Piecing it all together, by Paul OBrien

20 Mar 08
Over the next two years, nine new English unitary authorities will be created out of 44 existing district and county councils. Paul O'Brien discusses how to take the pain out of the process

21 March 2008

Over the next two years, nine new English unitary authorities will be created out of 44 existing district and county councils. Paul O'Brien discusses how to take the pain out of the process

Uncertainty, anxiety and all-out turf wars have characterised life in English councils affected by local government reorganisation in the past year. And yet, come April 1, 2009, brand spanking new unitary authorities are expected to swing into action in Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Durham and Northumberland, followed by Cornwall, Shropshire and Wiltshire the following April.

This means that, in little more than two years, 44 district and county councils will be expected to have merged into nine new corporate entities, complete with coherent cultures, visions, identities and, most importantly, services delivered seamlessly and efficiently to more than 3 million people.

Unsuccessful bids for unitary status in Exeter, Ipswich and Norwich are also being re-examined.

The infinitely complex reorganisation process will be especially tough in places where fierce battles have raged and staff morale is inevitably low. There is much to do and little time to do it, with elections for the first shadow authorities taking place in May.

Meanwhile, Bedfordshire County Council is still opposing local government minister John Healey's announcement on March 6 that the county is to be split into two unitaries – one for Bedford and one for the rest of the county area. The new authorities, however, are expected to be in place by April 2009 and elections held the following month.

In personnel terms, most frontline jobs will still exist and operational staff will be told where to report on changeover day, but their terms and conditions need to be harmonised. The chief executives of the new unitaries will be appointed after open competitions.

There is likely to be a painful culling of senior and middle management posts as departments are merged. On a practical level, assets need to be transferred, IT compatibility addressed, new logos and insignia ordered and contractual arrangements overhauled.

Above all, as the new unitaries emerge from the ashes of old counties and districts, members and officers will need to keep their eyes on the ball of frontline service delivery. If handled carefully, reorganisation is an opportunity to reconfigure services in ways that are more coherent, cost-effective and meaningful to local people.

I cut my managerial teeth during the reorganisation in Scotland in the mid-1990s, as an officer involved in winding down Strathclyde, the largest council in Europe at the time, and setting up South Lanarkshire Council. The first consultation began in Scotland in 1991 and on April 1, 1996, nine regions, three island councils and 53 districts became 32 unitary authorities. South Lanarkshire – with 307,000 residents and 15,000 employees – was created by joining five authorities, with different IT systems, contract arrangements and staff terms and conditions.

Our strategic focus was on developing a corporate culture of communication, consultation and continuous improvement. Our practical focus was on property management, facilities management and demographic planning. The result was to create a streamlined departmental structure, introduce one-stop shops and customer relationship management systems that were, at the time, innovative and raised £1m to reinvest in frontline services. I saw first hand the rivalry and stress such a process engenders and learned lessons that have stayed with me ever since.

The first lesson was the importance of good communications. If you do not communicate, the rumour mill will do it instead. Unions are vital to the whole process and should be involved at every step with staff transfers and the uncertainty these bring. As staff terms and conditions will need to be harmonised, this is a good time to ensure equal pay is implemented across the amalgamating authorities as early as possible.

During local government reorganisation in Scotland, training and support were provided to help staff make the most of opportunities arising. A staff commission was set to up to establish ground rules and safeguard the interests of employees. In my view, it is a mistake for England not to have such recourse to an independent national body for when disputes arise.

There are bound to be casualties as old councils are wound down and new ones established. Older officers may relish the chance of early retirement, but insecurity, factionalism and tensions are bound to emerge as others compete for jobs.

Some surplus fat on the bones of the organisations involved will be required as there will be massive human resources and procurement issues to deal with, all requiring experienced managers. A mix-and-match approach of fixed-term contracts, temporary contracts, temporary promotion, delayed retirement and officers working in dual posts will all be needed to maintain 'business as usual' on one level and spearhead monumental corporate change on another.

Officers coming from districts with limited functions will have a chance to expand into new roles and develop new skills. Chief executives of smaller authorities who lose out in the race for top jobs might find themselves appointed to executive directors' posts in the unitaries, at equivalent salary and status levels.

Reorganisation is a chance to deliver services in a way that is built around users' needs and is easier for the public to understand. New service configurations can join things up more coherently, for example, bringing waste collection and disposal under one body.

The local press is a potential enemy or ally in getting messages across. Good communications could make this a unique opportunity to bring staff and public on board in designing services from the front line, harness the energy and ideas of the workforce and involve local people. Poor communications could turn the whole process into a fiasco and give new authorities a bad reputation before they even start.

The tight timetable means it will not be possible to have everything structurally perfect on day one; and this might prove too painful in human resources terms. In South Lanarkshire, for example, we started with 15 directorates, which were cut to five eventually, and went from 140 heads of service to 50. The internal process can be evolutionary, what is important is presenting seamless services to local residents.

The Department for Communities and Local Government estimates that the nine initial unitaries will achieve savings of £108m a year. More coherent service configuration, leaner management structures and economies of scale will all contribute to cost efficiency. It remains to be seen, however, whether these savings emerge fully, as there are ever-changing pressures on councils and ambitious efficiency savings targets to meet.

There will also be costs setting up the new authorities and in potential redundancy payments to some in the outgoing bodies. Negotiating changes to outsourced contracts or buying out of them altogether could also prove to be expensive.

But reorganisation should not just be a cost-cutting exercise but a chance to reinvest any savings in frontline services. Developing effective asset management strategies and maximising procurement opportunities will be paramount.

With a million and one things to do in reorganising authorities, it is unrealistic to expect them to be subject to a new performance regime, and, for this reason, DCLG should place a moratorium on Comprehensive Area Assessments for new authorities in their first full year of operation.

The reality is that time is limited and the complexity of the process will inevitably entail some aspects of compromise. One thing that cannot be compromised, however, is excellent services for some 3 million people whose councils are being reorganised.

Paul O'Brien is chief executive of the Association for Public Service Excellence

Shrink to fit: those mergers in full

Bedfordshire 1 county council + 3 district councils = 2 unitary councils

Cheshire 1 county council + 6 district councils = 2 unitary councils

Cornwall 1 county council + 6 district councils = 1 unitary council

Durham 1 county council + 7 district councils = 1 unitary council

Northumberland 1 county council + 6 district councils = 1 unitary council

Shropshire 1 county council + 5 district councils = 1 unitary council

Wiltshire 1 county council + 4 district councils = 1 unitary council

Total 44 into 9

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