Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)
UK department running local government reorganisation and Reform-commissioner standoffs across England.
MHCLG confirmed on 16 July 2026 that 14 county areas will merge 134 councils into 38 unitary authorities by 2028, a programme now facing judicial review from five councils, the latest Harlow on 22 July.
Last refreshed: 24 July 2026 · Appears in 2 active topics
Will Steve Reed's 134-into-38 council merger survive five judicial reviews before 2028?
Timeline for Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)
Harlow becomes fifth council to sue
UK Local Elections 2026Two counties pulled from the merger
UK Local Elections 2026Confirmed final reorganisation decisions for 14 county areas
UK Local Elections 2026: England loses 96 councils by 2028A fourth county sues over its abolition
UK Local Elections 2026Received formal challenge to LGR programme from three Reform-led councils
UK Local Elections 2026: Essex sues to stop its own abolitionBackground
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the UK Government department responsible for local government structure, housing policy, planning and devolution, led by Secretary of State Steve Reed MP since July 2024.
In February 2026 Reed reversed the department's decision to postpone 30 local elections in Local Government Reorganisation areas after Reform UK won a Divisional Court challenge, with the department paying Reform roughly £100,000 in legal costs and announcing a £63 million support package for affected areas.
That early reversal set the pattern for a department now managing reorganisation, litigation and commissioner arrangements simultaneously across dozens of English authorities.
MHCLG presses on despite legal challenges
MHCLG confirmed final reorganisation decisions for 14 county areas on 16 July 2026, replacing 134 councils with 38 new unitary authorities, with elections in May 2027 and vesting day on 1 April 2028 (Surrey in 2027). Steve Reed held back decisions on West Sussex and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough the same day, citing the need for more time.
Harlow Council became the fifth authority to sue over the programme on 22 July, calling the timetable 'simply not deliverable' and joining Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk and Portsmouth; none of England's four unitarisations since 2019 had faced a legal challenge before this wave. Reed's department must now defend the timetable in court while still finalising the two outstanding areas.
MHCLG commissioners still control Thurrock
Reform UK won 41 of Thurrock's 49 council seats on 7 May 2026, yet MHCLG's appointed commissioners retain legal control of the council's £1.5 billion Section 114 budget until at least April 2028.
The arrangement leaves Reed's department managing the practical finances of a council whose elected majority openly opposes central oversight, a tension it will have to work through as the wider reorganisation timetable, and the legal challenges against it, run alongside the commissioners' own exit date.