifically to support those in fuel poverty, providing heating upgrades such as first-time central heating and boiler repairs/replacements and wall/roof insulation to ensure residents can live in warm, comfortable, and healthy homes.

The service also provides an impartial, single point of contact for all Coventry City Council’s fuel poverty and retrofit schemes, in addition to other non-Council administered support. Residents and front-line staff can refer households for support by contacting Act on Energy. The charity will then identify the most suitable support and help people to apply where needed.

Due to the cost-of-living crisis and the dramatic increase in fuel costs, Keeping Coventry Warm supported 2,465 residents in 22/23 compared to 1,010 the year before. Furthermore, the complexity and vulnerabilities associated with these cases also increased dramatically showing the vital importance of the service in the current financial climate.

Air Quality Action Plan

Like many towns and cities throughout the UK, roadside pollution levels, especially those resulting from Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) emissions from traffic, and Particulate Matter (PM), are a concern. NO2 levels measured across various roadside locations in Coventry have been improving. However, poor air quality affects different communities disproportionately.

Some areas in Coventry do not achieve current EU and international standards and the city has been directed by Government to reduce roadside nitrogen dioxide levels across the city to ensure compliance with the legal threshold of 40 ug/m3.

‘Diffusion tubes’ are deployed to measure levels at various roadside locations in Coventry and in 2023 around 70 locations were measured. Of these only one slightly exceed the legal limit of an annual mean concentration of 40 µg/m3. This was located on Holyhead Road, the area where the highest measurements have consistently been recorded over the last 10 years.

In general, across all locations that have taken measurements, including the areas that have consistently seen the highest levels, annual mean levels on NO2 have been falling as a trend. The 2023 monitoring therefore shows that action taken to promote cycling as an alternative mode of travel to car for local journeys, and measures to decarbonise the transport network, have contributed to generally reducing levels of NO2.

Furthermore, works were completed in Autumn 2023 to improve traffic flows at Spon End and Ring Road Junction 7, aimed at removing a congestion pinch-point on this alternative route to Holyhead Road. It is expected that this will help to better balance traffic flows between the Holyhead Road and Spon End routes into the city centre, further reducing levels of air pollution on Holyhead Road – the only location that still remained above the legal threshold in 2023.

It should also be noted that the World Health Organizations' former guideline level for annual nitrogen dioxide up to September 2021 was also 40 µg/m3. However, a more stringent 10 µg/m3 limit has since been introduced with the increasing recognition of the hazards of air pollution. None of the sites measured in 2023 had an annual mean of less than 10 µg/m3, meaning that no location of measurement in Coventry meets these, higher standards.

More detailed information about current and historic mean annual NO2 levels across Coventry’s diffusion tube sites in can be found on the Council’s website [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/pollution-1/air-quality/3]. This shows the locations of sites that have annual mean concentrations of nitrogen dioxide of less than 30 microgram per cubic metre (µg/m3); those with concentrations between 30-39 µg/m3; and those exceeding 40 µg/m3.

Transport

Coventry Transport Strategy

The Council adopted the Coventry Transport Strategy in December 2022, setting the Council’s objectives and vision for transport within the city. Core objectives are:

• Support the city’s economic recovery and enable long-term growth
• Deliver a sustainable, low-carbon transport system
• Ensure equality of opportunity
• Maximise health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities.

The metrics contained within this report reflect progress being made towards achieving these objectives, and the role that transport improvements are making to do so, although as ever there is more to be done.

Implementation of the strategy is advancing with funding secured from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) and sources such as the Active Travel Fund to bring forward a range of schemes aimed at delivering a safe and sustainable transport network within the city. Examples are given below.

All electric bus city

Implementation of the £130 million project (£50 million Government grant, the remainder from the bus companies) to fully electrify the bus fleet operating in Coventry continues to progress, with orders being prepared by National Express and Stagecoach for the final tranche of electric buses to ensure that bus services in the city are fully electric by the end of 2025.  Currently, 140 fully electric buses are operating in the city, which are running the majority of services fully contained within the city itself.

Electric vehicle charge point network

Using a mixture of Government grant and private sector funding, the Council continues to expand the public charge point network for electric vehicles across the city, with there now being 1,713 publicly available charge points in the city. To place this in context, Coventry has 499 EV charge points per 100,000 population, which is highest number of charge points in the region and the highest in the country outside of London.

