HAMPSHIRE County Council has retained its "excellent" rating as a local authority for the third consecutive year.

Southampton City Council has also retained its "good" status for three years in a row, according to an Audit Commission report looking at how local authorities perform across a range of services.

Social services bosses in Southampton were singled out for praise in the report for their policies of looking after children in care, while the council was also praised for its financial management.

City chiefs are now in the upper range of "good" councils, scoring 42 points this year as opposed to 40 points last year.

Areas where the council needs to do more work include education attainment and highways.

City Council leader, Councillor Adrian Vinson, said: "I am delighted with this result. Again Southampton's council has been shown to be one of the best in the UK.

"Everyone who works at the council is dedicated to making it efficient and effective, delivering services which are important to local people at the best value for money.

"These results show we're not only good, but continuously getting even better."

In the report, the Audit Commission said city chiefs had made progress in its key priority areas. The report said: "Children's social services performance has improved and good service standards for adults have been maintained."

Hampshire County Council leader, Councillor Ken Thornber, said he was "delighted" that the council had achieved an excellent rating for the third year in a row.

He said: "There are times when we look at the government grant and we say that really, financially, we are not being helped to maintain this excellence. But our staff and members say we will work even harder to continue to achieve that excellent level of service."

On the Isle of Wight, the council scored a "fair" result for the third year in a row but commissioners said that the authority was "continuing to improve".

Leader of Isle of Wight Council, Councillor Shirley Smart, said: "This result reflects the hard work of staff and members across the whole of the organisation and I would like to thank everyone who has worked so hard to achieve the individual improvements which make up our overall score.

"However, I would like to say once again that while we welcome the contents of the Audit Commission report as an independent indicator of our progress, our true aim is not to win the approval of government agencies, but that of the people of the Island by delivering excellent services."