Local Government Legal Workforce Strategy and Action Plan

Our local government workforce is the backbone of our communities, delivering vital services that improve lives every day. As we navigate an ever-changing landscape, it is essential that we equip our workforce with the skills, support and opportunities they need to thrive. This series of workforce strategies set out a clear vision for attracting, developing and retaining the talented individuals who will shape the future of local government.

By investing in our people, we are investing in the strength and resilience of our communities. Together, we can build a sector that continues to deliver excellence, adapt to new challenges and drive positive change for the people we serve.

Councils are struggling with persistent vacancies, skills shortages and increasing retention challenges. Without strategic intervention these workforce challenges will significantly impact on the delivery of legal services and pose a risk to the successful delivery of wider local government ambitions.

The sector must invest in career development, workforce resilience and professional appeal by strengthening data intelligence, recruitment innovation and career progression.

This strategic workforce plan has been developed to open constructive conversations with key stakeholders about the workforce challenges facing legal teams across the sector. By fostering collaboration between the LGA, councils, professional bodies and education providers the plan aims to build a shared understanding of both current pressures and future workforce needs.

It also provides a practical framework to support local government employers in attracting, retaining and developing talent. The LGA is seeking a collaborative partnership with local authorities and key stakeholders to deliver this strategy and action plan. 

For current employees and those considering a career in local government, it gives an insight into our priorities and demonstrates our commitment to addressing strategic workforce issues.

This workforce strategy focuses on the legal profession within the local government sector, addressing strategic workforce challenges and opportunities to ensure a sustainable, skilled and adaptable workforce. It covers current workforce demographics, supply and demand factors, the impact of policy and other changes on future skills needs, as well as identifying gaps in the information and data available. 

The design and development of this strategy and action plan has been a collaborative effort led by the LGA in partnership with councils and key stakeholders. The strategy and action plan provide a national perspective (England) and is also offered as an adaptable resource for councils to tailor to their strategic workforce planning needs.

The National Local Government Workforce Planning Network serves as the primary platform for consultation, knowledge-sharing and ongoing engagement on workforce planning matters, ensuring continued collaboration and responsiveness to emerging challenges and opportunities.

This plan was developed through a collaborative process, shaped with and for the sector, to ensure it reflects the real-world challenges faced by local government.

Sources of primary data included the most current LGA workforce survey, as well as specific workforce capacity reports where available for the identified critical shortage areas. This data provided insights into the strengths, gaps and emerging trends within the workforce, laying the foundation for a targeted approach.

Secondary information and data arising out of a series of the Legal Skills Partnership Hub sessions was analysed, and sector expertise was further engaged in a series of consultation and feedback workshops on the draft strategies.

By embedding these principles and striving for these outcomes, we aim to create a Legal profession within local government that meets and exceeds the expectations of the communities we serve. 

• 33 per cent of employees were over 50, indicating a wave of retirements and potential loss of expertise over the next 10-15 years.
• 15 per cent of employees were under the age of 30 and whilst this figure is slightly above the average for the wider local government workforce, it still points to a potential shortfall in early-career professionals.
• The largest concentration of professionals was in the 40-49 age group, suggesting valuable experience and knowledge may be at risk as this group approaches retirement or seeks progression. Continuous upskilling will be essential for this group. 

• Specific statistics on diversity within local government legal services are not readily available. Broader data on diversity in the legal profession indicate that 53 per cent of solicitors are women. 19 per cent of solicitors are from an ethnic minority which is higher than when compared to the local government workforce as a whole (10 per cent).

Vacancies

• As of 1 October 2023, the LGA capacity report identified that 16 per cent of legal posts were unfilled, amounting to nearly 1,940 vacancies across England, with councils averaging six vacancies each.
• Almost all councils (93 per cent) reported vacancies for solicitor roles, which, alongside Senior Lawyer positions, were the most cited by participants in the Legal Skills Partnership Hub.

Agency use

• In 2022/23, councils' agency spending to address capacity and capability gaps was estimated at approximately £94 million, with a slight decrease projected for 2023/24. On average, councils engaged five agency staff to meet workforce demands during this period.

Turnover

• During the same period, legal teams experienced an annual staff turnover rate of 13 per cent

Recruitment

• Eighty-eight per cent of councils reported significant difficulty in recruiting solicitors on a permanent basis. The most challenging specialist areas for permanent recruitment for all councils were commercial law (70 per cent), regeneration and property law (67 per cent) and planning law (65 per cent).
• Single-tier and county councils found it difficult to recruit for adult social care (78 per cent) and childcare (73 per cent). Districts reported difficulties recruiting for regeneration and property (59 per cent), planning (58 per cent) and commercial (57 per cent).
• Additionally, half of all respondents reported relying on agency staff and interim workers due to a shortage of candidates with the necessary skills generated through recruitment efforts.