This investment has supported an increase in the number of electric vehicles registered in the city, with around 2,200 registered in late 2023.

Cycling infrastructure

The Council has constructed around 5 km of segregated cycle routes linking Coundon and Binley to the city centre, and these are already seeing significant increases in the level of cycling on both these corridors, with 350 cyclists a day using the Binley Cycle Route.

During 2024 further improvements will be made to the route linking the city centre to the University of Warwick, with the Lynchgate scheme due to be completed in the Summer and work due to start on the extension of the Coundon cycleway towards Keresley later in 2024. 

The delivery of a safe core cycle network that enables cyclists to complete the bulk of their journey without sharing road space with cars is essential to support the Transport Strategy and One Coventry objectives of achieving a healthier population. Sharing road space with traffic is identified as one of the key barriers to cycling when our residents have been surveyed, with many people wanting to cycle more, for environmental and fitness reasons, but being put off by the prospect of having to cycle in traffic.

The West Midlands Cycle Hire scheme continues to be successful in Coventry with, on average, around 6,000 journeys per month being completed.

A45 Eastern Green Junction

The new junction on the A45 that will provide the main access to the Eastern Green SUE comprising around 2,500 new homes and 15 hectares of employment land was completed in Summer 2024. The scheme was funded by Homes England and the housing developer and means that work can now progress on the building of the new community.

Road safety

Reducing the number of people killed or injured whilst using the transport network remains a core priority and progresses continues to be seen in reducing the number of casualties, with 491 casualties in 2023 compared to 533 in 2022. However, whilst the overall trend is positive, there was a slight increase in serious injuries and fatalities from 90 to 96.

The Average Speed Enforcement programme continues to be implemented on the main roads across the city, with the Holyhead Road, Allesley Old Road and Hearsall Lane routes all added to the programme during 2023/24.  The programme has been successful in achieving reduced traffic speeds on these routes and will be rolled out to a further four routes during 2024/25.

The School Streets pilots, which will see roads closed outside four schools during the times of day when children are arriving at or leaving school will commence operation in September 2024 to improve the safety of road users, and especially vulnerable road users.

The Earlsdon Liveable Neighbourhood project is now being implemented following an extensive community engagement the has seen the scheme co-designed.  The scheme is aimed at re-purposing streets to make it easier and safer for people to walk around their local community, whilst retaining access for those who need to use a car and for service traffic.

Work also continues to upgrade traffic signals to make them operate more efficiently and to provide improved crossing points for pedestrians, with further funding having been secured to deliver improved crossings during 2024/25.

Maintenance

Road and footway condition data indicates that Coventry’s network is, despite financial challenges, in good condition, with a particular focus during 2022/23 having been to improve the condition of the footway network. Every traveller is a pedestrian for all or part of their journey, and therefore maintaining the footways in a good condition is essential.

Inflationary pressures, especially in the construction industry, remains a particular challenge, with the price of the raw materials used in highway maintenance increasing significantly, but work continues to maximise the efficiency of the maintenance operations as well seeking to supplement current budgets to enable more extensive maintenance programmes to be undertaken.

Our footway condition remains unchanged overall. The reasoning is that condition assessment methodology has changed following the capture and review of three years detailed visual inspection data.

Our condition is now measured in a completely different way and as such the two measures provided within the plan should not be compared as they do not align.

Our true position remains unchanged, and we continue to have high volumes of defective footways compared to other authorities. This is because we have a much greater percentage of paved footways, prone to cracking and lifting. Most other authorities have mainly asphalt footways.

Public transport

Whilst the Council does not operate bus or rail services, it does work closely with those companies and agencies who are responsible for them. Patronage on both bus and rail services remains significantly below 2019 (pre-covid) levels, and this has created significant financial challenges for both the bus and rail industry, but it is noteworthy that within Coventry bus patronage has recovered more quickly than in other areas of the region.  The introduction of the new electric buses is likely to be a factor in this recovery. 

However, options for the future delivery of bus services regionally are under review, and the Council will work closely with the WMCA to consider these options to get the right solution that will best benefit our community.

Working with Transport for West Midlands, the West Midlands On Demand service, which provides door-to-door public transport to supplement standard public bus services, has been expanded to cover the full city and incorporates the former ring and ride service. The service currently carries around 1,000 passengers per week with a satisfaction rating of 4.5/5 on average.

