Bristol City Council is the worst performer of its kind in England, according to a new report.

Auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers were asked to compare the performance of 43 so-called unitary authorities – councils with sole responsibility for their areas.

They looked at a range of indicators the Government said were important. And Bristol came out 43rd – bottom of the pile.

The PwC report – which was commissioned by the council to show where performance was weak – is not the same as the official Audit Commission assessment.

There were celebrations at the council when it was awarded two stars (out of four) for the first time in the commission's annual nationwide ratings in February this year.

For the previous two years, the city council had been awarded just one star in the annual comprehensive performance assessments.

At the time, council leader Helen Holland said: "It demonstrates how determined we are to drive through the changes needed to make our city an even better place to live and work in. However, the council still has a long way to go before it can say with confidence it is consistently delivering high quality and value-for-money services to all in our city."

The PwC report – using data that was already publicly available – shows just how far Bristol City Council has to go.

It ranked the council's performance as particularly poor in children's services – including education – and the handling of benefit claims.

Bristol did score highly in some categories, such as recycling and green and sustainability issues, where the council has won awards for its performance. The city was the only one in the UK to be shortlisted for European Green Capital status.

It should be said that some of the other English unitary authorities are very different from Bristol in terms of social mix, budget size, geography or industrial profile.

PwC also compared Bristol with England's other core cities. Taking the metropolitan and unitary areas together, the city came 77th out of 77.

Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham were not far behind.

Last night, Bristol City Council spokesman Simon Caplan said: "The council has never made any pretence that it is where it wants to be.

"We commissioned the report because we wanted a clear picture of where we are. We don't want to kid ourselves."