Three councils to move to shared legal service in October

Three local authorities in the East of England are expected to establish a shared legal service from October this year.

Cambridge City Council, Huntingdonshire District Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council have previously agreed to work in partnership to deliver a range of shared services, and legal services are included in phase 1 of this programme.

A report and business case prepared for the legal services link-up said the rationale for the move was to:

• Enable a reduction in the externalisation of legal work through the broader sharing of legal capability (the three authorities spent on average £387,301 between them per year in 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15);
• Increase output from lawyers by managing non-lawyer work away from them;
• Create a single point for commissioning legal services to improve value for money from the process of externalising legal work;
• Increase the opportunity for income generation by offering legal services to public and voluntary sector bodies; and
• Improve staff recruitment, retention and development.

Under the proposals, Cambridge City Council will act as lead authority for the practice. Its scope would be solely legal services and the administration that supports legal services.

The practice will be created by the TUPE transfer of four staff from Huntingdonshire and six staff from South Cambridgeshire to Cambridge City on 1 October. Formal consultation began at the end of July.

The opening staffing level of the practice is expected to be 26, made up of 19 fee-earners and 7 administrative staff operating across three hub offices in Cambridge, Huntingdon and Cambourne.

A new management team would be created on start-up comprising a Head of Legal Practice and two legal service managers.

A review will then be undertaken of the rest of the staffing structure with a view to establishing any new arrangements by 1 April 2016.

The shared legal service will have an opening operating budget of circa £1.5m. The practice will have a minimum saving target of 15% of net revenue budget after income has been applied.

An interim manager has been appointed to undertake mobilisation of the practice until the management team is in place.

The initial investment to carry through the proposals will be funded from a Transformation Challenge Award.