Methodology
How Assay identifies, evaluates, and presents accountability concerns for UK local authorities.
Sources
Every flag traces to a primary published source: statutory notices from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC/MHCLG); audit opinions from the Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA); ICO enforcement and decision notices; and FOI response statistics from WhatDoTheyKnow (mySociety). No flag is raised from secondary reporting alone.
Severity levels
Statutory intervention: Section 114 notices, government commissioners, best value inspections ordered by the Secretary of State.
Significant audit concerns: disclaimed, adverse, or qualified audit opinions; PSAA backstop intervention; formal best value notices.
Governance concerns: ICO enforcement, register of interests failures, materially late publication of accounts or transparency data.
Indicators requiring monitoring: FOI overdue rates substantially above peer average, repeated minor disclosure concerns.
Language
Assay uses neutral, evidence-referenced language throughout. We avoid loaded characterisations and describe only what published sources record: a Section 114 notice was issued, an audit opinion was disclaimed, an enforcement notice was served. Readers are left to draw their own conclusions from the evidence.
Missing data
Absence of a flag does not mean a council is free of concerns — it means Assay has not yet identified a published trigger. Gaps in source data are shown as “not yet published” rather than scored as zero. Missing data is never treated as a clean record.
Right of reply
Any council or named individual appearing on Assay may submit a response of up to 500 words to hello@assay.org.uk. Responses are published verbatim alongside the relevant flag within 14 days of receipt, without editing.
Licence
Source data is drawn from the following:
- GOV.UK / MHCLG / DLUHC, ICO, PSAA — Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- WhatDoTheyKnow / mySociety — CC-BY-SA 4.0. Contains data from WhatDoTheyKnow (c) mySociety.