Council Transparency Directory
Every council on this page has been independently assessed using the Verifiable Digital Transparency Index (VDTI) — a practical, evidence-based score that tells you exactly how well a council is performing on digital presence, contact transparency, community connectivity, and structural completeness. Every score is based entirely on publicly available information that any resident can check for themselves.
How these scores are calculated
Every score is produced using the Verifiable Digital Transparency Index (VDTI) v2.0, assessed during the standard annual assessment window of January–March 2026. The VDTI measures 12 specific things that councils are already required or expected to do — publishing meeting minutes, maintaining an accessible website, running resident consultations, and more. All 13 indicators are drawn from publicly available sources: no council is asked to self-report anything.
The VDTI is grounded in the Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities (DCLG, 2015), the Local Government Transparency Code 2015, and the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018. The four-pillar structure reflects the core accountability obligations that residents and the government rightly expect from councils that collect a precept. Scores are calculated out of 100 for the standard public assessment. Scores above 88 typically require subscriber verification — the remaining points are available only through a live Council Clearsight subscription assessment, which includes direct verification of internal governance documents not publicly accessible.