Utilising the Bus Service Improvement Plan grant, the public bus service network in Coventry has remained broadly similar to previous years, and the investment from All Electric Bus City means that the bus fleet in Coventry is modern. There will be further challenges to the bus industry, however, if patronage remains at current levels.

The rail network has faced similar challenges, not helped by the ongoing strike action, and service reliability on the Leamington – Coventry – Nuneaton line remains poor, with a high level of cancellations. New trains have been introduced on this route, however, and this will provide an opportunity to improve reliability and attract more people back to the railway.

Coventry to London fast services are progressively returning to a frequency of three trains per hour, and the changed timetable has seen two trains an hour running non-stop to London, giving a journey time of only 54 minutes. This will again provide an opportunity to attract passengers back to the railway.

Tackling the causes and consequences of climate change metrics

Metric	Previous	Current	Comparators	Progress	Target	Status
Carbon dioxide emissions from local authority operations	8,273 tonnes (-8%)           (2022/23)	8,239 tonnes (-0.4%)           (2022/23)	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	To decrease	On-target
Increased use of renewable energy and heat decarbonisation	New metric, no data available	New metric, no data available	N/A		To increase
Air quality Nitrogen dioxide levels (NO2) -  number of diffusion tubes monitored where average annual concentrations exceed 40 µg/m3 (the legal limit)	2 out of 75 (2022)	1 out of 75 (2023)	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	To decrease	On-target
CDP carbon disclosure score	B (2022/23)	A- (2023/24)	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	A	On-target
Proportion of trips into/out of central Coventry made by light vehicles (Survey)	81% (2021)	78% (2023)	TfWM 62% (2021)	Improved (or target already achieved)	To decrease	On-target
Road casualties by road user type - car occupant	288 (2022)	295 (2023)	N/A	Got worse	To decrease	Off-target
Road casualties by road user type - pedestrian	113 (2022)	89 (2023)	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	To decrease	On-target
Road casualties by road user type - cyclist	54 (2022)	62 (2023)	N/A	Got worse	To decrease	Off-target
Road casualties by road user type - powered two-wheeler (includes pillion passengers)	28 (2022)	23 (2023)	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	To decrease	On-target
Electric vehicle charging points in the city	715 (2022)	1277 (2023)	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	To          increase	On-target
Usage of electric vehicle charging points in the city	229,847 kWh (2022)	1,063,197 kWh (2023)	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	To increase	On-target
Principal roads (A roads) in a good/acceptable condition	99% (2022/23)	98% (2023/24)	England 96% (2022/23)	Got worse	95%	On-target
Non-principal roads (B and C roads) in a good/acceptable condition	98% (2022/23)	98% (2023/24)	England 94% (2022/23)	Similar, unchanged or statistically insignificant	95%	On-target
Unclassified roads in a good/acceptable condition	88% (2022/23)	87% (2023/24)	England 83% (2021/22)	Got worse	85%	On-target
Pavements without defects present	46% (2022/23)	48% (2023/24)	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	50%	No target set
Council vehicles that are zero carbon emission	73 (31/03/2023)	73 (31/03/2024)	N/A	Similar, unchanged or statistically insignificant	To increase
Household waste recycled and composted	30.5% (2022/23)	34.2% (2023/24)	WMCA 31.6% (2021/22), England 41.7% (2022/23)	Improved (or target already achieved)	To increase	On-target
Biodiversity net gain (measure of habitat creation and conservation)	Metric to be defined, no data available	Metric to be defined, no data available	N/A	Not available or no updated data	To increase	No target set
Advice on carbon reduction and green measures to schools	62	46	N/A	Got worse	To increase	Off-target
Advice on carbon reduction and green measures to businesses	97 business supported, over 1,300 tonnes carbon saved 2022/23	67 business supported	N/A	Got worse	To increase	Off-target
Number of planning policies in line with the Global Goals for climate action	Metric to be defined, no data available	Metric to be defined, no data available	N/A	Not available or no updated data	To increase	No target set
New funding for environmental technologies and management	£5.193m	£12.373m	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	To increase	On-target

Continued financial sustainability of the Council

• £342m business rates total rateable value
• 93.7% Council tax collection rate (23/24)
• £5.3m investment income secured (23/24)
• 4188 full-time equivalent employees in the Council (2024)
• 13.4 days of staff sickness per full-time equivalents (23/24)
• £11,111,652 spent on agency staff (23/24)
• 455,612 transactions completed through self-service channels (23/24)
• 97.1% of households with access to full fibre and/or gigabit internet (2024)
• 2173 participated in the latest staff survey (that is, 40% of our employees) (October 2023)

