Implementation and transformation – our plan for delivering and maximising the benefits of LGR

This section outlines how our proposal for reorganisation will deliver high-quality, innovative, and sustainable public services tailored to local needs. Our phased approach includes pre-planning, planning, shadow period, and post-vesting day activities, focusing on maintaining business continuity, consolidating systems, and driving transformation. Building on best practices and case studies, we demonstrate how our model will best enhance service delivery, foster economic growth, and support wider public sector reform.

Our interim plan for reorganisation outlined our proposed outline approach to implementation and transformation. Since submitting this, we have continued to work on finalising our approach.

So far, our proposal has noted the considerable opportunities for service transformation that local government reorganisation can bring. This section sets out our plan for implementing our proposal, including key considerations relating to implementation as well as further detail necessary to understand our transformation journey.

For ease of reading, this section of our final plan overlaps in parts with the previous section, where opportunities arising from implementation and transformation were described, as well as the financial case which outlined the potential financial benefits.

It is also important to recognise that implementation and transformation are two distinct but deeply interconnected stages of LGR. Where implementation focuses on the establishment of new councils, through changes in governance, IT systems, staffing and policy, transformation is about longer-term service improvements, culture change, and ultimately improving outcomes for residents and businesses.

As a result, a clear separation between these two interconnected stages is not possible and, indeed, not desirable. To illustrate, many implementation tasks – of moving from the current system to the new – will continue after the new councils are fully operational. This includes property rationalisation and asset disposal, the migration of digital systems and workforce onboarding.  Similarly, some transformation activity – such as workforce engagement, digital systems optimisation, and joint commissioning – must start well before the new councils become operational to secure best value for money.

Implementation and transformation will therefore operate in parallel, blending over time. Our delivery, governance and decision-making structures will account for this.

In the pages that follow we set out our approach, as well as the proposed phasing of transformation and implementation activities.