The 21 local authorities required to submit interim proposals to the MHCLG by 21 March 2025 for the reorganisation of local government to a single tier, unitary authority have now received a response from the Secretary of State to inform their preparation of final proposals by 28 November 2025 (26 September for those in the Devolution Priority Programme and 9 May for Surrey). In due course, each proposal (with or without modifications) will be implemented by way of Statutory Instrument in the form of an “implementation order” – a Structural Changes Order (SCO), specific to each proposal.

The SCO will abolish the existing local government areas, wind up and dissolve the existing county and district councils, and establish one or more new local government areas and one or more new unitary authority. The SCO will also provide for “transitional arrangements” which will take affect during the “transitional period” – the period between the first date on which any action specified in the SCO is required to be taken and the date on which the unitary authority will be established –  “reorganisation date” more often known as ‘vesting day’. 

The form of the transitional arrangements will themselves depend on how the reorganisation is being effected and will require either a “shadow council” and “shadow executive”, or a “preparing council” and “implementation executive”. In the first instance, the SCO will provide for the establishment of a joint committee and an implementation team, and the creation of an implementation plan, responsibility for which will be assumed by the shadow council or preparing council in due course. All of these additional bodies during the transitional period will have specified functions and will need to be administered and serviced by one of the predecessor councils. 

The Joint Committee

The SCO will require, by a specified date, the predecessor councils to establish a joint committee comprising member(s) from each predecessor council to discharge the “transitional functions” as specified in the SCO prior to the first meeting of the shadow council and thereupon the dissolution of the joint committee, or the establishment of an implementation executive (see further below – The Preparing Council and Implementation Executive Model), and thereupon the dissolution of the joint committee in accordance with the SCO.

The joint committee must also create an “implementation team”, and prepare, maintain and revise as necessary an “implementation plan” until such functions are assumed by the shadow executive/implementation executive. A joint committee will usually be established ahead of its being formally required by the SCO. 

The Implementation Team

The implementation team is a single team of officers comprising officers from each predecessor council. The implementation team will assist the joint committee in the discharge of its functions, and after the joint committee’s dissolution, the shadow executive/implementation executive, if required.

The Implementation Plan

The implementation plan must include such plans and timetables as the joint committee considers necessary to secure the effective, efficient and timely discharge of the transitional functions, and will also provide for the transfer of the predecessor councils’ property, rights and liabilities to the new unitary authority (or otherwise) pursuant to agreements made between the relevant parties. 

What then follows depends on whether the reorganisation is for a predecessor council to take over as a unitary council, as happened in Somerset, or whether a brand new local authority is created, as happened in Cumbria.

The Shadow Council and Shadow Executive Model 

Where the new unitary authority is an amalgamation of a number of predecessor councils the SCO will provide for transitional functions to be discharged during the transitional period by one or more shadow council(s) and their shadow executive(s), however, a shadow council will not otherwise be a local authority, and will have neither the functions nor the full powers of the predecessor local authorities during the transitional period.

The SCO will include, amongst many other things, provision for elections to the new unitary authority, which will be in shadow form (a shadow council) until vesting day. At its first meeting, the shadow council must create a leader and cabinet executive (the shadow executive), and on an interim basis, designate a monitoring officer, chief finance officer and head of paid service for the shadow council, and by a date specified in the order, also appoint persons to fill these roles in the new council from vesting day. Additionally, the shadow council must adopt a members’ code of conduct and formulate a scheme of members allowances, and from the date of its first meeting, it will assume responsibility for the implementation plan from the joint committee (usually with the assistance of the implementation team) which the SCO will have required the predecessor councils to establish in the first instance. 

The Preparing Council and Implementation Executive Model

The alternative to a shadow council and shadow executive arrangement is the preparing council and implementation executive model, which may be used where a single, existing county council or district council will become the new unitary authority on the reorganisation date. The SCO will provide for the transitional functions to be discharged during the transitional period by the preparing council’s implementation executive. The implementation executive will comprise members of the preparing council and predecessor councils in accordance with the provisions of the SCO. The implementation executive will be responsible for preparing, maintaining under review and revising as necessary the implementation plan and creating the implementation team. The implementation executive will be dissolved following elections to the new unitary authority and the appointment of its executive, which may be assisted by an implementation board until vesting day.

The Structural Changes Order

The SCO will implement the LGR decision of the Secretary of State (and may include provision for any of the myriad matters (including “electoral matters”) set out in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. We have advised on a number of LGR matters and have assisted with the preparation of draft SCOs for the Secretary of State’s consideration/approval. A draft SCO is an opportunity for local authorities to present a ‘wish list’ as to how LGR in their area will operate during and after the transitional period in accordance with the approved proposal, and finalised implementing SCO, and any subsequent SCOs the Secretary of State may, and usually will, make. 

Further Steps

With the challenging timeframe for LGR, an SCO will be required soon after an LGR proposal has been approved, and to the extent they can be, by this time local authorities will want to be well advanced in the development of the various operational arrangements which will form the content of the SCO and as such implement LGR at ground level. If they are not already doing so, now is the time local authorities need to be thinking about whether transitional arrangements for their LGR proposal will require a shadow council or preparing council, and as may be applicable, the composition of a shadow or implementation executive, the implementation team, and in the first instance the initial joint committee; their functions and operating arrangements, as well as the appointment of the statutory officers on an interim basis and beyond. These bodies and individuals are key and successful LGR will largely depend on their being in place and ready to hit the ground running when formally required by the SCO and the preparatory work they will have done in advance of it.  

For more information, please contact Claire Ward and Matt Marsh.

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