Retention

• Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of respondents reported significant challenges in retaining solicitors, with commercial law (56 per cent) being the most difficult area to retain staff, followed by regeneration, property, and planning.
• Pay and career progression emerged as the main reasons for leaving among employees in both single-tier and county councils, cited by 72 per cent and 51 per cent, respectively. In district councils, 58 per cent pointed to pay and 39 per cent to career opportunities as key factors.
• The proportion of legal staff leaving for temporary work was 29 per cent and was more prevalent in single-tier and county councils (43 per cent) than in district councils (16 per cent). The reasons for pursuing temporary work included higher pay from agency roles (85 per cent), a preference for non-permanent positions (28 per cent) and a desire for greater flexibility (19 per cent).

• The legal profession is distributed across private, corporate and public employers with 59 per cent of solicitors working in private practice and approximately 25 per cent in corporations. With employment rates nearing full capacity, competition for professionals is intense.
• In addition, the legal talent pool is experiencing a shortage of specialist skills particularly in the areas of regulatory compliance and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG).

• The Law Society projects an increase of 33,000 solicitors between 2024 and 2027, averaging approximately 8,000 new solicitors per year. In 2022, nearly 30,000 students were accepted onto law courses in England and Wales, highlighting the ongoing demand.
• In addition to the traditional university routes, pathways into practice include paralegal apprenticeships (level 3), chartered legal executive apprenticeships CILEX (level 6) and career change/development frameworks, grow your own and graduate recruitment schemes.

• LGA research found that apprenticeship starts in local government have stayed at the same level for three years running. Nearly half of councils that did not currently have apprentices, had never employed them.
• Further LGA research reported on common barriers to appointing legal apprentices. These include limited time available for mentoring, difficulties in releasing apprentices from work for training and the shortage of available programmes.
• Higher level apprenticeship programmes were cited as particularly difficult to undertake due to workloads. Existing, experienced staff did not wish to undertake an apprenticeship to either re-skill or up-skill. A lack of local availability means unrealistic travel distances, whilst a lack of foundation apprenticeships hinders ‘grow our own’ solutions.
• The Level 7 Solicitor Apprenticeship is the only apprenticeship route to qualifying as a solicitor (currently unavailable in Wales). The apprenticeship pathway faces a significant threat with the withdrawal of growth and skills levy funding for Level 7 apprenticeship programmes. This will affect both the availability and diversity of aspiring professionals pursuing qualification through this widely used route. Employers will need to evaluate options and strategies for funding this level of training to ensure its continued accessibility.

• Providing a broad overview, the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report explores how major global trends are reshaping jobs and skills and outlines the workforce transformation strategies employers intend to pursue between 2025 and 2030.

• Broadening digital access is expected to be the most transformative trend driving both the fastest-growing and fastest-declining roles, and fuelling demand for technology related skills, including AI and big data, networks and cybersecurity, and technological literacy, which are anticipated to be the top three fastest growing skills.
• Economic conditions, including slow growth and the increase in the cost of living, is ranked as the second trend, which is expected to increase the demand for creative thinking and resilience, flexibility, and agility skills.
• The third trend is climate change mitigation driving roles such as renewable energy and environmental engineers, as well as an increased focus on environmental stewardship.

• Regarding skills, workers can expect that almost 30 per cent of their existing skill sets will be transformed or become outdated over the 2025-2030 period.
• Analytical thinking remains the most sought-after core skill among employers, followed by resilience, flexibility and agility, leadership and social influence skills.
• Skills gaps are widely regarded as the greatest barrier to business transformation, and the scale of workforce upskilling and reskilling required in response is expected to be substantial.

• With just over half of employers (52 per cent) anticipating allocating a greater share of their revenue to wages, pay competitiveness will remain a significant challenge for local government employers. The identification and implementation of effective recruitment and retention initiatives and incentives continue to represent critical strategic priorities for the sector.
• The majority (85 per cent) of employers surveyed plan to prioritise upskilling their workforce, with 70 per cent of employers expecting to hire staff with new skills and 50 per cent planning to transition staff from declining to growing roles. Strategies to expand talent availability by tapping into diverse talent pools and the adoption of diversity, inclusion and equality initiatives are set to continue to rise.
• Supporting employee health and well-being is expected to be a key focus for talent attraction alongside effective reskilling and upskilling initiatives, improving talent progression, and creating promotion opportunities.

