Local Government Restructure

Is your charity ready for the biggest change in local government for a generation? If not, you need to get your trustees to start to consider the implications of the changes that will come in the next couple of years so that you can begin to prepare for them.

The government issued a white paper late in 2024 which proposes the formation of mayoral areas to cover the whole of the UK, with single unitary authorities beneath that. This change means that Hertfordshire County Council and Dacorum Borough Council will no longer exist, and a new unitary authority will take over the combined work of both councils, as directed by a strategic mayor.

For charities, this will mean change; depending on your circumstances it may be major or minor but as trustees, being aware of this is important. Some changes are relatively small, if you have “Dacorum” in your name, you may want to change that as Dacorum will not exist. That would require a change to your memorandum and articles and could require a resolution to be passed at your next general meeting. If you purpose is geographically defined, again you may need to make some legal changes. At the other end of the spectrum, contracts with DBC and HCC will no doubt change. For charities with those contracts, at this stage your trustees may wish to add them to your risk register as an increased threat.

There are many implications (not just those above) so you need to start to think through what your charity will need to do and how that fits into your timeline. Are there improvements that you can start work on now, or do you need to wait for a firmer decision about the future for our area?

At present, there are three models emerging to be proposed to the government in November. They set out proposals to create, two, three, or four unitary authorities in Hertfordshire. Each has merits and each creates challenges. In very simple terms the more unitary authorities the county is divided into, the greater the level of democracy for voters, but the money available to spend on services is less. Conversely, fewer unitary authorities may provide more money but will reduce the democracy we have.

The eleven authorities (Districts plus HCC) are in the process of consultation with the public. The dedicated web page went live last week. I would strongly advise you to contribute to that process if you haven’t already. There is no right or wrong answer, but if you want to have an opinion later, you need to express a view now!

The website and stakeholder survey can be found here: Local Government Reorganisation | Shaping Hertfordshires Future