Local government reorganisation (LGR)

Our team

Anthony Collins’ market leading, Legal 500 and Chambers UK ranked local government team is well placed to assist local authorities with all matters relating to local government reorganisation (LGR).

Our work in this area is led by Claire Ward, partner and Matthew Gregson, partner and local government sector lead. Claire brings extensive experience as a monitoring officer and deputy chief executive who has dealt with reorganisation both in-house and in private practice. Matthew specialises in the people implications of reorganisation including senior officer appointments and staffing restructures.

Claire and Matthew are supported by a wide team of specialists in the following areas:

• Contracts, commercial and public procurement – Mark Cook, Gayle Monk, Sophie Mcfie-Hyland, Rumandeep Dhariwal and Chanel Quigley
• Employment and pensions – Doug Mullen and Hannah Bollard
• Governance, LGR process and procedure, local authority companies and outside bodies – Sue Bearman and Alex Lawrence
• Information governance – Ben Pumphrey and Emma Watt
• Property – Emma Lloyd, Raj Flora-Seehra and Hayfa Tejani

Our experience

We assist our clients from the beginning of the LGR process, through to vesting day and beyond.  The work of our team has seen us advise on:

• The reorganisation process – including supporting authorities through the decision-making, consultation processes and the implementation planning process.
• The preparation of the draft structural changes order.
• Transitional governance arrangements (such as the ‘preparing council’, and ‘shadow authority’ models) including the drafting of transitional governance agreements/documentation.
• The new unitary authority’s governance and scrutiny arrangements, and its constitution.
• Area committees and the planning function under the new unitary authority.
• Service change:
  • reviews both to ensure continuity but also looking to the future on how services could be shaped in the new structures; and
  • the aggregation/disaggregation of services.
• ‘Host’ and ‘lead’ authority arrangements for service provision, including the establishment and functions of joint committees to manage transitional arrangements post re-organisation, particularly where a county council may be split and there are a number of now ‘joint’ contracts.
• The transfer of property, assets, rights and liabilities including:
  • due diligence on contracts and commercial agreements, and commercial law advice;
  • transitional arrangements for contracts; and
  • the transfer of interests in companies and other entities);
• Data governance and sharing arrangements.
• TUPE and employment law advice in relation to recruitment, appointment, redundancy and dismissal, including as regards statutory and chief officers appointments, and the restructures thereafter.
• Parish councils and charter trustees – including the establishment of new parish councils.

Our team have worked on LGR in Dorset, Buckinghamshire, West and North Northamptonshire, Somerset, Westmorland and Furness, Cumberland and North Yorkshire.