Government used “out of date” report for local government reorganisation policy, Districts say
There is “little evidence" behind the Government's requirement for all two-tier areas to reorganise into unitary councils covering a population of more than 500,000 people, the District Councils' Network (DCN) has claimed.
According to the network, the Ministry for Housing Local Government and Communities (MHCLG) relied on just one report, which the DCN described as being "out of date", to base its policy on.
The DCN said it asked MHCLG several questions about the evidence it holds to support the 500,000 figure.
In response, the ministry cited a PWC report from 2020, commissioned by the County Councils Network, as its only source of evidence.
However, in a statement on its correspondence with MHCLG, the DCN claimed that the PWC report is "out of date", adding: "Many councils in two-tier areas have already delivered significant efficiency savings since 2020, for example by creating shared services or shared management teams.
"The report does not reflect the potential for councils to deliver further efficiency savings within existing structures.
"And it predates much of the surge in demand for adult social care, children's services, SEND and temporary accommodation, which is expensive for councils to meet and reduces the scope for efficiency savings overall."
The DCN went on to claim that the Government has not commissioned independent research to support its preference for large unitary councils and has done no analysis of its own.
It also claimed that MHCLG had undertaken no post-implementation assessment of the actual upfront costs to central and local government from creating new unitary councils in Somerset, Cumbria and North Yorkshire in 2023.
The DCN said MHCLG also revealed that it never commissioned a report proposed last year – and was the subject of a pre-market tender exercise – which would have evaluated optimal scale and the impact of population size and geography for unitary councils.
The network has been critical of the Government's reorganisation agenda after having published the results of a survey earlier this month that found just 15% of their member councils supported the plans.
Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen, Chairman of the District Councils' Network, said: "It is alarming that there is so little evidence to justify the Government's requirement for all county areas to reorganise into mega councils with more than half a million people.
"The Government has done no analysis of its own and has commissioned no independent assessment. It is relying on evidence that is not remotely up to date. Local government reorganisation is not without risk and is difficult to get right. The danger is that, without robust assessment of the optimal scale of new unitary councils, we will get sub-optimal results.
"District councils would overwhelmingly support reorganisation which leads to better outcomes for their local community. But the danger is that by making decisions which aren't supported by evidence we'll get poor value for money for taxpayers."
The Ministry for Housing Local Government and Communities has been approached for comment.
Adam Carey
