Council to discuss interim proposal for unitary authority at scrutiny

In December 2024, the Government issued a white paper that confirmed they intended to work at pace on the delivery of devolution and local government reorganisation. It also confirmed that, as part of that reorganisation, in two-tier areas which mean that county and district councils in England would be abolished, and unitary councils would be formed.

In February 2025, all county and district councils were statutorily invited to submit interim proposals by 21 March 2025 on how the reorganisation could work in their area.

Price Waterhouse Cooper LLP (PwC) were commissioned by Worcestershire County Council to provide an independent view on the options available to Worcestershire in respect of producing an options appraisal in forming one or more unitary authorities, including the one-off transition costs, ongoing benefits, disaggregation costs for the options identified.

This options appraisal will form a significant part of the interim proposal to be submitted to Government in March and the basis for a full strategic business case which is required by 28 November 2025.

Paul Robinson, Chief Executive of Worcestershire County Council, said: "We engaged PwC to support us in evaluating different options for local government reorganisation in Worcestershire. PwC have extensive experience of this process, having supported the development of many business cases for the establishment of new unitary councils, most recently in Dorset, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Pool, West and North Northamptonshire and North Yorkshire. We also have confidence in the approach PwC take to financial modelling and estimating the potential costs and benefits associated with reorganisation - given that it has underpinned a number of the cases approved by Government in previous rounds of reorganisation."

During the meeting on 18 March, Members of the panel will be presented with the independent Options Appraisal and Interim Plan prepared by PwC and will be able to ask questions.

Key findings of the Options Appraisal include that there are likely two options for Worcestershire (either a single or two unitary authorities); only the single unitary model meets the criteria set by Government; the financial modelling supports there is a very significant advantage in pursuing the single unitary option whereas two unitary authorities would take longer to achieve savings and have a lower level of benefits over time.

Recommendations from Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board will go forward to Cabinet on 20 March, where the proposed Interim Plan to be submitted will be agreed.

To view the scrutiny papers in full, which includes the PwC report, please visit the Local government reorganisation and devolution pages.