Digital Inclusion #CovConnects

#CovConnects

This is a city-wide, partnership approach to ensure Coventry residents have equal opportunities to access digital technologies, services and supports in a way that helps them in their daily lives. #CovConnects key programme principles are:

• Partnership led We don’t set the agenda we respond to it 
• Unique solutions We recognise community differences and tailor a response 
• Research focus We gather the evidence to understand and adapt 
• Process innovation We design innovative processes to support our mission 
• Outcome based We prioritise around social inclusion not tech 
• Scalable core offer We create a sustainable tech, skills and data offer 
• Efficiency driven We create interest and excitement to find funding 

The #CovConnects approach has three broad umbrella programme areas across skills, connectivity and devices. 

#CovConnects Device Bank

The #CovConnects Device Bank was launched June 23 to enable VCSE organisations and internal council services to access end of corporate life Coventry City Council devices for digital inclusion activity. A second boost was received via the WMCA Connected Services programme, which enabled a range of brand new devices to be added to the Device Bank. 

As of July 24, the #CovConnects programme has distributed over 3000 devices across over 100 VCSE organisations and Council services. Sustainability is a key driver for #CovConnects, and we have secured external funding  to work with the Coventry Independent Climate Change Board, University of Warwick and the NHS ICB Coventry and Warwickshire to progress the Digital Reuse and Repair proof of concept programme. Within this we will be accepting NHS ICB end of life devices, which will be reused, repaired and recycled as part of the #CovConnects Device Bank. This will also enable NHS services to access the Device Bank for health-related digital inclusion activity. 

Case Study A via The Pod, Mental Health Social Brokerage and Social Advocacy 

A is a fulltime carer for her husband with complex mental health needs was gifted a device via #CovConnects. A described that her whole world revolves around managing her husbands care needs and navigating services, professionals and appointments. The tablets means she can have some time by herself, use social media, make video calls and just feel connected to the world and have some head space- it’s a game changer. Additionally, they use it to attend remote appointments with professionals. 

Case Study B via VCSE Organisation 

B has never been very ‘tech savvy’ and had always hoped to learn new skills to allow him to “move with the times”. 5 years ago, B suffered a significant brain injury as a result of an accident.   

This left B not only unable to work but having to learn to walk again and gain his basic life skills back. After years of hard work and determination B no longer requires support of carers to manage his daily tasks and is now keen to develop their digital skills however affordability is a major barrier. B was gifted a laptop via #CovConnects and has been able to develop their skills with the support of key coordinators. They are now accessing the internet, keeping in touch with family and friends who don’t live locally, but most importantly they feel like the person they were before the injury.

Case Study C via VCSE Organisation 

C suffered a stroke 2 years ago which left them partially paralysed, whereby they now use a specialist wheelchair to mobilise and mainly housebound. They have limited access to the internet via their phone and use this to access the outside world but the use of this is difficult due to the impact the stroke had on the fine motor skill.  C accessed a Chromebook via #CovConnects which has increased accessibility whereby it has been effectively adapted into a larger smart phone, such as larger icons, screens and keyboards, and using the accessibility features. They are now using the device to start accessing things like food shopping to increase their independence as they currently rely on friends.  

Case study D via Mental Health Charity 

D has been supported holistically for his mental health needs. Providing a Chromebook and supporting wider family members to access a phone and sim card via #CovConnects has enabled the family not only to address their immediate needs but has helped the family better navigate the challenges they face, which in turn contributes to D’s mental health by supporting the family unit as a whole. It ia important to recognise the holistic approach the organisation takes to supporting peoples mental health, acknowledging that it is deeply interconnected with various aspects of peoples life, such as access to services, education and connection. By addressing the broader issues of the social determinants of health, which digital inclusion enables, it helps people cope with their immediate challenges, but also laying the groundwork for a more resilient and empowered future. 

Case Study E via Food Bank 

E has been supported via the advice workers for a year, addressing wider challenges they face relating to debt. Part of this wider holistic support offer includes looking at alternative housing solutions which support their budget. After accessing a laptop via #CovConnects they have been able to register with Homefinder services and place bids on smaller properties, and access online training to help build their skills. Importantly, they have been able to access mental health support services online as their anxiety is too high to attend physical groups at this moment. 

