Shared vision

Like the 2012 tie-up between Harrow and Barnet, the two councils are under different political control – Newham has been Labour since the 1960s and Havering is currently held by the Conservatives.

Neither do the two councils share a geographical border – Barking & Dagenham, which has its own shared legal service with Thurrock, lies between.

A further aspect of note is that the councils are making senior appointments who will be tasked with implementing the plans. Newham is recruiting a Director of Legal and Governance, who – if things go according to plan – will become director of both boroughs from 2014. Havering meanwhile is looking to appoint a Head of Legal Services, who will be involved in the management and delivery of the service and act as its monitoring officer.

Should the deal go ahead, it would mean that by sometime next year more than a third of the 32 London boroughs are part of a shared legal service (as opposed to alliances or consortia). They will be:

• Harrow and Barnet: known as HB Public Law;
• Merton, Richmond, Kingston and Sutton: the latter two authorities are joining from October 2013;
• Barking & Dagenham: with Thurrock Council;
• Southwark and Lambeth: the two authorities share certain teams so have a less wide-ranging shared service;
• Newham and Havering.

There has been talk of other councils following suit, either by setting up their own arrangements or by joining an existing service, so we will have to wait and see whether this converts into further action.

However, little has been known so far as to what frontline lawyers really think about shared legal services. Are they more or less likely to join a shared service? What effect do they think being employed in a shared services department would have on various aspects of their working life and career, such as quality of work, job security and pay and conditions?

The results from our careers survey - to be published in a 34-page supplement next week - suggest that many local government lawyers remain to be convinced that shared services teams will have a positive effect on their working lives and should provide those putting together or running shared services with plenty of food for thought.

For more information on the roles at Newham and Havering, click here and here respectively.