Research and analysis

North East Combined Authority readiness check: summary

Updated 23 April 2026

Applies to England

Summary of findings

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The North East Combined Authority (North East CA) has a clear, long-term strategic framework, mature core governance, and generally strong arrangements for risk, finance, and central government engagement. On balance, we assess the North East CA as broadly between Building and Embedded at a whole-system level, with some important elements still ‘Building’ that will need focused work before and during 2026/27. An important focus for the North East CA going forward will be inducting new colleagues into the recently recruited roles and building further digitalisation and data governance in its management information - we found that plans are in place to advance in these areas.

Strategy, planning and governance – Building to Embedded

The North East CA has a long‑term strategic framework aligned to its five regional missions, supported by governance arrangements and accountability. There are some specific draft or recently updated frameworks, including the Performance Management Framework and supporting governance documentation, that need to be finalised and applied consistently. Risk management, assurance and controls are maturing across the organisation with plans for further digitisation, training and development of an assurance map. At the time of fieldwork several areas for improvement were identified in relation to risk management, noting that a Senior Risk Manager has since been appointed to implement plans and drive greater consistency.

People and capability – Building to Embedded

Senior sponsorship and accountability for the Integrated Settlement are understood, with dedicated programme leadership and established ways of working across teams. Core enabling functions, particularly Finance and Assurance, operate collaboratively. The North East CA recognised the further work required to embed strategic workforce planning, finalise role documentation and strengthen capacity and skills planning to support sustainable delivery.

Financial and performance management – Embedded

The North East CA has financial and performance management processes in place, with budget setting, forecasting and business case controls established. There is evidence of continuous improvement and oversight through existing governance forums. Further maturity will be achieved by reducing reliance on manual processes and strengthening the use of data and systems to support more timely, forward‑looking insight and funding flexibility decisions.

Reporting and evaluation – Building

Reporting and evaluation arrangements have foundations, with regular reporting cycles that support transparency and senior oversight. There is intent to integrate financial, performance, risk and delivery information, and structured reporting lines are in place with emerging alignment to the Outcomes Framework. Further improvements are required in areas such as benefits realisation tracking and data insights, alongside continued investment in systems and automation to support more forward‑looking, analytical reporting.

Recommendations

Strategy, planning and governance

• Recommendation 1: The North East CA should develop an approach through which Integrated Settlement related risks and controls are identified and managed. An Integrated Settlement Risk Register with clearly defined Integrated Settlement risks should be established. In addition, risk categories and appetite statements, for example funding flexibilities and outcome delivery risk, should be established. The Risk Management Framework should also set out how risk management will operate within 6 monthly outcome reviews and funding flexibility or reprioritisation decisions, requiring structured risk commentary for each outcome theme during review cycles and linking risk movements to pipeline reprioritisation and funding flexibility decisions. This should establish clear controls, assurance activities and escalation routes, set out how risks will be monitored and reviewed, and clearly document roles and responsibilities for managing these risks. (Priority 1)
• Recommendation 4: The Scheme of Delegations was reviewed, updated and approved in December 2025. An accompanying authorisations scheme has been developed with additional guidance and training planned to further support effective implementation. The relevant policies, procedures and documentation should be reviewed and updated to clearly embed this authorisation scheme and set out which decisions can be taken by which officers, so that roles and responsibilities remain clearly understood and documented. (Priority 2)
• Recommendation 5: In line with existing plans, the North East CA should finalise and launch the updated assurance framework ahead of the Integrated Settlement launch. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) approval should be sought ahead of launching the framework. (Priority 2)
• Recommendation 12: Risk appetite statements should be linked to outcomes, escalation thresholds, Single Assurance Framework decision making and use of the Integrated Settlement flexibilities. This will support risk appetite actively shaping risk responses and strategic choices. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 13: Escalation routes are described but triggers rely on judgement. Mandatory thresholds for escalating high or cross cutting risks should be embedded within the Risk Management Framework and processes, ensuring ongoing alignment with Single Assurance Framework governance so risk profile influences delegation and approval. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 14: Risk Registers are currently Excel based. The North East CA should transition towards a digitised risk management system to streamline processes, reduce duplication of effort and increase transparency, enabling more sophisticated reporting including key risk indicators aligned to strategic and programme KPIs. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 15: The North East CA should roll out a role tailored risk management training programme to further embed risk management practices and culture across the organisation, building on training already provided to senior leadership and the Audit and Standards Committee. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 16: Opportunities exist to add explicit escalation thresholds in governance terms of reference. Either those terms of reference should be updated or references to other relevant documents included to improve transparency, clarity and effective governance as the organisation grows. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 25: The North East CA should develop an Assurance Map aligned to outcomes to provide clear visibility of assurance coverage and gaps against outcome delivery. This would complement existing assurance arrangements and support movement towards leading practice. (Priority 4)
• Recommendation 26: Second line assurance methodologies and challenge arrangements should be clarified and consolidated within the assurance framework to strengthen visibility of testing approaches, escalation routes and assurance coverage. (Priority 4)

