4. Sector Support Offer

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The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has set out a support offer to help councils carry out local government reorganisation (LGR), covering governance, programme planning, financial planning and early operating model development. p2p3p4

Government funding includes £900,000 transition support for each new unitary council, up to a further £150,000 per unitary council for social care and public health leadership capacity, and up to £10m for wider leadership development and peer support. p9

Additional funding includes up to £1m for areas with complex fire and rescue authority transitions and around £3.2 million for the Planning Advisory Service in 2026/27. p10p41p42

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• p21. This note is for councils undergoing local government reorganisation (LGR) and sets out the support available to assist them in this work. Government recognises and appreciates the pace, scale and complexity of local government reorganisation, and the uncertainty councils are managing while continuing to deliver vital reforms and frontline day -to-day public services for communities.
• p32. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has developed a comprehensive support offer for all councils undergoing reorganisation in consultation with key sector partners and members of our local government advisory group. This offer also draws on lessons from previous rounds of local government reorganisation.
• p43. This support offer is intended to help councils with the key strategic and policy work necessary to establish the new councils, including governance, programme planning, financial planning and early operating model development. It is not intended to meet the full cost of undertaking the core work of reorganisation, which remains the responsibility of local areas.
• p9OFFICIAL OFFICIAL 8. As well as the unprecedented £900,000 transition support to each new unitary already announced, areas will receive up to a further £150,000 per each new unitary council to support leadership capacity and continuity in Children’s Services, Adult Social Care and Public Health. This will bring the total transition funding for LGR areas to more than £1 million per new unitary created. This is part of a wider package of support of up to £10m which will also fund targeted development, mentoring and peer support for current, new and aspiring leaders.
• p109. In addition, up to £1m of funding in total will be available to support the small number of areas with complex fire and rescue authority transitions, building on funding already given to Surrey.
• p41• Planning: MHCLG is providing c.£3.2 million in grant funding to the Planning Advisory Service
• p42(PAS) during 2026/27. PAS will focus on targeted support and training for L ocal Planning Authorities preparing for new legislative and policy requirements, including peer reviews with Local Planning Authorities in the LGR process.