Why local government reform is exposing more than structural differences

Local government reorganisation across England is starting to move from proposal stage into something more immediate.

More than twenty restructuring proposals have now been submitted, with more than seventy structural alternatives under consideration. Councils are continuing to debate structures, governance arrangements and geography, while government decisions remain ongoing. At the same time, authorities are working within increasingly tight timelines to prepare for significant organisational change.

Although many details remain unresolved, the pressure to prepare is already growing.

What makes the current stage particularly challenging is that councils are being asked to plan for significant organisational change while many of the fundamentals are still being negotiated. In some areas, there is broad alignment around direction. In others, discussions remain more complicated, with different authorities supporting very different approaches to reform.

That uncertainty creates practical challenges for leadership teams.

Why councils cannot treat this as a holding period

Much of the conversation around devolution and unitary reform has naturally focused on structures. Questions around size, geography and governance are important and will shape how future authorities operate.

But organisational change on this scale also affects how councils work together, how decisions are made and how leadership teams build confidence through uncertainty.

For many authorities, this is the first point where those pressures are becoming visible. Councils are balancing day-to-day delivery with growing transformation demands. Existing partnerships are evolving. Leadership teams are beginning to work more closely across organisational boundaries, often while navigating different priorities, cultures and expectations.

Operational readiness challenges also tend to emerge early. Areas such as finance systems, payroll, governance workflows and shared service dependencies often require alignment well before formal implementation begins, particularly where organisations are operating at different levels of readiness. Differences in processes, technology, reporting structures and decision-making approaches can quickly create friction if they are not identified early enough, especially across services that are critical to day-to-day continuity.

These are not unusual challenges in transformation programmes, but they become more complex when timescales are compressed and clarity is still evolving.

Waiting for certainty could leave councils behind

One of the risks during large-scale reform is treating the current period as a pause before implementation begins.

In reality, many of the conditions that shape successful transformation are already developing now.

The way councils approach collaboration, governance and decision-making during this stage is likely to influence how effectively future organisations operate later on. Equally, delays in preparing leadership structures, operating principles and organisational readiness can quickly reduce the time available once formal decisions are confirmed.

In practice, this can create a range of operational pressures. Mobilisation timelines become increasingly compressed, governance processes slow decision-making at the point faster progress is needed, and teams can find themselves trying to implement large-scale change without clear alignment across organisations. Over time, this increases the risk of duplicated effort, inconsistent ways of working and disruption to service delivery during transition periods.

That does not mean councils should move ahead blindly while negotiations continue. It means recognising that readiness is not something that starts after agreement is reached.

What this highlights is a widening gap between structural progress and organisational readiness, and that gap is not closed by more detailed proposals or faster decision-making. It is closed through how people are brought into change, how alignment is built across organisations, and how confidence is maintained while uncertainty remains.

This is also where emotionally intelligent (EQ) leadership becomes increasingly important, particularly in maintaining alignment between organisations, building confidence in decision-making and supporting teams through uncertainty while change continues to evolve. During periods where structures, responsibilities and future operating models are still being shaped, leadership behaviours often become the difference between productive collaboration and stalled progress. The ability to navigate differing priorities, maintain constructive relationships and create enough confidence for organisations to keep moving forward together becomes critical to sustaining momentum through change.

Structural change is only the starting point

As local government reform progresses, the limitations of focusing on structures alone are becoming increasingly clear.

Organisational alignment, leadership capacity, workforce confidence and ways of working are becoming just as important as formal governance decisions. In many cases, they are also harder to resolve.

This is where leadership makes the difference. EQ leadership becomes critical in how uncertainty is managed, how relationships are built across organisations, and how confidence is maintained while decisions are still evolving. It is not just about directing change, but about how people are supported through it.

The upcoming Part 3 of our Unitary Readiness Framework explores what it takes to build genuine readiness while key structural decisions are still being worked through, and why this stage of reform is often where momentum is either built or lost.

If you’re looking for practical steps, checklists and guidance on building readiness during this phase of change, you can register your interest below to be the first to access it when it’s released.

For councils still at earlier stages of local government reform, our first two guides are also available to download instantly. They explore how to shape initial proposals and how to begin preparing shadow governance in practice, providing a practical foundation for the upcoming final guide in this series.