Local government structures in England are in the spotlight at the moment following the government’s white paper in Dec 2024. Devolution is generally first thought of when considering this topic and is the process by which central government passes decision making power on some matters, such as economic development, housing, transport and employment support, down to a region along with funding. In doing so, allowing those that know the region better the decision on how and where money is spent. The principal being that it allows decision making to be made closer to the communities it affects and provides more flexibility for local authorities so they can meet the specific needs of their region more effectively. The 6 regions of Cumbria, Cheshire and Warrington, Norfolk and Suffolk, Greater Essex, Sussex and Brighton, and Hampshire and the Solent have been accepted onto the Government’s current Devolution Priority Programme (DPP). They are all working through the process currently to establish a Mayoral Strategic Authority (the governments preferred model for devolution) in each of the 6 regions with inaugural mayoral elections currently set to be held in 4 of the regions in May 2026 with the remaining 2 regions in May 2027.

However, there is in fact a separate underpinning change also included within the white paper, which will likely have an even more profound effect, that of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR). Current arrangements have local government across England as one of two setups, either they are ‘Unitary’ authorities which provide all services within their area under the one council, or they are ‘Two Tier’ where there are County Councils which provide some services (such as social care services, education, trading standards, infrastructure etc. ) and then smaller Borough or District Councils within the county area which then provide other services (such as bin collections, environmental health, planning etc.). Critics of the Two Tier system argue that it can lead to confusion for residents as to who is providing a service, variations in service within the same region, and disconnect, delays and inefficiencies where services are required to span both tiers.    

The government has made clear that alongside its DPP it is committed to reducing the number of two-tier systems in favour of replacement by a smaller number of unitary authorities and that it views this as an essential supporting step for devolution. To this end it has invited 21 regions in England to submit proposals for reorganisation within their area in what would be the biggest shakeup to local authority structures in 50 years. 

The 21 regions invited currently consist of 21 county councils, 18 smaller unitary councils and 165 borough or district councils. A total of 204 separate local authority organisations. Under the proposals currently being developed and consulted on across the 21 regions this could potentially be reduced to between 35 to 62 unitary councils. 

However, this process is not purely about a reduction in number of councils, it is the governments belief that through this reorganisation and shift to the unitary model that cost savings for the public purse can be achieved due to simpler structures and better more efficient service provision and delivery, as well as building more financially robust and stable organisations. The government has set out that it expects the new unitary councils created to serve a population of 500,000 or more in most cases in order to best deliver the savings and benefits reorganisation could bring. There are risks with such a wide-reaching reorganisation. Fail to get the size of the new unitary authorities large enough and the cost of their reorganisation will never be recouped, with it far outweighing any savings and efficiencies that may be achieved. However, there is equally a risk that making a new unitary authority too large will limit how effectively it can engage with, respond to and really represent the needs of its local communities, leaving local communities feeling their voice has been weakened. Ultimately, balance between these two competing risks will be key in how successful the local government reorganisation programme is. 

The programme for LGR is set to run over the next three years, as such large scale change in local authority structures inevitably require considerable governmental scrutiny, planning and preparation not to mention legal and logistical procedures to follow. 

Initially all 21 regions submitted interim plans by 21st March 2025 and subsequently each region was provided with written feedback on these from MHCLG to help aid them in their further development of final proposals. Final proposals are then to be submitted by 26th September for the 6 regions also in the DPP, and by 28th November for the remaining 14 regions. (Surrey are on a separate timeline, having already submitted their final proposals).

It is important to note that while the local authorities in each of the 21 regions are the ones currently developing proposals on different reorganisation options and can express which is their preference in their submissions, it is ultimately the government that will make the final decision.

Following submission of final proposals, the government will then review, run their own public consultation and, on conclusion of that, determine the chosen option to move forward with for that region. It is then necessary for the government to lay Structural Change Orders (SCOs) for parliamentary approval. Once the SCOs are approved a region will then be in its “transition period” which is typically no less than 1 year leading up to its specified “vesting day” which is when the new unitary council(s) go live, and the current existing councils are all dissolved. Vesting days are currently intended to be 1st April 2027 for Surrey and 1st April 2028 for all other regions. 

This transition period will be a busy time for all councils involved not just in holding local elections for the new councils but also in ensuring that all services can be up and running in full compliance with all legal requirements on day 1 of the new council(s) operation. Aggregation of services that were once at borough or district level, disaggregation in some instances of services that were at county level will be required, not just in terms of staffing and physical equipment and computer systems but also in terms of documentation, strategies and policies. 

Areas that have already gone through this conversion to unitary councils can show how such changes may be handled. One such example is in the northwest of England where in 2023 Cumbria County Council and its 6 district councils changed to the 2 unitary councils of Cumberland Council and Westmorland & Furness Council. RHE were involved with this process providing some essential support during this time for Westmorland & Furness through our consultancy service in helping them to review the previous policies and amalgamating and creating new policies for some of the housing and environmental health functions. If you want to find out more about how we were involved in this process, see the full case study on our website. 

Some of the regions may find this transition period simpler for some services, if they already have joint working partnerships and/or common or shared policies and documentation with their neighbouring councils which they will be combining with when forming a unitary authority for their region. One such example of this will be in Suffolk where they are already working in partnership across the 5 district and borough councils in relation to private sector housing functions. RHE were involved both in providing project support and amalgamation of the private sector housing policy documents as part of the Suffolk wide pathfinder programme which started in 2023, as well as providing review & recommendations of empty home and private sector engagement policies across the region for the Suffolk Housing Board. If you want to find out more about how we were involved in these projects, see the full case study on our website.  

Equally crucial through any such change is effectively, and relatively quickly, bringing staff within newly amalgamated teams up to the same level of competency to ensure consistency in delivery of the service. While informal sharing of experience & practice between the new colleagues can work, this is often much slower to complete and embed. Far better is to use dedicated training accompanied with access to a good quality knowledge base and resources to supplement and support the training.  It can help ensure familiarisation of staff with newly created or updated policies and with the procedure approach being taken by the new authority. It can help refresh and ensure all team members have the same level of understanding around the service they are delivering. One such example of where training was embedded alongside policy review & formation was in RHE’s support of Westmorland & Furness Council when they became a unitary authority. On concluding the amalgamation and formation of updated policies for some of their housing & environmental health functions, RHE also developed and delivered full day workshop for officers to help with the implementation of the new policy. For more information on our training services and the wide range of resources and documents that are accessible through our RIAMS service visit our website.

Whether the councils in your area are already forging ahead in the change to unitary like in Surrey, are submitting final proposals, or still determining what those final proposals will look like, it is going to be a period of immense change.  In three short years the world of local government will potentially look very different.