The UNISON West Sussex branch has significant concerns about Local government reorganisation, or LGR.
As we reported previously, we think it is a massive and damaging distraction for local government, at a time of huge planned budget cuts the new Labour Government is doing nothing serious to reverse. It will cost money that would be better spent on frontline services. It will distract our Council’s staff with strategic functions from doing other work to improve our services.
The government has now launched its public, statutory consultation on the proposals to reorganise local government across West Sussex.
Details of the consultation are here, and we would encourage members to take part.
Members have until midnight on Sunday 11 January 2026 to do so.
What is being consulted on?
The options are:
- 1 single unitary authority for the whole of West Sussex (supported by West Sussex County Council), or
- 2 unitary authorities in West Sussex each responsible for services in its area (supported by the district and borough councils in West Sussex), or
- West Sussex being split across 3 different authorities (supported by Brighton & Hove City Council).
The UNISON West Sussex branch view
All LGR is a costly distraction which should be delayed until after full, fair local authority funding has been restored.
But if we were forced to choose one option now, we would – like West Sussex County Council – opt for a single unitary solution. This is because:
- A single unitary council is the least disruptive to UNISON members. 6,000 staff deliver corporate services across West Sussex County Council. If you have to split their employer up into 2 or 3 new employers, not only will staff have to TUPE across, they will also have to be reorganised. If you split hundreds of WSCC teams into 2 or 3 different employers, this will require a huge undertaking of reorganisation and reconfiguration, which members will find disruptive and stressful, and could risk jobs.
- Suggestions in other options that having more than one unitary authority is ‘more democratic’ are spurious and self-serving efforts to maintain unnecessary numbers of Councillors’ seats. Democracy in Britain is broken, because of the failures of politicians, their broken promises and decades of a political agenda that serves only the few rather than the many. Having more than one unitary does nothing to tackle this democratic deficit.
- A single unitary council retains the West Sussex county identity.
That’s our view. What’s yours?
Take part in the consultation to have your say.
Government is expected to make its decision following the close of the consultation in March 2026.