Guidance on communicating complexity, setting realistic timelines, and aligning political, staff and resident expectations during local government reorganisation (LGR).

Overview

LGR brings together different systems, cultures, skills, expectations and political priorities. It creates opportunity, but also uncertainty. Councils that manage expectations well are those that:

  • communicate early and often
  • explain complexity without causing alarm
  • are honest about what day one can and cannot deliver
  • show how staff can influence and shape the new organisation
  • recognise the emotional impact of change
  • resource their digital and technology teams realistically

LGA research highlights that expectation management is one of the most critical success factors in LGR.

Owning the narrative

Multiple councils are merging systems, contracts, processes, networks, data and ways of working. This creates complexity. If this is communicated in a way that feels overly direct (“It’s too complicated”), staff can feel overwhelmed, anxious or disengaged, especially those who do not work in digital.

Practical approaches

  • Visible leadership helps maintain trust, morale and focus during the uncertainty of reorganisation
  • Frame day one as minimum viable council: safe, legal, operational – not fully transformed
  • Include visuals (timelines, system maps) in documents to show complexity
  • Also share what is not happening on day one (there is no forced unification)
  • Develop and share the five-year transformation roadmap early to reduce unrealistic expectations
  • Reinforce that LGR is an ongoing process
  • Clear communication about what is changing, what is staying the same and what might stop
  • A skills and system audit to see who can support what activities as job titles vary from council to council

One of my lessons is that we should have spent more time finding common ground and understanding each other’s motivations rather than focusing on our differences. It’s a real opportunity to rethink how you deliver services and drive transformation for your local area. There’s huge potential, but you must be pragmatic and realistic about the timescales – and stay focused on improving outcomes for residents, even when the process feels challenging.

Kate Hurr, Assistant Director for Digital & ICT, Cumberland Council

Working in the open

Working in the open helps manage expectations during reorganisation by making progress, constraints and decisions visible to staff, members and residents. In practice, this means sharing clear information about what will be ready for day one, what will not, and why.

Internal approaches

  • Document decisions and share them across teams
  • Share system inventories and plans
  • Invite early input from service, digital, data and cyber colleagues

External approaches

  • Publish simple timelines
  • Explain interim arrangements such as temporary websites or shared systems
  • Be explicit about known risks and dependencies
  • Use plain English to explain how services will work during transition
  • Update residents when plans change

The Buckinghamshire team worked in the open from day one. The team co-located with the LGR programme team, published week notes, blog posts and held show and tells at the end of every sprint. The open ways of working kept stakeholders informed and allowed people to inspect and adapt the work as it progressed.

Ben Unsworth, Head of Digital, Buckinghamshire Council (2020) 

Being realistic about benefits and costs

Experience from reorganisations shows that benefits from digital, data and technology are real but gradual, and they come with up-front and ongoing costs.

LGR represents an opportunity to establish a modern, secure, resilient infrastructure which may require investment to tackle legacy tech.

We framed everything as ‘safe and legal’, which helped with focus, but I think it also narrowed thinking too much. Looking back, there were some smaller transformations we could have done earlier. Safe and legal shouldn’t stop ambition altogether – it should stop reckless change, not sensible collaboration.

Madeline Hoskin, Assistant Director for Technology, North Yorkshire Council

Political considerations

LGR is a significant political moment. Political leaders often want the new organisation to look and feel unified immediately. But digital and technology unification cannot be forced by mandate.

Common political tensions include:

  • a desire for a full unified online experience on day one
  • concern about “favouring” one predecessor council’s system over another
  • pressure to cut costs quickly before understanding the full picture
  • risk of announcing commitments before feasibility is understood

The order of operations

LGA research found that political expectations are easier to manage when leaders understand that change follows a clear sequence. Trying to skip stages increases risk and cost.

  • Legal continuity comes first. The new council must operate lawfully from vesting day. This means payroll runs, democratic processes function, statutory services continue, and data protection obligations are met.
  • Operational stability follows. Staff need reliable access to systems. Residents need uninterrupted services and clear contact routes. Most councils deliberately retain legacy systems at this point to reduce risk.
  • Then systems can start to be streamlined. Duplicate systems and contracts are rationalised, common standards are introduced, and complexity is reduced.
  • Transformation and redesign often come after system integration. Once foundations are simpler and more stable, councils can redesign services, automate processes, and improve customer experience.
  • Long term efficiencies are the outcome. Savings and productivity gains usually appear only once legacy systems are retired, and new ways of working are embedded.