LGR represents one of the most significant changes to local government in England for decades. While attention is justifiably focused on governance structures and service integration, an equally important challenge is maintaining risk management capability throughout the transition. As organisations merge and restructure, valuable expertise can be lost through retirements, departures, and role changes. At the same time, the newly formed councils face continuing pressures from financial constraints, cyber threats, and climate change. In these circumstances, developing risk management capability across the workforce is more important than ever.
Losing organisational knowledge
LGR inevitably brings organisational change. Experienced employees often possess a detailed understanding of local services, historic incidents, operational vulnerabilities, and governance arrangements that may not be fully documented. If this knowledge is lost, organisations can face gaps in decision-making, resilience, and service delivery.
The challenge is not limited to specialist risk professionals. Senior leaders, managers, and frontline employees all play a vital role in identifying and managing risk. During periods of transformation, councils can become vulnerable to inconsistent processes, unclear responsibilities, and weakened controls unless knowledge is effectively captured and transferred.
Rebuilding capability
As councils are formed and new structures created employees from different organisations must work within a common framework of governance and risk management. Each predecessor authority may have developed different approaches, processes, and attitudes towards risk, making consistency a significant challenge.
Training provides a practical way to establish shared expectations, common terminology, and a consistent approach to risk management. It ensures that leaders understand strategic risks, managers can manage operational challenges effectively and frontline employees recognise their responsibilities for identifying and reporting concerns.
Training as a strategic investment
Training should be viewed as a strategic investment rather than simply a compliance activity. Effective programmes equip employees with the skills and confidence needed to identify risks, assess potential impacts, and take appropriate action. They also create a common language for discussing risk, which is particularly valuable when bringing together employees from multiple authorities. This shared understanding supports better communication, stronger governance, and more consistent decision-making.
Building a strong risk culture
Training is also fundamental to creating a strong risk culture. Effective organisations encourage accountability, open communication, continuous learning, and risk-informed decision-making. This is particularly important within newly created authorities, where employees may arrive with different experiences and expectations. Training helps establish common standards and reinforces the behaviours needed to support good governance and effective service delivery. When risk awareness becomes embedded throughout the organisation, employees are more likely to identify concerns early, learn from incidents and adapt successfully to change. This contributes directly to resilience and long-term organisational performance.
Key takeaway
LGR provides an opportunity not only to redesign organisational structures but also to strengthen organisational capability. The potential loss of experienced staff, the integration of different cultures and the increasing complexity of the risk landscape all highlight the importance of workforce development.
By investing in risk management training for leaders, managers and frontline employees, councils can preserve knowledge, improve decision-making, and build a stronger risk culture. Ultimately, the success of LGR will depend as much on the skills and behaviours of the workforce as it does on the design of the new organisation. In a period of significant change, rebuilding risk expertise is essential to achieving long-term resilience and success.