Local government reform has been impacted by financial and political factors over a number of years.
Operating in an environment of intense financial and administrative pressure, which has seen a number of councils issue warning or s114 notices, an increasing number of local authorities are looking to explore the possibility that a unitary system may offer a more efficient and viable model to help ease such strains.
The Labour party’s Autumn Budget on the 30 October 2024 confirmed that devolution legislation will involve working with councils to move towards simpler structures “with efficiency savings from council reorganisation helping meet the needs of local people”. This forms part of a broader aspiration to reform public services in order to improve outcomes whilst keeping public spending at sustainable levels. So it would appear that reform and reorganisation will feature extensively in the future of councils in England.
In this guide we take look at recent snapshot examples of local government re-organisation and provide general guidance for other authorities who are considering transitioning to a unitary model or are already on that journey.
We have also included links to interviews with colleagues in the sector who have undertaken re-organisations in order to provide detailed first-hand accounts on the issues that arose.
We are especially grateful to all those local government colleagues that contributed to this guide during its formulation.
