Lawyers have plenty of scope to boost council revenues, LGL research suggests

There is significant scope for legal departments to protect and even boost their local authority’s revenues, research by Local Government Lawyer and DMH Stallard has suggested.

Fifty heads of legal were asked to consider a list of 17 possible ways in which departments could deliver added value. The survey revealed wide variation among respondents in their awareness of these methods.

The most widely implemented method of revenue generation or protection is the recovery of funds owed under section 106 agreements, with 77% of respondents saying this has already been implemented and a further 16% saying it was under consideration.

Other popular methods include the creation of new trading models (being considered by 66% of councils) and the introduction of charges for previously free services where they go beyond the minimum requirements (63%).

The research also reveals great interest amongst councils in the scope for reviewing existing commercial contracts. However, the heads of legal surveyed cited this option as the one on the list that would attract the most legal risk.

A number of these strategies are also thought to bring significant political and reputational risk, with proposals to introduce charges for previously free services is seen as particularly problematic.

How does your department measure up? Read our analysis of the results here.

Philip Hoult

See also: Best foot forward – part one of our analysis of the survey, which revealed that one in five local authority legal departments are facing budget cuts of between 20-30%