Purpose

Background and Advice

A waiver is required to make an immediate appointment of Newtrality Ltd to support on the County Council's internal Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) programme, with a particular focus on planning for the disaggregation of the County Council.

Five separate proposals for reorganisation in Lancashire were submitted to Government in November 2025, ranging from two to five unitary councils. Government is currently conducting a statutory consultation to understand the views of residents and stakeholders, ahead of making a 'minded to' decision on its preferred solution, which is expected in July 2026.

In the period up to the Government's 'minded to' decision, Lancashire County Council are working on a preparation programme to establish a detailed baseline, service taxonomy, Day 1 implementation plan and undertake scenario planning.

Aligned to the cross-council programme, the County Council has established an internal programme, which is focused on understanding how the County Council could be disaggregated under all five unitary configurations currently on the table.

This work will involve establishing a common set of disaggregation principles, a detailed disaggregation methodology, application of that methodology to the data, and identification of key issues and interdependencies to feed into the cross-council programme.

External support is required to provide capacity, expertise and knowhow to the internal programme, and particularly the disaggregation work. It is imperative that the internal programme is closely aligned to the timescales of the cross-council programme. To feed into the scenario and implementation planning being undertaken in the cross-council programme, initial outputs from the disaggregation modelling are required by May. A fast appointment of Newtrality is therefore critical, and timescales don't allow for a three quote process to be conducted.

As a waiver to the quotation process is being sought, value will be monitored as the commission will work on a time and materials basis which will be regularly reviewed. This will enable full flexibility in terms of only seeking support when and where it is required.

During the preparation phase leading up to Government decision, the team will be assessing the requirement for longer-term support to enable appropriate time to consider procurement routes, if further external support is required.

Implications

This item has the following implications, as indicated.

Legal

The Procurement Act ("PA") apply to procurement activity where the total contract value exceeds a certain financial threshold. Above threshold contracts are subject to the rules laid down within the PA and are to be procured in accordance with the treaty principles of proportionality, mutual recognition, transparency, non-discrimination and equal treatment.  This should be achieved through competition. 

This report seeks a single quote award for up to £170,000 for the reasons detailed in this waiver, with a maximum total contract value of £170,000 which is below the relevant threshold for the Procurement Act 2023 to apply.

Contractual Terms and Conditions

The service provider will be appointed using the Council's standard terms and conditions as the framework for the contract. The Council's Legal Services have been involved in adapting the standard terms specifically to this piece of work and the supporting proposal.

Procurement:

Whilst this contract is anticipated to be below any regulatory thresholds where open tenders are required to be called, the County Council's Procurement Rules require a minimum of three written quotations to be obtained. Approval of a waiver is requested based on the justification included in this report.

Finance

The costs of this appointment will be met from within the allocated LGR budget.  Rates have been compared against market standards for similar work and deemed to be comparative.

Risk management

The primary risk associated with this procurement waiver is the potential for challenge due to the absence of a competitive tender process, however, this risk is considered low. The contract value is below the threshold required under the Procurement Act 2023, and the rationale for the direct award is clearly documented, including the collaboration with the other Lancashire councils and significant time constraints. To further mitigate this risk, the County Council will publish an award notice on Contracts Finder, ensuring openness and accountability.

The risks are manageable and proportionate to the value and strategic importance of the service, and appropriate controls are in place to ensure compliance and continuity.

Decision

Laurence Ainsworth, Executive Director of Resources, took the decision to appoint Newtrality to provide support to the county council's internal Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) programme.