Annual performance spotlights

Areas for improvement

Further explanatory narrative for those measures where targets were not met or where performance was not improving.

Connect outcome	Measure	Target	Performance	Explanations/narrative
Education and learning	Percentage of children and young people attending primary school	Not met	Improving	While the current year position has not yet met the stretch target, primary school attendance remains above the level achieved in earlier years and shows a generally improving trend over the three-year period. The target was set as an ambitious stretch aim to drive sustained improvement and reduce inequalities, rather than represent a minimum expectation. Ongoing focus on attendance, wellbeing and early intervention continues to support positive underlying progress. The council-wide ‘Every School Day Matters’ attendance campaign has since been launched to promote the importance of regular attendance.
Education and learning	Percentage of children and young people attending secondary school	Not met	Not improving	Secondary school attendance continues to improve compared with previous years and remains stable in a challenging national context, although the stretch target has not yet been achieved. As with other wellbeing measures, the target was deliberately ambitious to promote continuous improvement. Targeted actions to support engagement, wellbeing and sustained attendance are contributing to positive longer-term progress. The council-wide ‘Every School Day Matters’ attendance campaign has since been launched to promote the importance of regular attendance.
Children and young people	Pupils entering positive destinations	Not met	Performance improving	The most recent School Leaver Destination Report (SLDR) showed an increase in the number of pupils who left school in academic year 2024-25 entered a positive destination. Although the ambitious target was not met, this remains an improvement from the previous year and above the national rate.
Children and young people	Percentage gap between pupils from the least and most deprived areas entering positive destinations	Not met	Not improving	The gap between most and least deprived has increased slightly but remains lower than the national gap.
Our economy	Number of unemployed people accessing further education or training	Met	Not improving	The number of participants accessing further education or training in 2025-26 (801) is very slightly below the 2024-25 figure (804), but still significantly exceeds the annual target of 600 participants.
Our economy	Number of participants supported via council-operated employability programmes	Met	Not improving	The target (2,400) for the number of participants supported via council-operated employability programmes has been met. While there continues to be strong demand for employability support, the overall figure in 2025-26 (2,415) is lower than in 2024-25 (3,059). This reflects a targeted shift in focus in 2025-26 towards supporting more parents and individuals who face more complex or significant barriers to employment and who therefore require earlier engagement. This means more intensive support prior to entry onto employability programmes, thereby impacting final numbers actually registered onto the programmes.
Communities and environment	Percentage of total household waste that is recycled	Not met	Not improving	This measure is reported per calendar year, so the figure shown (40.63%) relates to the period January to December 2025. The recycling rate is lower than that reported for the same period in 2024 (41.83%). Chargeable garden waste permits were introduced in April 2025, and one of the known risks associated with the scheme was a reduction in the amount of organic waste collected for recycling (composting). However, the garden waste permit scheme is just one factor affecting the recycling rate. In June 2025, issues with the council's bulky waste treatment contractor meant that waste that had been previously recycled needed to be sent to landfill until a new contract was awarded. The new contract commenced on 1 October 2025, and the service continues to monitor the contract performance and its impact on waste statistics.
Health and wellbeing	Local authority and private Welfare guardianship visits completed on time	Met	Not improving	Whilst there has been a slight year-on-year decrease, performance remains above the revised target. At the same time, demand for Welfare Guardianship Orders increased by 14% over the period 2021-22 to 2025-26. From reporting year 2024-25, the internal target was revised and reduced from 90% to 75% to ensure that it aligns with comparable statutory social work indicators and remains achievable within current service capacity. From July 2024, the frequency of Supervising Officer visits was revised in line with Scottish Government guidance, including the removal of the additional six-monthly visit, ensuring a proportionate and nationally consistent approach to visit intervals.
Housing and Land	% of lets to urgent homeless (UH) households	Met	Not improving	Although target was exceeded, the proportion of permanent lets directed towards homeless households reduced by 2.6%.This reflects the pattern of properties which became available and the requirement to meet the needs of other high priority groups.
Housing and Land	% of new tenancies sustained for more than a year for all lets	Met	Not improving	Although target exceeded, performance reduced by 0.3% in 2025-26. This indicator continues to be a management focus and is reported to the Scottish Housing Regulator on an annual basis.