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

The creation of new unitary councils, the closing down of precursor authorities, and the accompanying service aggregation and disaggregation are complex activities that are not without risk. Our priority is to achieve economic growth and improve outcomes for residents whilst also creating financially sustainable unitary councils in the short and longer-term.  

In moving forward with implementing our proposal, we will:

1. Invest in the establishment of robust and effective programme management, risk management, governance and engagement arrangements. This will ensure that the transition is managed well, with identified risks mitigated, standards of governance are upheld, and stakeholders and effectively engaged.

2. Prioritise maintaining business as usual service delivery throughout transition, ensuring safe and legal service delivery from Vesting Day.

3. Focus on consolidating systems and assets across lower-tier authorities as there is notable scope for savings to be realised as a result of aggregation.

While formal changes will begin after the necessary legislation is enacted, it is anticipated that preliminary work will commence in advance (as set out in the following road map), with this initial work focused on aligning systems and processes that are specific to lower-tier authorities, such as those operated under Housing Revenue Accounts (HRA), homelessness and emergency accommodation, as well as other operational and transactional systems. These areas are operationally unique and financially material.

4. Learn from the experience elsewhere to avoid the common pitfalls of LGR. These included the prolonged existence of multiple council tax or revenues and benefits systems. We have engaged with authorities that have undergone LGR in recent years, and this has informed our final proposal. Our engagement will continue as we move through our phases of implementation.

5. Plan for a phased approach to implementation and transformation after Vesting Day, reflecting our critical path to full implementation and with due consideration to budget setting and electoral cycles.

6. Ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place for the handover of the transformation programme in the immediate years after Vesting Day. We envisage that financial and service improvement benefits will be realised by the end of the first electoral cycle.  Further transformation will follow the second electoral cycle, including the implementation of innovative public service delivery models which will deliver continuous improvement, unlock growth and deliver better outcome for residents.

Our proposal:

Improves service delivery through:

• Delivering a phased approach to implementation and transformation. This will help ensure that services remain safe and legal, with opportunities for transformation pursued over time.
• Promoting a digital first approach, with single customer contact points and the smarter use of data. This will improve accessibility, responsiveness and the integration of services, supporting a holistic, preventive approach to service delivery.
• Creating a Transformation Coordination Board to align strategy and delivery across the new unitary authorities, reducing duplication and driving consistency.
• Clearly linking organisational redesign and back-office consolidation to frontline improvements by freeing up resources.
• Implementing a robust evaluation framework, with resident satisfaction surveys and benchmarking used to inform continuous improvement.

Avoids unnecessary fragmentation of services through:

• Advocating for models that minimise risks of disaggregation of high-risk services at Vesting Day, while retaining system-wide safety and coherence as well as enabling place-based service models, ensuring early continuity and preserving flexibility for new authorities to localise delivery for improved outcomes.
• Outlining four structural options to retain coherence in the delivery of upper-tier services: shared services, lead authority model, external vehicles and ‘as is’ place-based models.
• Advocating for shared governance structures and early planning to preserve service integration and avoid unnecessary disruption.
• Anchoring its approach in lessons learned from LGR in other areas that have struggled with fragmented systems and contracts.

Creates opportunities for wider public sector reform and improved value for money through:

• Consolidating systems, contracts and assets early in implementation to capture efficiencies, enabling financially sustainable councils from day one and laying the necessary groundwork for further reform.
• Creating an invest to save strategy, supported by detailed savings assumptions across service areas.
• Focusing on co-location, shared procurement, and integration with health and education partners to support system-wide reform and to enable new unitaries to bring partners together to collectively deliver the best outcomes for residents and businesses.
• Introducing localised transformation plans backed by a shared transformation toolkit – balancing local ambition with strategic coordination.
• Including specific focus on back-office integration, customer service reform, and use of data/predictive analytics as core efficiency drivers.

Carefully considers and mitigates the impacts on crucial services such as adults’ and children’s social care, SEND, homelessness and public safety through:

• Specifically planning for upper-tier services, their criticality and complexity.
• Proposing a phased approach for the delivery of adults and children, families, and education (CFE) services. Initially, these services will continue to operate 'as is,' with a plan to review and integrate them over time. This approach aims to determine what is best delivered on a countywide basis and what will benefit from local integration, ensuring a safe and stable transition while maximising the benefits of unitarisation, such as improved coordination with housing and other aligned services.
• Proposing a heightened focus on early intervention and prevention, which will improve outcomes and lower long-term costs in social care, homelessness and SEND.
• Acknowledging that not all services will be restructured in the same way, allowing flexibility based on risk, readiness and local needs.
• Prioritising governance and service transition for these service areas during the shadow period.

The sections that follow outline, in detail, our approach to implementation and transformation.