Delivery phases
Phase 1: Development of proposal and mobilisation
- Our proposal will be submitted to Government by the deadline 28 November 2025.
- The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government will consider all proposals. They can decide to take forward proposals that are submitted by areas with or without modification.
- The Government will carry out a statutory consultation in accordance with the requirements of the legislation. This is likely to take place in spring 2026
- Establish an LGR Programme across Devon including:
- Establishing governance structures, workstreams, and financial controls with clearly defined responsibilities and reporting lines.
- Developing a comprehensive implementation plan and timeline, with key milestones along the critical path.
- Agreeing a communications and engagement strategy.
- Complete a baseline review of data across councils, identify key differences, and continue to build a shared data repository.
- Build cooperation and consensus between key stakeholders across central and local Government.
Phase 2: Preparation for implementation
Design and more detailed planning work will begin once the Government has decided on the future structure of local government in Devon in summer 2026.
- Activities will begin to focus on establishing the unitary councils, with cross council coordination and delivery across all current authorities. Activities that will take place during this phase include:
- Establishing formal governance and programme management arrangements to be taken forward into new shadow authorities.
- Developing and agreeing a detailed programme of implementation plans.
- Confirming future service requirements and target operating models, work will start on detailed service transition planning, including aligning existing change activity across the existing councils.
- Reviewing the baseline data around IT architecture, contract management and property portfolio.
- Agreeing a high level human resources transition plan.
- Agreeing an external communications strategy, as well as ongoing staff and trade union communications and engagement.
- Organise and implement the necessary arrangements for elections.
- Ensure full compliance with the Structural Changes Order, undertaking legal checks and providing assurance as required.
Phase 3: Shadow authorities
Shadow authorities are set up to support a smooth transition when local government structures are changed. They are responsible for preparing for the new unitary councils to take on full local government functions for Devon on Vesting Day (currently set by Government as 1 April 2028). It is expected these authorities will be in place one year prior to Vesting Day. This will include elections to shadow councils.
The shadow authorities will be made up of councillors and appointed officers who will oversee key activities, such as:
- Detailed integration planning and transition of services to the new unitary councils. This includes consideration of disaggregation of county services, aggregation of district and brough services and common services where they exist in all councils.
- Organisation and operating model design, refining initial structures for the new councils set out in the previous phase.
- Appointment of Chief Executives and other senior leadership roles.
- Staff transition processes, focused on the need to retain a skilled workforce with the right culture and planning for the TUPE of staff to new authorities; including ongoing staff and trade union engagement and communications.
- Budget setting for the new councils, including consolidation of funding arrangements such as council tax harmonisation and business rates collection.
- Establishment of payroll arrangements.
- Management of data as part of initial IT systems transition.
- Ongoing stakeholder engagement, including reinforcing current partnerships and formation of new partnerships, where appropriate.
Phase 4: Launch of new councils
At the point that new councils formally come into existence on Vesting Day, greater focus can be placed on the long term strategy for the future authorities. Authorities will need to determine likely activities that could include:
- Establishing a transformation programme, within each unitary, with responsibility for confirming and implementing a target operating model for the new authorities.
- Further consolidation of existing systems and implementation of any new systems.
- Detailed review of existing contracts and third party spend, consolidating and rationalising spend whilst seeking to take advantage of economies of scale.
- Consolidation of fees and charges.
- Alignment of pay, terms and conditions.
- Ongoing change management and communications.
Key risks
We will adopt and apply the principles of effective risk management to support the transition to the new structures which will be agreed by the Government, including the establishment of the proposed MSA.
This approach will allow for us to consider risk to functional areas such as SEND, adult social care, children’s services, planning, highways etc. as well as cross-cutting risks. Risks will be captured and assessed with mitigations put in place for ongoing review and scrutiny.
Scale, complexity and pace of change
- Risk of difficulties collaborating or engaging with other councils, resulting in poor coordination during transition.
- Complexities in aggregating and disaggregating systems and data.
- Risk of service continuity issues due to contract termination, novation challenges, or supplier disputes.
Initial mitigations
- Establish a cross-authority LGR Governance Board with agreed terms of reference and clear governance framework.
- Establish dedicated workstreams with clear plans and contingencies.
Stakeholder support
- Risk of stakeholder disengagement or opposition during the transition period.
Initial mitigations
- Prepare and implement external engagement and communications strategy.
Performance
- Risk of reduction in performance across council service areas, including a lack of focus on ongoing transformation activity.
Initial mitigations
- Continue existing transformation boards.
- Consider how existing transformation boards sit within programme governance for LGR.
- Establish additional performance management controls.
Staffing
- Risk of reduced staff morale due to uncertainty, organisational change and perceived job insecurity during transition.
- Risk of loss of key personnel and corporate memory.
- Resistance to organisational change, cultural misalignment, and reduced productivity during restructuring.
Initial mitigations
- Establish a change management programme.
- Prepare and implement an internal engagement and communications strategy.
- Conduct early engagement with Trade Unions.
- Plan for a structured approach to onboarding and induction into new organisations.
Finance
- Risk that actual transition costs exceed projections, reducing the savings achieved and impacting the overall financial case.
Initial mitigations
- Closely monitor transition costs.
- Contingencies have been built into transition costs.
- Adjust plans where necessary to ensure delivery remains within budget.
Our asks of Government
Based on the detailed financial sustainability analysis completed, we would welcome further discussions with Government to ensure smooth financial transitions for the new councils.
These must include consideration of the following options:
- Application of the standard flexibilities in relation to the use of capital receipts for transformation which will enable the four unitary councils to deliver the transitional arrangements at pace.
- Application of transitional flexibilities to facilitate support council tax harmonisation in Devon.
- Provision of national guidance for the division and re-distribution of balance sheet assets and liabilities arising from the reorganisation of council boundaries and resultant absorption of balances, assets and liabilities from predecessor authorities.
Aligned to the above we would welcome further consideration of the impact of the Government’s funding reforms including the Fair Funding Review and Safety Valve agreements currently in place with Devon authorities.