In late 2024, PLMR’s Senior Counsel and local councillor John Cope wrote that country-wide unitarisation was a radical option ministers would need to weigh carefully. Under Keir Starmer they took that radical path, and under Andy Burnham it is now clear the government will go much, much further.
England is in the middle of its biggest local government redesign since 1974. 134 councils are becoming around 38 new unitaries, the first go live next April, and Burnham’s “Rewiring the State” agenda adds a share of income tax for every mayor, control of 16 to 19 education budgets, and strategic authorities covering the whole of England by the end of 2028.
For anyone who works with, sells to, or is funded by local government, the next two years will decide whether you are positioned for the system arriving in April 2028 or the one disappearing in front of us.
Our latest Insights briefing covers what has happened, the risks and opportunities, and the questions to ask when the autumn White Paper is published alongside the Budget on 28 October.
Read the full briefing here
