Service delivery in uncertain times

This new research from LGIU’s Local Democracy Research Centre was carried out in order to better understand the extent to which local government reorganisation is impacting service delivery arrangements at the local level.

We surveyed or interviewed 71 leading figures from 63 councils in England currently undergoing local government reorganisation. The findings in this report give a snapshot of how much influence the reforms are having on decisions that councils are making currently. Key findings include:

• More than 3 in 5 survey respondents indicated that LGR is influential in decisions to outsource, insource, establish joint ventures or maintain current arrangements in service delivery.
• LGR has resulted in an abandonment of planned changes to service delivery due to their lack of deliverability under the necessary timeframes.
• Twenty-nine per cent of respondents stated that LGR is not relevant in these decisions, indicating that they will proceed under a ‘business as usual’ approach.
• Of past decisions to change service delivery, insourcing produces the highest net satisfaction score (+74%), followed by joint ventures (+52%), and outsourcing (+49%).
• Notably, 61% of respondents agree that LGR presents an opportunity to reset relationships with service providers.

Download the full report.

Further reading

• Devolution and local government reorganisation (LGR): the essentials
• Capacity and governance challenges in English devolution