Community connectivity 

#CovConnects champions the national Good Things Foundation ‘National Databank’, which enables frontline services to gift free sim cards pre-loaded with up to 6 months-worth of data, texts and calls to digitally excluded residents in Coventry. As of July 24, there are 52 National Databank hubs within the city across council services and VCSE organisations, whereby 11,000 sim cards have been received by Coventry hubs to distribution.  
 
Coventry City Council has also enabled all of its Council buildings to have free guest wifi access and the #CovConnects team work closely with VCSE organisations to support with access to funding to allow them to provide free community free wi-fi. 

A key programme under this area has been #CovConnects partnership with Jangala and VM02 to connect 200 temporary accommodation households via 12 delivery partners, to access up to 12 months of connectivity via Get Boxes. Next steps are to evaluate the impact of providing connectivity to residents within temporary accommodation to understand the impact of digital inclusion.

Community skills 

The #CovConnects Device Bank enables community led digital inclusion activity, reflecting the expertise, knowledge and passion of the partners. #CovConnects aims to support the development of informal digital skills; complimented by formal accredited skill provision where appropriate, based upon the values of being person-centred and led by individuals motivations.  There are 5 digital drop-in provisions in community locations across the city, led by the CCC Adult Education Service.

The #CovConnects Embedded Digital Champion programme was re-launched in May 2024 to provide Coventry specific digital inclusion awareness training to ensure frontline teams have the knowledge and awareness of the barriers faced and associated inequalities faced by digitally excluded residents. As of July 24, 37 people across 15 external organisations and 6 Coventry City Council services have completed the training. On an ongoing, monthly basis, Embedded Digital Champions are also invited to attend ‘Learn with #CovConnects’ sessions, which are bitesize webinars on specific topics to help Digital Champions feel more confident to support residents in different areas of digital.

Finally, #CovConnects facilitate dedicated Digital Inclusion Networks across sectors, with core themes of Older Adults, and Homelessness. An additional ESOL Digital Inclusion Network is also in development.

Gigabit internet connectivity coverage

99.8% of Coventry households can access good quality fixed internet connectivity, which is defined by the UK government as a data service that provides fixed download speeds of at least 10Mbit/s and upload speeds of at least 1Mbit/s. The telecoms regulator Ofcom measures access to and the performance of fixed internet connectivity and the mobile network in its Connected Nations reports.  
 
In terms of gigabit internet connectivity, Coventry is the top-ranked local authority in the West Midlands region and is joint 3rd (with Belfast) in the UK. 
 
In April 2024, gigabit availability covered 97.1% of households in Coventry with 95.7% of households able to access Full-Fibre. This is an improvement on the local position in May 2023, where gigabit availability covered 96.5% of households and 94.8% had full-fibre access.  For context, only 80% of residential premises across the UK can receive gigabit and only 62% of homes have access to Full-Fibre.

According to Ofcom, the number of residential properties in Coventry in April 2024 was 144,758 with 143,522 matched to an internet connectivity operator. 

Decent internet connectivity can also be accessed through the mobile network using 4G services. As of April 2024, 95.75% of all premises have a reliable signal for 4G services while indoors from all four network operators (EE, O2, Three & Vodafone), an increase from 95.36% in May 2023. 

As of April 2024, 99.99% of properties within Coventry were able to receive a 5G signal when outdoors from at least one of the four network operators.

Our Workforce

Workforce profile

All Workforce data is as of 1 April 2024. Whole workforce figures are used, based on headcounts, excluding schools.

Key measures

68.23% of Coventry City Council's workforce is female, which is higher than the overall percentage of female residents in Coventry which is 49.7% (% of Coventry residents aged 16-67 from 2021 ONS Census). 

31.77% of Coventry City Council's workforce is male, which is lower than the overall percentage of male residents in Coventry which is 50.3% (% of Coventry residents aged 16-67 from 2021 ONS Census).

22.61% of the Council’s workforce is from a Minority Ethnic background, which is lower than the 34.5% of Coventry’s population (2021 ONS Census all residents). It should be noted that 10.32% of the ethnicity of the Council’s workforce is unknown, although we are working hard to address this.

6.97% of the council’s employees have declared a disability compared to 16.6% of all Coventry’s residents (2021 ONS Census).   It should be noted that for 12.17% of the workforce this is unknown.

