Decision details

Committee considered a detailed report which sought approval to recommend to Council a mini restructure of Legal Services and also to change arrangements with North East Derbyshire District Council for the provision of legal services.

Since 2016 the Legal Services Section had been a shared service of the Strategic Alliance where all costs had been shared equally by Bolsover District Council (BDC) and North East Derbyshire District Council (NEDDC).

Previous to 2016, BDC had provided legal support to NEDDC under a service level agreement, and prior to that, each council had its own stand-alone legal section.

Under the current arrangement there were two teams in Legal Services each managed by a Team Manager.  The Non-Contentious team dealt with all property related matters such as conveyancing, landlord and tenant, planning and contracts. The Contentious team dealt with more litigious matters such as criminal prosecutions, civil litigation, licensing, housing and antisocial behaviour. 

A review of the service had taken place which had identified two options.

Option 1 was to retain the status quo and Option 2 was to revert to two separate teams.  The cost of each option compared to the current budget for Legal Services was set out in detail in Table 1 to the report, and how Option 2 could work from a BDC perspective was set out in detail in the report.

Option 2 was considered to be the preferred option and would provide BDC with a Legal Section whose main priority and focus once again would be solely on BDC work.  It would, however, enable it to provide external income generating services to other organisations including NEDDC and Rykneld Homes.  Staff would be wholly employed by BDC under the same terms and conditions.  The Manager would report to one Assistant Director, attend one Service Managers Forum and be the Deputy Monitoring Officer for one authority. 

This option also retained a relationship with NEDDC, however, it would be more arm’s length with work done via SLAs as opposed to a shared service basis.  There would be additional administration in recharging, however, this should be mitigated by the acquisition of case management system.  It also ensured that BDC obtained value for money from its Legal Services as work would either be undertaken for BDC or charged out to other organisations on a case by case basis.

In response to a Member’s query, the Treasurer confirmed that the difference in cost for Option 2 of £65k, would have to be met from the Business Rate Protection Reserve if there were a gap, to ensure the budget remained balanced for the general fund.

Moved by Councillor Duncan McGregor and seconded by Councillor Sandra Peake

RECOMMENDED that (1) Council approve the proposed changes to the structure of Legal Services as set out in paragraph 2.3 of the report,

(2)  that Council continue to undertake legal work for North East Derbyshire District Council through service level agreements.

(Governance/Head of Paid Service)