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Member Stories: Award Winners from the 2025 Performance Networks

At the APSE Performance Networks Awards 2025, held at the Performance Networks Seminar in Blackpool on 4 December, authorities across the UK were recognised for their excellence and improvement based on verified performance data. Awards celebrate both the Best Performer and Most Improved Performer in service areas.

Best Performer – Sport & Leisure Facilities Management

North Northamptonshire Council’s Lodge Park Sports Centre shows what APSE validated excellence looks like.  Data-led decisions, strong community relationships, and measurable health outcomes.

APSE recognises services that turn performance data into real improvement. Lodge Park Sports Centre is a powerful example of how reinvestment, customer insight and community trust drive lasting impact.

At over 50 years old, Lodge Park Sports Centre proves that high-performing services aren’t about shiny buildings, they’re about listening, reinvesting and delivering outcomes that matter. A well-deserved APSE Best Performer award winner.

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most Improved Performer 2025 – Building Maintenance

Wigan Council’s Local Building Services team demonstrates how APSE recognition celebrates progress driven by teamwork, professionalism and a shared commitment to raising standards. Being named winners provides a strong example of what continuous improvement looks like in practice, with staff-led change, practical solutions and a clear focus on delivering better outcomes for the community.

For the team, the award recognises more than performance alone; it reflects the effort, resilience and momentum built over the past year and is a well-deserved achievement for everyone involved.

The award was presented to front line staff at the Christmas team gathering at the Makerfield Way depot, offering an opportunity to recognise the collective contribution of the service and reinforcing pride in both individual and team achievements.

 

 

 

The full case study report will be published later in the Spring.

 

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Introducing Power BI Reporting for Performance Networks

 

We are excited to share that APSE Performance Networks has now implemented Power BI reporting across several key services. This powerful business intelligence platform enables richer insights, better visualisation and more timely performance information for local authorities participating in our benchmarking networks.

 

 

 

What Power BI Reporting Means for You

 

Interactive visualisation & dynamic dashboards

Power BI turns raw data into clear and engaging visuals.  It uses charts, trend lines and scorecards that can be filtered and explored with ease, helping you quickly spot patterns and areas for improvement.

Real-time insights & improved decision-making

Interactive dashboards update as data changes, allowing services to monitor performance against targets more closely and make evidence-based decisions.

Automation and time saving

By drawing from multiple data sources, Power BI reduces manual work and frees up team time for service improvement activity.

Enhanced collaboration and sharing

You can share these with your colleagues through enrolling others to the web portal, helping embed a data-driven culture where performance insights inform planning and delivery.

 

 

 

By integrating Power BI into Performance Networks, members can access clear, interactive dashboards tailored to their service areas. Performance trends and comparisons between councils are easier to understand and share, turning reporting into a practical tool for improvement rather than simple record-keeping. We are continuing to roll out these dashboards, alongside support and training, to help members get the most from this new capability.

 

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Collaboration has expanded between Sport England and APSE – data collection is now even easier

 

    

 

Since 2022, APSE have been working with Sport England to reduce data input times for benchmarking leisure centres and provide a level of synergy between the APSE and Sport England Moving Communities data systems.

 

We have now strengthened this collaboration for 2024 to now include financial data in addition to participation, facility usage, and facility management data.  To expedite the process for APSE performance networks members, we have created an agreement which allows you to authorise Moving Communities to release this leisure centre data directly to APSE, therefore eliminating the need to input this data in the annual data collection templates.

 

Emma Bernstein, Strategic Projects Lead at Sport England, said: “The collaboration with APSE is an important milestone in supporting a journey of performance monitoring and continuous improvement across the public leisure sector.  The work that we can do together will drive quality and increase confidence and we are thrilled that to work in partnership to minimise duplication across the sector.  It will help and support facilities to demonstrate the positive impact they have on their local communities.”

 

This collaboration has multiple benefits including:

• Minimising the duplication of data input at local authority level
• Ensuring that published data from different sources uses consistent information
• Reducing the amount of data validation needing to be undertaken by local authorities via APSE as thorough validation processes are already built in to the Moving Communities exercise
• Increasing the value of the Moving Communities exercise by making greater use of the data collected and submitted by local authorities

APSE members will have the opportunity to review the data which we receive from Moving Communities before it is published in the reports and APSE will send members a draft data output as part of the checking processes.

For any local authority who outsource their leisure service the relevant operator will need to sign the agreement for data release.

To find out more information on this collaboration or to find out how to get involved in benchmarking your leisure centres, please contact [email protected]

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Changes to training

We have now pre recorded our PN induction and data completion introduction and this is available to view online via the members web portal, under the training pages.  This session is an introduction to both performance networks and how to download and navigate the data templates.  

We also offer 121 data support sessions, where an associate will meet via MS Teams and complete your data template with you, in real time.  To enquire about these sessions, please contact [email protected]