3.12% of Coventry City Council's workforce is LGBT+, compared to 3.16% of all Coventry’s residents (2021 ONS Census).  The sexual orientation of over 25% of the Council's workforce is currently unknown.

Currently we have diversity data for 70.6 % of employees. 

Change in employee headcount and Full Time Equivalent (FTE)

The size of the workforce has fluctuated slightly over the last 5 years with a marginal increase in Full Time Equivalent (FTE) since 2020 but no significant change from 2022 to 2024.

The 2024 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) of 4188.8 was whole workforce as of 31 March 2024 (excluding schools).

Sickness absence

In 2023/24 the average days lost due to sickness absence per employee (FTE) at 13.4 was similar to the previous year (13.3).

The top three reasons for absence in 2023/24 were stress, depression and anxiety, musculoskeletal problems, and infections, cold and flu was the third highest cause of absence.  This is the same as the previous year.

To support the reduction of absence, particularly in respect of stress, depression, anxiety and musculoskeletal problems, a number of new initiatives have been introduced over the course of the year. These include mental health support clinics aimed at supporting employees to access external and internal resources to support their mental health. Wellbeing clinics, which assess and advise on treatment for many physical health conditions.  The wellbeing team have developed several training courses to educate the employee and manager on what support is available inside and outside the council. The menopause pledge, which includes the menopause clinic, menopause training and women’s network, continues to break down barriers to allow employees and managers to talk openly about the support an employee may need in work. The MSK (Musculoskeletal) clinic, ergonomic support and podiatry clinics continue to operate. There are also information sessions delivered yearly on topics such as reasonable adjustments, neurodiversity, carers support amongst other, in an aim to build a happy and healthier workforce.

The ‘Enabling Attendance Policy’ and procedure continues to be used. The focus of the policy is to keep people well in work and support managers to make the best decisions for their staff. We will continue to work to reduce absence further.

Workforce Equality Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to being a more inclusive and diverse employer and building equity into our workplace policies and processes.

In July 2023, the Council signed the Race at Work Charter. The Charter is designed for organisations to commit to improving opportunities for Black, Asian, Mixed Race and ethnically diverse employees in the UK. By signing the Charter, the Council committed to seven core actions including capturing ethnicity data and publicising progress, supporting ethnic minority career progression and ensuring equality is the responsibility of all leaders and managers. An Executive Sponsor for Race was appointed in November 2023.

• The Council launched the Amplify talent development programme for LGBT+ colleagues in September 2023. This is the third positive action programme and eight participants completed the course.
• In September 2023, the Council marked National Inclusion Week for the second time, holding three events on allyship, intersectionality and inclusive customer service. All events were recorded and are available for staff to access on the Learning & Development hub.
• Anti-racism training was delivered to over 2000 employees across the Council from October 2022 to June 2023. A recording and notes were made available to managers and teams who were unable to attend the training in person.
• The Council commissioned Making Lemonade (a Coventry based SME) to deliver bespoke Disability Inclusion Training. The aim of the training is to support all managers to feel confident to have effective and appropriate conversations about disability and reasonable adjustments. 97 managers have completed the training, with a further 100 places available in 2024.
• In May 2023, work began to review the Council’s Careers page and understand what steps could be taken to make it more accessible and user friendly for people with disabilities. To date, the page has been updated to include a comprehensive overview of the application process including a Frequently Asked Questions page, a summary of Council application and selection methods and reasonable adjustment scenarios.
• In October 2023, the Council’s first office accessibility guide for Friargate One was launched. The guide was designed for colleagues, visitors and candidates and provides information on Friargate facilities, including steps and lifts, toilets, meeting rooms and wellbeing spaces. An accessibility guide for the Council House will follow in 2024.
• To support all staff and hiring managers to better understand the key principles of recruitment and selection, a new Inclusive Recruitment & Selection Toolkit was launched in March 2024. The toolkit is a guide for managers to support them to make good and non-discriminatory recruitment decisions.
• The Council’s existing employee networks continue to grow and experience their highest membership since launch. The networks offer colleagues opportunities for networking and mutual support as well as education and development for members. In December 2023, a new network, Working (unpaid) Carers Network was introduced.
• The D&I Board continues to meet every quarter, led by Cllr Brown and Cllr Khan and supported by the Chief Executive. It is attended by representative Directors, Heads of Service, Trade Unions and colleagues from employee networks. Since launching in 2023, the Board has received updates from teams in Procurement, Commissioning, Transformation, HR and Regeneration & Economy.