• At the time of the LGA capacity survey, nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) of respondents had not conducted projections for future staffing needs to address anticipated service demands. Among those who had undertaken such projections, the estimated requirement was an increase of approximately 2.3 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff per council over the next one to two years, decreasing to 1 FTE within five years.
• Additionally, almost two-thirds (61 per cent) of respondents lacked a legal workforce plan, and half did not have a successional training programme in place to support future workforce development.

• An analysis of future skills needs was developed through work undertaken by the LGA with the Legal Skills Partnership Hub.
• In summary, to future-proof legal services, workforce planning must prioritise emerging skills like digital literacy, data privacy, regulatory compliance, innovation management and community engagement.
• Emerging roles, such as digital transformation officers, environmental lawyers, innovation managers and community liaison officers are essential to meet modern demands. However, financial constraints, training gaps and the need for cross-functional collaboration remain challenges.
• Specific expected skills shortages over the next three years, include Solicitors/CILEX, Adult Social Care, ALN/Education, Commercial lawyers and Property.
• UK Government policy and legislation, for example the UK Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy (MIS)will continue to have an impact on local government and its workforce. 

Local authorities will be central to delivering MIS initiatives, requiring legal professionals to:

• Draft and review contracts for public-private partnerships.
• Navigate new planning and infrastructure laws.
• Ensure compliance with procurement and subsidy control reforms.

The MIS includes plans to:

• modernise legislation.
• streamline non-financial reporting under the Companies Act 2006.
• introduce planning law reforms to accelerate infrastructure projects.

Legal teams will need to stay updated and advise councils on adapting to these changes.

The MIS commits to:

• continued funding for Level 7 legal apprenticeships, crucial for diversifying the legal workforce
• upskilling legal professionals in digital skills and cybersecurity.

Local authorities may need to invest in training and development to align with these goals.

The government aims to:

• address trade barriers and support recognition of professional qualifications.

While more relevant to private practice, local government legal teams involved in international partnerships or trade zones may also be affected.

Legal professionals in local government will play a strategic role in:

• implementing MIS policies at the local level
• ensuring legal compliance in infrastructure, innovation, and investment projects
• advising on governance, risk, and regulatory frameworks for new economic initiatives.

• This section outlines the key gaps between the current local government legal workforce and the vision for its future. In collaboration with the Legal Skills Partnership Hub participants, the LGA conducted a detailed analysis of workforce challenges.
• To support this PESTLE and SWOT exercises were used to identify and categorise these challenges. The findings are organised and examined below under the themes of data, recruitment, retention and skills, highlighting the gaps between the existing workforce, future skills needs and the workforce vision.

• Data-driven workforce planning is challenging due to limitations in data availability and quality, which hinder a comprehensive understanding of the capacity and capability of the legal services workforce and impacts on the effectiveness of strategic decision-making, particularly in relation to diversity.

• The biggest workforce challenge currently relates to recruiting permanent staff and retaining them, with all councils affected.
• Pay disparities with private firms, particularly councils in urban areas, hinder recruitment and retention as higher salaries and flexible agency roles attract talent away from local government. Councils located in rural areas also struggle to recruit and resort to the use of agency staff to fill gaps.
• Roles in local government legal services are not always perceived as aspirational career choices. A review of specialist areas and roles like commercial law, contracting, planning and the Designated Monitoring Officer role could enhance the profession’s appeal.
• High-profile challenges in financial and service delivery can negatively influence perceptions of the profession.
• Councils reported a lack of expertise and experience amongst job applicants. The shortage of applicants in specialised fields such as commercial, property and planning law has led to increased reliance on agency staffing.
• Career pathways are accessible for entry level candidates; however, they need to be made available and supported by teams with experience to ensure development is met.
• Financial constraints are limiting the ability to fully staff legal teams, leading to capacity pressures, elevated workloads and increased risk of staff burnout.
• As service transformation reshapes delivery models, it will necessitate the redesign of roles, supported by the availability of flexible working models alongside a continuous review and evolution of skill sets to align with new ways of working.

• Emerging skills in fields like digital transformation and AI will be essential to reduce administrative burdens, modernise and improve service delivery. Climate adaptation will drive the emergence of new roles including environmental lawyers and community liaison officers. However, financial constraints, training gaps and the need for cross-functional collaboration remain challenges.
• A strategic priority is to broaden access to qualification routes and targeted training and development that addresses current and future workforce needs, with a focus on diversity, leadership and management, digital capability, project delivery, political acumen and structured progression through the CILEX pathway and apprenticeship frameworks, where available.
• Specific expected skills shortages over the next three years include Solicitors/CILEX, Children's Social Care, Education (disability discrimination), Commercial lawyers and Property.
• The sector recognises the importance of building internal expertise by creating opportunities to develop proficiency in specialist areas of law at a senior level, even where the volume of such work is low, to ensure long-term capability and resilience. A collaborative approach through consortia and partnerships, could help pool resources, share expertise and enhance access to specialised knowledge across the sector.

