The scale of the challenge presented to council services by local government reorganisation (LGR) was the topic of a roundtable, supported by Norse Group, held shortly before the DCN Annual Conference began.

The group of around two dozen council chief executives and leaders discussed the LGR situation in their areas at the event in Windsor, one week prior to the deadline to submit interim proposals for new unitaries.

Attendees reflected on positive partnerships that had previously been formed between all councils in their areas. However, some said previously strong relationships between districts and counties were under strain due to LGR.

A common theme was that, even where there were disagreements, many areas were working together to produce an evidence base and a joint submission, albeit including a number of different options for individual councils to endorse.

For those in the room who had experienced LGR previously, this round felt different. Tighter timelines to reach vesting day this time around were seen as a significant difficulty. There was also a shared frustration that Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government officials did not appear to understand the pressure this placed on councils.

Maintaining momentum

Many attendees expressed frustration that the focus on reorganisation meant they could not maintain momentum on existing projects and service improvements. The intense overall workload placed corporate leadership under severe strain.

Without clear direction about what successor authorities would look like, it was felt that districts’ ambition was being dampened by being stuck in a holding pattern.

Justin Galliford, Chief Executive of Norse Group, spoke about how the firm’s teams in housing and climate change could provide councils with additional bandwidth and expertise to continue delivering significant projects despite pressure from LGR

One officer with previous experience of reorganisation highlighted how important it was to work with partners to decide the nature of the new council, and to be bold in setting a positive culture for it. Deciding whether it would be a district exercising county powers or a county subsuming districts was an important facet of this.

The discussion shifted to support for senior officers such as finance chiefs, heads of service and monitoring officers who do not expect to secure roles in new authorities. They could be mourning the loss of their careers and status, and require significant support both before and after vesting day. Chief executives – who could be undertaking three years of intense work only to be made redundant – should invest in themselves and try to preserve some resilience, attendees said.

In previous rounds, coaching had been provided to senior staff from six months prior to vesting day to six months afterwards. This was vital to retaining staff and ensuring they could cope with the change. Agreeing a common approach across a county area was vital to ensure a level playing field.

Joining up services

The group also discussed how they were already seizing opportunities from LGR. There was a strong focus across many areas to ensure new authorities had a focus on place and individual neighbourhoods, linking up district and county services to improve outcomes.

Agreeing principles for how future services can tackle inequality and operate was one facet of this. Others reported they had already discussed sharing staff and expertise in the leadup to vesting day.

Norse Group spoke about the support they could provide to help join up district and county services and enable partnership across multiple unitaries to reduce the need for complex service disaggregation. Joint venture partnerships with Norse and local authority trading companies were discussed as potential models.

Attendees spoke about how their authorities were still pressing forward with finding savings and delivering transformation to ensure that there was a good inheritance for successor authorities. A key point of concern was ensuring unitaries had single benefits, housing and communities systems so staff did not have to work with information spread across multiple systems.

Those who had experienced LGR before said it was important for all chiefs of current bodies to agree a common approach to issues like pay harmonisation and future HR systems. This could ensure chief executives of new shadow authorities focus on significant issues around maintaining services.

The group agreed on the importance of getting all district staff invested in the change and opportunities LGR presents. There were opportunities for most staff in the new councils, even if they represented changes in role. However, there was also concern that some staff could unenthusiastically cling on until vesting day, waiting for redundancy coming in the next three years.

The group reflected on the value of improving clear lines of communication across their councils during Covid-19, which had put them in a strong position to reassure staff when reorganisation was first announced before Christmas.

Mr Galliford wrapped up conversation by noting the resilience of officers and members – who often did not receive the levels of coaching and support seen in the private sector. Organisations were being led professionally and successfully despite the scale of the challenge.

• Norse Group was a sponsor of DCN’s annual conference. This article was written by DCN and shown to Norse Group prior to publication.