People and capability

• Recommendation 2: Two Directors have been identified as accountable for the Integrated Settlement with a direct reporting line to the Chief Executive. However, this has not been defined in documentation outside of an Integrated Settlement RACI. The North East CA should create a summary document setting out key officer roles for the Integrated Settlement to support clarity and future planning. (Priority 1)
• Recommendation 6: The Integrated Settlement Working Group does not currently have a terms of reference. The North East CA should develop one, including membership, responsibilities, accountabilities, escalation routes and reporting frequency where relevant. (Priority 2)
• Recommendation 17: When implementing its Strategic Resourcing Plan, the North East CA should ensure its approach for identifying and managing contingent resources is included, highlighting where internal resources can be redeployed to address short term project needs. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 18: The North East CA should conduct a skills mapping exercise across the organisation below committee level and implement a mechanism to capture individual employees’ skills. This should feed into the Strategic Resourcing Plan and help reduce single point dependency. (Priority 3)

Financial and performance management

• Recommendation 3: The North East CA should agree and document its funding flexibility process. This should define roles and responsibilities for decision making, associated governance arrangements and a regular review cycle, for example quarterly, to assess how flexibilities are being deployed and manage the risk of under utilisation. (Priority 1)
• Recommendation 7: Budget setting and forecasting processes should be refined, with clearer roles and responsibilities defined for users and any additional training needs identified. The rollout of a new forecasting template and embedding of RAG ratings should be supported by documented guidance, including mandatory templates. (Priority 2)
• Recommendation 8: The North East CA should consider increasing forecast versus actual reviews from quarterly to more frequent cycles, for example monthly aligned with the financial month end, to enable more timely insights and agile decision making. (Priority 2)
• Recommendation 9: In implementing the Performance Management Framework, the North East CA should confirm which forums will oversee investment and project delivery, the frequency and method of reporting, and the data sets underpinning decision making. Training and socialisation across the organisation and stakeholders will be required. (Priority 2)
• Recommendation 19: To enhance Senior Leadership Team reporting quality, the North East CA could introduce clearer illustration of the drivers of budget variances and RAG ratings to highlight emerging areas of concern. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 20: The North East CA should support colleagues involved in the development and appraisal of business cases through Better Business Case or equivalent training. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 21: As the Performance Management Framework is finalised and embedded, the North East CA should consider the data metrics underpinning performance monitoring and the Outcomes Framework, and develop a Data Strategy to support consistent and central data management. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 27: The North East CA should investigate technology and data capabilities to automate budget templates and increase the use of real time dashboards. This should reduce reliance on manual inputs and support more timely, data driven decisions on funding flexibilities and delivery. (Priority 4)

Reporting and evaluation

• Recommendation 10: The North East CA draft Evaluation Strategy sets out approaches to evaluation at project and programme level. The strategy should be finalised, embedded and supported by training, alongside development of standardised evaluation templates. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 11: The North East CA should make the Evaluation Plan a mandatory gateway requirement in all business cases. Evaluation Plans should be signed off by the Evaluation Team prior to project approval. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 22: The North East CA should introduce programme level and thematic dashboards showing outputs, outcomes, risks and variances, supported by trend analysis and early warning indicators. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 23: A formal process for sharing lessons learnt across the organisation should be established to support future planning and continuous improvement. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 24: Data management principles should be formalised and supported by comprehensive data quality control procedures and clear roles and responsibilities across all data domains. (Priority 3)
• Recommendation 28: The North East CA should develop a Contract Management Framework to strengthen consistency in managing non grant contracts, setting expectations proportionate to risk and complexity. (Priority 4)
• Recommendation 29: Transparency should be enhanced by enabling budget holders, project managers and operational users to self serve and interrogate up to date financial, performance and delivery data from core systems. (Priority 4)

1. This summary of findings has been extracted from the Integrated Settlement readiness check report prepared by an independent advisor. The report has been prepared only for Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and solely for the purpose, and on the terms agreed with MHCLG. The independent advisor accepts no liability (including for negligence) to anyone else in connection with this summary of findings or the report. ↩