Strengthening workforce data collection will improve decision-making, diversity, and talent retention. 

• Improve diversity insights – Collect better data on race, neurodiversity, disability, LGBTQ+ representation and socio-economic background to inform inclusive policies.
• Strengthen workforce planning – Address data gaps to enhance forecasting and evidence-based strategies.
• Track career pathways and retention – Gather data on long-term career trends with a focus on graduate retention.
• Monitor skills shortages – Use real-time data to identify gaps and engage training providers to align workforce development with sector needs. 

An effective coordinated approach will enhance workforce resilience, skills development and long-term workforce sustainability.

• Workforce analytics and benchmarking tools – improve access to timely sector specific workforce data.
• Enable collaboration with key stakeholders – Facilitate work with regional employers, professional bodies and training providers to address workforce challenges and skills needs.
• Enhance horizon scanning – Anticipate emerging trends and assess their potential impact.
• Facilitate consortia and training partnerships – Promote practice examples and joint workforce development initiatives to strengthen talent pipelines.
• Identify and support innovation – collaborate with and support trailblazers eager to pilot innovative solutions and drive change.

Strategic approaches are needed to build a stronger, more diverse pipeline of talent. 

• Enhance the branding of local government – improve awareness and access to early-career entry options and support a review of roles to enhance the appeal of the legal profession in local government.
• Increase outreach efforts – Promote work experience resources and branding campaigns that target early-career options and support work experience in local government.
• Total reward - Promote packages that include professional development, flexible benefits, market supplements, career progression, work from anywhere.
• Expand pathways – Mitigate loss of funded level 7 apprentice route, strengthen partnerships with universities, CILEX and legal training providers to widen access, increase talent pool.
• Modernise recruitment – Work with councils to promote modern, creative and innovative recruitment methods and practices.
• Review roles – Work with councils and key stakeholders to support role redesign, upskilling and reskilling requirements.

Clear career pathways, innovative and supportive workplace policies will improve staff retention and support council ‘grow your own’ schemes. Potential strategies could include:

• Collaboration – Support development of workforce sharing arrangements. For example, consider supporting pilot “centres of excellence” model (expertise in particular areas of law are developed to a senior level with the ability for that service to be provided to other authorities).
• Career grade policy – Promote models of structured career graded roles.
• Review of roles and/or services – Facilitate review of Designated Monitoring Officer role, consider supporting pilot “knowledge hub(s)” model (lead authority provides benchmark for practice in technical area, emerging fields).
• Succession planning – Identify and promote frameworks/approaches, identify mentoring and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
• Flexible working – Promote effective hybrid and flexible working models.
• Retention incentives – Research what works (contribution to professional registration fees, continuous professional development), identify and promote workplace culture initiatives that enhance well-being and job satisfaction.
• Highlight public sector career benefits – Promote stability, community impact and career fulfilment in legal roles.
• Foster inclusive workplace cultures – Promote benefits of workplace environments where all employees feel valued and supported, and where well-being is a priority.
• Consider retention incentives – Research what works (contribution to professional registration fees, continuous professional development), identify and promote workplace culture initiatives that enhance well-being and job satisfaction.

Key skill areas, the degree of proficiency required, and why they matter:

Legal professionals in local government are no longer just interpreters of law, they are strategic enablers of economic transformation. The MIS demands a proactive, tech-savvy, and commercially aware legal workforce that can navigate complexity, drive innovation, and uphold public interest.

Participants of the Legal Skills Partnership Hub mapped legal services roles against required qualifications, membership and standards.

• Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
• Burnley Council
• Canterbury City Council
• Cornwall Council
• Croydon Council
• Conwy County Borough Council
• Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
• Hertfordshire County Council
• Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council
• London Borough of Islington
• London Borough of Newham
• Leeds City Council
• Liverpool City Council
• Mid Devon District Council
• Powys County Council
• Somerset Council
• South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council
• South Tyneside Council
• Southampton City Council
• Staffordshire County Council
• St Albans District Council
• St Helens Borough Council
• Swale Borough Council
• Tameside Council
• Trafford Council
• Warwickshire County Council
• Wealden District Council
• Westmorland and Furness Council