Frequently Asked Questions
What about Leicester City Council’s proposal for local government reorganisation? Are you proposing any boundary changes?
Information about the Leicester City Council proposal was released on 19 March 2025. We are currently reviewing the proposals. A statement was issued on behalf of the district council and Rutland County Council leaders on 20 March about this.
Our interim plan does not contain any proposal to change the city boundary, but we accept there will need to be further conversations about this issue.
Will council tax go up or down following reorganisation?
Council tax rates will need to be amended in areas with new authorities. It means some rates may go up or down depending on where you live but it is not expected that rates will change significantly for taxpayers.
How many councillors would there be under your interim plan?
The current total number of county, city and borough/district councillors in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland is 384. Under our interim plan, that number would be reduced to 214, with 80 councillors for each of the proposed new unitary councils in the north and south, and the city continuing to have 54.
Doesn’t reducing the number of councillors damage democracy, local accountability and representation?
The government is driving this agenda to reduce the number of councils. Our interim plan is the only proposal which will retain a council close enough to communities to understand them and advocate for them.
Grassroots democracy would be enhanced, and subject to local views, opportunities would be explored to create town or parish councils in key settlements.
Will people lose their jobs?
There is likely to be a reduction in the number of senior leadership positions. The vast majority of employees will continue to work for a council.
How will you save nearly £43 million a year?
As the interim plan explains, the savings will be made through a variety of factors including a reduction in the number of senior leadership positions and councillors, procurement efficiencies from the economies of scale and the potential opportunities for the rationalisation of some assets or properties.
Will there be costs associated with creating new councils?
The transition costs are estimated to be around £18.9 million spread over a five-year period. This would cover costs such as external support to manage the transition. This initial cost would be recovered over a period of time as the interim plan sets out it will deliver a saving of £43 million each year.
Will you be closing any of the main council offices?
Whatever council structures are introduced in the future, councils will need offices and properties to operate services from.
Under our interim plan, we are committed to ensuring councils have a strong, visible presence in our communities. There could be opportunities to rationalise assets including properties across all existing councils but that would require much further consideration.
Where would each council’s main office/Town Hall be?
These are only interim plans and full plans will be developed in the coming months, following significant and extensive engagement. Decisions like these would likely rest with any newly-created council.
How would you ensure there was minimum disruption to social care services and therefore ensure there were no negative impacts on vulnerable children and adults?
When looking at Ofsted ratings, the position regarding children's services is currently mixed across the three services provided by Leicester City Council (requires improvement), Rutland County Council (Good) and Leicestershire County Council (Outstanding).
Given the significant imbalance in scale across the three existing social care authorities, whatever future council structures are decided by Government, maintaining the status quo is unlikely and change will need to take place regardless.
The benefits of our interim plan is it provides opportunities to reform and improve provision more consistently across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
Our approach would rebalance capacity and demand across all three social care services with opportunities for learning and best practice to be applied to each.
The balanced scale of social care authorities proposed would better facilitate opportunities for prevention and early intervention.
Social care is a place-based service, reliant on strong partnerships with health, education, the voluntary and community sectorand market providers – our proposal has partnership and collaboration at its core.
