DCLG publishes review of unitary council establishment

The Department for Communities and Local Government has published the results of a review of the process that led to the creation of a new group of unitary councils in April last year.

A number of unitary councils - Bedford Borough Council, Central Bedfordshire Council, Cheshire East Borough Council, Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council, Cornwall Council, Durham County Council, Northumberland County Council, Shropshire Council and Wiltshire Council – came into being on 1 April 2009.

The report, Establishing unitary councils in April 2009 – lessons learnt, was compiled with the assistance of the councils involved as well as the Audit Commission, trade unions and government departments.

The main conclusions were:

• There is no “one size fits all” model for new unitary councils. Central government should provide a framework and push through enabling legislation, but “the majority” of the decisions on structure, constitution and governance should be taken locally.
• The presumption should be for early elections, but where there is pre-existing strong and committed political leadership, then there may be a case for waiting until after the new council has been established.
• In amalgamations, a continuing council with an implementation executive is the best model. Where a county council is being split into two equal parts, then two new shadow councils should be created, while in situations where a number of differently sized councils are being created, then a mix of continuing and shadow councils should be created.
• TUPE should apply to all council staff to ensure that the Acquired Rights Directive – which only applies to staff engaged in “economic activities” - does not have a divisive effect on the transferring workforce.
• Open competition for the chief executive of the new organisation is vital. For other senior staff, “fresh perspectives” are important, but the decision whether to have open competition for other senior posts should be taken locally.
• Implementing arrangements to ensure that people can help to shape the priorities of the new council should be a matter of urgency for new councils, but is not for central government to prescribe how this should be done.

The full report can be found here