Final proposals for local government reorganisation in the twenty-one areas in England are due for submission to the Secretary of State in November 2025 (September 2025 for those areas in the ‘devolution priority programme’). 

The Secretary of State will then undertake a consultation on the proposal(s) for each area before determining which proposal(s) should be implemented to effect a single tier of unitary local government in a given area. Having made such a determination, the Secretary of State will invite the relevant local authorities to discuss with the MHCLG details to be included in an ‘implementation order’, known as a Structural Changes Order (SCO) 

What does an SCO do?

An SCO is a statutory instrument made by the Secretary of State under section 7 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 (2007 Act), which will affect LGR in the area concerned through the implementation of the approved proposal (with or without modification). 

Overall, an SCO for each area will abolish the existing local government areas, wind up and dissolve the existing county and district councils, transfer district and county council functions, establish one or more new local government areas and unitary authority(ies), providing for the names of each. The SCO will also include provision for ‘electoral matters’ such as the number of members of the unitary authority, the number and boundaries of electoral areas for the purpose of the election of councillors to it, and the number of councillors to be returned by each electoral area.

Additionally, the SCO will include any ‘incidental, consequential, transitional or supplementary’ provisions which may relate to other provisions of the order (or a previous order if more than one SCO is made).

Incidental provisions include particularly arrangements for the transfer of functions, property, rights and liabilities from the local authorities which will be dissolved to the new unitary authority(ies), and prior to their establishment, the transitional arrangements through which transitional and substantive functions will be discharged during the transitional period by either a ‘shadow council’ and ‘shadow executive’, or a ‘preparing council’ and ‘implementation executive’, as will also be set out SCO (read more here).

Where transitional arrangements will involve a shadow council/executive, the SCO will also provide for the establishment of a joint committee to discharge the ‘transitional functions’ until such time as the shadow council/executive assumes responsibility for them. The transitional functions will be set out in the SCO which will also require the formation of an ‘implementation plan’ and the establishment of an ‘implementation team’, and where LGR will involves a shadow council/executive, the designation on an interim basis of a head of paid service, monitoring officer and chief finance officer, and by a date specified in the SCO, the appointment of persons to fill these roles in the new unitary authority(ies) on and from their establishment on vesting day. 

Local authority involvement in the preparation of the SCO

We have advised on a number of LGR matters and have assisted in the preparation of draft SCOs for the consideration of the Secretary of State. The development of a draft SCO is the opportunity for the local authorities concerned to engage with the MHCLG and to present a ‘wish list’ of provisions to inform the content of the SCO through which LGR will be given operational effect during the transitional period and beyond. 

As such, the development of the SCO enables local authorities to submit provisions as to the composition of any joint committee, the implementation team, shadow council/executive or preparing council/implementation executive; the composition of the new unitary authority(ies) and elections to it in shadow / preparing form and thereafter; the nature of transitional functions, and the establishment of the bodies which will discharge them; the transfer of functions, assets, rights and liabilities, and the functions of the new unitary authority(ies) and the arrangements through which they will be discharged on and from vesting day.    

What can local authorities do now?

Once made, the SCO will formally provide for a single tier of unitary government in a given area, its form and the arrangements through which it will be effected during transition and thereafter, and the dates specified therein for the establishment of the various bodies which will implement LGR will form a timeline for its various stages. However, their involvement in the preparation of a draft SCO ought not be the first time the local authorities concerned turn their attention to the matters for which it will provide once finalised. 

The local authorities of an LGR area are expected to co-operate and work together in the preparation of their final LGR proposal(s), not least as regards the aggregation or disaggregation of services, how the proposals will prioritise the delivery of high-quality, sustainable public services, and facilitate the wider devolution plans advanced in the English Devolution White Paper. In working together on their final proposals, local authorities will have already established either formally or informally joint committees, working-groups or other such bodies and in turn these bodies may also inform the nature and composition of the ‘transitional bodies’ such as a joint committee,  implementation team, shadow executive or implementation executive which the SCO will formally require to be established. 

The timeframe for the preparation and making of an SCO will be challenging, as will the timeframe within which it will require the implementation of LGR. As such, in parallel with finalising the LGR proposals local authorities would be well advised to be thinking about the bodies which will be required to implement their proposal(s) and the governance arrangements through which they will do so, with a mind to the preparation in due course of the (draft) SCO and consideration of the provisions it will need to include. 

Although a lot to consider, local authorities can take comfort in the fact that not everything can be envisaged at such an early stage in the process and that additional SCOs are very common during the process. 

For more information, you can visit our LGR hub or contact Matt Marsh or Claire Ward.