Employee recognition 

Between April 2023 and March 2024, we received 249 nominations in total, for our Spire Awards employee recognition scheme, which is testament to the hard work and dedication of our workforce. The Spire Awards, which take place on a quarterly basis, are based on our One Coventry Values and aims to recognise colleagues from across all areas of the Council, who have gone above and beyond in delivering our services.

Council tax collection

Council in year collection has proved challenging during 2023/24 as we see the ongoing legacy of COVID era arrears coupled with cost-of-living challenges and high interest rates.

Business rates collection

Business rates in year collection during 2023/24 shows a significant decline from the previous year. In large part this is expected to be a timing issue with billing and payment receipts rather than an underlying issue with collectability. We expect to see these levels recover during 2024/25.

Continued financial sustainability of the Council metrics

Metric	Previous	Current	Comparators	Progress	Target	Status
Business rates total rateable value (and collection rate)	£316m 98.0% (2022/23)	£342m 95.6% (2023/24)	WMCA 96.2% (2022/23), England 96.8% (2022/23)	Got worse	≥ 98%	Off-target
Council tax collection rate	94.3% (2022/23)	93.7% (2023/24)	WMCA 94.2% (2022/23), England 96.0% (2022/23)	Got worse	≥ 95%	Off-target
Core employee headcount (full-time equivalents, fte)	4,134 (March 2023)	4,188 (March 2024)	N/A	Cannot say, no clear direction of travel	None set	No target set
Council staff sickness absence	13.3 days per FTE (2022/23)	13.4 days per FTE (2023/24)	N/A	Got worse	To decrease	Off-target
Spend on agency staff	£8,699,483 (2022/23)	£11,111,652 (2023/24)	N/A	Got worse	To decrease	Off-target
Participation in the staff survey	1,304 (32%)        (July2022)	2,173 (40%)        (October 2023)	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	To increase	On-target
Workforce representative of the City wide population compared to 2021 ONS Census (ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation as the under-represented groups in CCC)				Cannot say, no clear direction of travel	To increase representation	No target set
Part 1 - % of workforce aged 16-34 compared to ONS (% of Coventry aged 16-67 ONS Census 2021)	16.50%	19.20%	43.90%	Improved (or target already achieved)	To be representative of the city	No target set
Part 2 - Legal sex profile of workforce compared to ONS (% of Coventry aged 16-67 ONS Census 2021)	Female - 68.98%     Male - 31.02%	Female - 68.23%    Male - 31.77%	Female - 49.7% Male - 50.3%	Similar, unchanged or statistically insignificant	To be more representative of the city	No target set
Part 3 - % of workforce that is Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic  compared with Coventry profile	20.76%	22.61%	34.5%  (Coventry Census 2021)	Improved (or target already achieved)	To be more representative of the city	No target set
Part 4 - % workforce declaring a disability compared with 2021 ONS Census Coventry profile	6.89%	6.91%	16.60%	Similar, unchanged or statistically insignificant	To be more representative of the city	No target set
Part 5 - % % workforce from LGBT+ community compared with 2021 ONS Census Coventry profile	3.11%	3.12%	3.16%	Similar, unchanged or statistically insignificant	To be more representative of the city	No target set
Number of transactions completed through self-service channels	432,473 (2022/23)	455,612 (2023/24)	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	To increase	On-target
Households with access to full fibre and/or gigabit internet	96.5%	97.1%	England 62% (2023)	Improved (or target already achieved)	To increase	On-target
Households at risk of digital exclusion (Measure of digital inclusion/exclusion)	Metric to be defined, no data available	Metric to be defined, no data available	N/A	Not available or no updated data	To decrease	No target set
Sustainable medium-term financial position	Balanced budget 2023/24 – future years show a deficit	Balanced budget 2024/25 – future years show a deficit	N/A	Similar, unchanged or statistically insignificant	Sustainable	On-target
Metric	Previous	Current	Comparators	Progress	Target	Status
Savings targets met	85% delivered - £2.7m out of £3.2m (2022/23)	99% delivered £13.4m out of £13.5m	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	To increase	On-target
Balanced budget position in year	£6.7m overspent (2022/23)	£1.8m overspent (2023/24)	N/A	Improved (or target already achieved)	To improve	On-target