Two weeks into his premiership, Andy Burnham has shown he is serious about radical change in the way the state operates, with a major paper from the Cabinet Office. The aim is to bring government closer to citizens, with a significant transfer of power and money from central government to a simplified local government. A core principle is to replace ‘Whitehall knows best’ with ‘devolution by default’. In future, decisions on policies and public services will be made locally unless there was good evidence that they needed to be made nationally.
The Cabinet Office paper Rewiring the State, lays out the plans and a timetable, beginning with a declaration of intent:
“Good growth requires a fundamental rewiring of the way our country works, surrendering power that for too long has been held in Westminster and Whitehall, and returning it to people and the places where they live, work and invest. Local leaders know what it will take to drive growth in their areas, creating jobs and attracting investment that speak to the strengths of their region. They can do the problem solving and provide the stability needed to be able to integrate and coordinate policy and delivery at a local level to release that growth. They are also best placed to integrate public services to respond to the needs of their residents, improving people’s experiences as well as their outcomes and preventing the rising costs of failure.”
Media coverage has focused on one or two issues, but the paper touches on a very wide range of government.
A uniform pattern
The plans mean that by the time of the next general election in 2029, there will be, for the first time ever, a single structure of local government across England. This will consist of two key elements:
- Unitary authorities, responsible for most local public services, replacing county and district councils
- Strategic Authorities (SAs), usually led by directly elected mayors, with powers and funding devolved from Whitehall. Each will cover a group of unitaries.
Although local areas can decide whether the strategic authority should or should not have a mayor, Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) will have greater powers and funds.
Mayors
Mayors will have extensive powers, working with the unitary councils in their areas. These will include:
- Education: funding 16-19 education, with responsibility for developing technical and vocational education and vocational pathways for 14-18 year olds, and linking education with employment and health
- Unemployment support
- Transport: integrating bus and rail (including commuter rail)
- Planning: new planning and regeneration powers to unblock stalled housing sites, and faster approval for local transport and metro schemes
- Housing, including council housing
- Local energy
- Culture, including some responsibilities transferred from the Arts Council and Sports England
- “Good Growth Funds” based on the Manchester model, to back local industries and investment
The map
In the East of England, three strategic authorities have already been agreed:
- Greater Essex SA (including Thurrock and Southend) – replacing 15 councils with five unitary authorities;
- Norfolk and Suffolk SA – replacing 15 councils with six unitaries;
- Hertfordshire SA – replacing 11 councils with four unitaries.
In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, where there is already a directly elected mayor, ministers are still considering four options for unitaries.
In Bedfordshire, negotiations are in progress on a possible new combined authority for Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes.
Further changes
A range of other changes are planned. They include:
Boundaries of public services. These will be redrawn to simplify coordination. Strategic authority boundaries will be matched with police, fire and rescue services and integrated care boards.
Funding. Funds which are currently managed by central government through grants to local authorities will be transferred, on the principle of devolution by default. Where, currently, individual government departments issue grants for specific purposes, strategic authorities will be able to pool funds to improve coordination and efficiency.
Tax revenue. A proportion of income tax and business rates is to be transferred to strategic authorities. This will encourage them to seek economic growth and free them from the problems of single year funding, which currently limits long-term planning. This provides a secure long-term income stream, which would enable the authority to borrow to fund major projects (as has happened in Manchester, where this arrangement already exists).
Development Corporations. These may be created to secure appropriate infrastructure for major new developments. The Greater Cambridge Development Corporation begins work in September this year.
Land value. Government is considering how authorities can benefit from the increase in land value arising from planning permission.
Public engagement. There will be a review of current approaches to public consultation, with the aim of involving the public more directly in decision making.
Workforce. The changes will have major implications for the workforce in local and national government, with new roles, more movement of staff between the two, and needs for retraining. Thousands of local government staff will be transferring to the new unitaries. The national civil service will shrink, and new career paths and training will be developed.
The timetable
Much of the detail, especially on financial issues, will be set out in the budget at the end of October, but the overall timetable is:
| July 31st | Cabinet Office ‘Rewiring the State’ paper published |
| Summer 2026 | Government publishes detailed next steps |
| October 2026 | White Paper and Devolution Roadmap to be published. Announcement of new Strategic Authorities |
| April 2027 | Mayors and councils to retain a share of business rates (as at present in Greater Manchester and Cornwall). Mayors have powers to charge overnight visitor levies |
| May 2027 | Elections of councillors for new unitary authorities in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Hertfordshire (operating in shadow form for a year) |
| December 2027 | All areas will be establishing Strategic Authorities |
| April 2028 | Wave of new Mayoral elections Mayors to receive a share of income tax |
| May 2028 | New unitary authorities take control of local services. Existing councils abolished |
| End of 2028 | All England covered by strategic authorities |
| July 2029 | Public service boundaries to be aligned, including police, fire & rescue services, and Integrated Care Boards. |
| August 2029 | Last possible date for general election |
Issues
This is a remarkably detailed plan, some of it made possible by previous work by the Starmer government. However, there are many issues still to be clarified or resolved. Local government responses have been generally positive, but they are waiting for more detail on the ‘new covenant’ with central government.
Outstanding issues include:
- How will the different tiers (Mayoral SAs, non‑mayoral SAs, councils) share powers? This is expected to be set out in the Autumn White Paper.
- How will funding be balanced between SAs, since the tax base is very different in different area?
- How will these plans relate to planned reforms to the very high cost services, especially adults’ and children’s social care, which is already at crisis point?
- How far will all areas be involved at the same speed? So far, devolution has been managed gradually with an “earn your powers” approach.
- Will mayors have the power to use extra funds to cut local taxes, as some Conservatives have suggested?
- Precisely what powers will be devolved to which authorities? Currently there are three tiers: Foundation SAs, Mayoral SAs and Established SAs. How rapidly and on what basis will these be harmonised?
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