The District Councils’ Network has expressed scepticism over the levels of savings claimed by the proponents of mega councils.
Research from the County Councils Network (CCN), published today, claims £1.8bn can be saved over five years by replacing existing district and county councils with mega councils, each with a population of at least 500,000 people.
The savings level is far lower than the £2.9bn figure quoted in a previous PWC report for CCN, which is quoted in December’s English Devolution White Paper.
In response, Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen, Chair of the District Councils’ Network, said:
“Mega councils take power away from communities and entail local government ceasing to be local. The danger is that their vast scale prevents them offering the tailored solutions to the unique needs of each city, town and village, which are essential to creating jobs and housing which stands the test of time.
“There is no way that £1.8bn can be found by merging councils without ravaging the services local people most value to find savings.
“If such large councils are so efficient then why are so many of them warning of financial difficulties? Savings promised by past reorganisation have often failed to materialise – unlike the costs of such a major upheaval which have been fully apparent.
“It’s notable that today’s claim of savings is far lower than that claimed in the English Devolution white paper. This reflects the fact that by working together district and county councils are already making savings without the need for an expensive reorganisation, which will inevitably divert them from growing local economies and building homes.
“Social care is a service in crisis across the country and it is bizarre to claim that the only option is to transfer the current failing model to new places. Rather than rushing to retain the status quo we should be taking the time to consider radical new solutions that focus on preventing ill health and better joining up services with those run by the NHS. This is the aim of Baroness Casey’s review of social care, which should surely guide how social care is transformed, but does not issue a final report until 2028.
“There’s huge potential to devise solutions such as social care trusts covering several councils, or partnership delivery, to avoid significant disaggregation costs. I firmly believe that highly localised solutions to care, with services built around the needs of local communities and individual service users, working with the voluntary sector, offer the best means of offering high-quality, cost-effective services.
“There is no evidence that bigger councils offer better social care and children’s services than their smaller counterparts as we see in London and in metropolitan councils.
“The Government has admitted it has no independent evidence to justify mega councils. It needs to commission independent evidence now on the optimal size of councils, not just focusing on short-term savings but giving insight into the diseconomies of scale which can blight such large organisations. The detailed figures need to be made public.”
