Local Government

The legal and commercial issues encountered by local authorities navigating LGR and devolution can be wide-ranging, technical and highly complex. 

Bevan Brittan are excellently placed to assist authorities at all stages of the process, including advising on governance (including ethics, conduct and constitution reviews), restructuring of services, HR and pension matters, commercial and strategic contracts in all sectors, joint delivery of services and outsourcing, project delivery and litigation.  

You can find out more about our LGR and devolution expertise here. 

The core of our local authority practice is governance advice, advising on decision making, compliance, vires, code of conduct (including advising on best practice in the core relationship between the “golden triangle” of chief exec, chief finance officer and monitoring officer). The team routinely advise across major projects on all governance issues and reviewing briefings, reports, business cases, decision making reports and any other relevant documents to provide our views on the integrity of the decision making. 

Equal pay is increasingly an area under the spotlight for councils with unions being especially active.  Even where councils have implemented single status and job evaluation schemes, it is clear that significant equal pay liability can persist and is being identified as a risk area for s114 notices and factoring into LGR.

Our employment team can provide expert advice to help councils with all equal pay issues ranging from: identifying areas of risk, auditing for potential liability and mitigation steps; practical issues such as market forces; the risk of equal pay comparisons as between councils and their companies, and harmonisation of terms to defending multiple equal pay claim litigation. 

Our team of property experts can advise on a the whole range of local government property issues, including:

• Empty homes – Empty Homes (i.e. when property owned by private individuals or entities is left empty) is an issue that affects many local authorities and is a drain on resources and income. We assist many local authorities in enabling them to implement their empty homes strategies, advising on a range of options including enforced sale, compulsory purchase, care home/council tax recovery and loan schemes. Enforced sales, a widely used and effective method, are employed in cases where a local authority must use their statutory powers to require a property owner to undertake work on a property to bring it back into use, or, if a property owner fails to do so, when the local authority must undertake those works in default and take action to recover debt, often enforcing a sale to recover monies.  
• Housing Disrepair and Compliance – We offer expertise in defending housing disrepair claims (such as damp and mould) and dealing with gas and Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) compliance. We offer an innovative, cost-effective and resource efficient solution to support our local authority clients, managing high-volume claims and providing an interactive dashboard to monitor critical actions and the full case life cycle. 
• Regeneration – our national team offer a complete service on all legal issues, challenges and opportunities faced by organisations involved in the housing sector including governance, corporate contracts, funding, procurement and tenant and leaseholder management

Following the introduction of the new Procurement Act in February 2025, local authorities are experiencing an increase in procurement challenges and legislation. 

Our team of procurement specialists have extensive expertise in delivering practical and commercially focused advice on the full range of concerns and requirements faced by local government bodies.

Many local authorities face severe financial pressures, with some currently in or at risk of reaching s114 (local government bankruptcy) territory. Local governments in such a position may require support across a variety of areas, including: 

• Governance advice
• Managing financial decisions
• Reviewing staffing liabilities   
• Reviewing and/or disposing of property assets
• Reviewing and management of existing key contractual arrangements

Our full-service offering to local authorities allows us to provide unrivalled support local authorities across all areas of concern.

Current NISTA’s (previously IPA) guidance is for local authorities and private sector participants alike to begin preparing for PFI (Private Finance Initiative) expiry seven years in advance of the expiry.

PFI expiry presents risks including potential operational disruption, lack of service continuity, financial loss and reputational damage. 

Expiry and handback needs to be treated as a separate project, running alongside the day-to-day operation of the PFI project (“BAU”) and planning & implementing future service delivery to the underlying asset.

We are market leaders in PFI projects, having advised on PFI schemes since the UK market’s inception of PFI/PPP projects. Our highly experienced team of PFI/PPP infrastructure experts can offer specialist advice to achieve a smooth transition in the expiry and handback process.

Demand continues to rise for social care services, increasing pressure on local authorities. Our specialists never lose sight of the fact that the welfare of the child or vulnerable adult is the paramount concern in all disputes affecting children. Intervention in the form of clear advice can be crucial in preventing issues from escalating.

We can support on all child law and human rights proceedings including emergency applications, with a focus on resolving conflict, supporting alternative forms of dispute resolution and managing cases in a cost-effective manner. 

• Children - local authorities are becoming increasingly involved in areas outside of traditional Care proceedings, such as complex Court of Protection and Inherent Jurisdiction work, Public Law Outline (PLO) proceedings and duties regarding those leaving care and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. 
• Adults - local authorities require support in a range of areas in respect of vulnerable adults including social care, maintained schools and Solicitors to the Inquest, as well as Court of Protection and Inherent Jurisdiction work.
• SEND (Special Education Needs & Disability) work – with increasing pressure on education, health, social care provision and the introduction of VAT on independent school fees, demand is growing for SEND provision. 

We can offer local authorities support in working with their enforcement teams to prosecute other parties and in understanding their own legal duties, including defence proceedings if the local authority is investigated or prosecuted themselves. Our expertise includes health and safety, fire safety, building safety, environmental, food safety, trading standards and all other areas of regulatory law.

Our experienced planning practice is widely recognised for its expertise in supporting local authorities in a wide range of matters relating to significant regeneration schemes, mixed-use developments and major infrastructure projects. 

With the Labour Government’s increased emphasis on planning reform, local authorities are experiencing increased pressure to expedite and streamline the planning process and to develop strategic approaches to delivering development designed to meet the Government’s ambitious housing, energy and infrastructure objectives while balancing evolving environmental considerations including biodiversity net gain, embedded carbon and phosphate mitigation. Devolution and local government reorganisation will create new combined authorities with additional powers and funding flexibility to support the Government’s objectives, leaving a great deal for local authorities to consider and plan for. 

Local authorities face particular challenges in handling complex and diverse litigation:

• Close public scrutiny (as a result of litigation, and in how they conduct it)
• Resource pressure (rigorous cost/benefit analysis required at every stage), exacerbated by the effects of the High Court decision in Mazur on the conduct of litigation
• Vulnerable counterparties, requiring sensitive and resource-intensive handling

We act for local authorities in disputes arising across all areas of activity – from supply chain performance disputes to procurement challenges, judicial review claims and fee disputes with care and other specialist services providers.  We handle high value and complex cases requiring specialist skills, but equally, support Councils to ensure efficiency on lower value matters, and support teams to manage cases cost-effectively in house.

We support local authorities to ensure that in house legal teams, often handling large volumes of highly specialist work, comply with their regulatory obligations, in the context of increased focus by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority on in house practice, with specific guidance issued to the sector, and the High Court decision on Mazur concerning authorisation to conduct litigation.  

Our support to local authorities, monitoring officers and in-house legal teams includes:

• Delivering training to in house teams on regulatory obligations for lawyers in local government
• Advising on protecting legal professional privilege
• Ensuring compliance with restrictions on practice while maintaining efficient operating structures  
• Responding to SRA investigations

Local authorities have a requirement for an efficient, cost-effective approach to costs litigation. We provide a cradle to grave service and have experience in all areas of costs, specialising in housing disrepair, employers’ liability and public liability claims, commercial, financial and construction claims, judicial review and tribunal claims.

We take a transparent, pragmatic and commercial approach to ensure the best results for clients, on the recovery or negotiation of costs at the conclusion of contentious disputes, as well as throughout the lifespan of disputes, on matters of costs budgeting, costs protection and tactics.