Bucks Council spends £10m of taxpayers’ money on legal fees despite service cuts

The authority has already spent at least £1.2 million on bought-in legal advice during the current financial year from April.

However, the figure is likely to be far higher because the data for November to March is yet to be published.

The numbers are taken from monthly reports of council spending over £500, which are available to download from its website.

Since being established in 2020, the council has spent more than £9.7 million on legal fees, although the true cost is expected to be higher.

Last year alone, the authority racked up legal bills of £2 million, with £3.3 million in 2022/23, £1.9 million in 2021/22 and £1.2 million in 2020/21.

The fees regularly include paying for an advocate in court, such as for tribunals or public inquiries, which is not unusual within such a large public sector organisation providing many different services.

However, the figures show the council is continuing to spend eyewatering sums on legal fees even as it plans to make huge savings in other areas.

These include proposals to make some librarians redundant under plans to widen ‘self-service’ in libraries, as well as the planned closures of some day centres for adults with disabilities and special needs.

Independent councillor Stuart Wilson, who leads the Impact alliance group on the council, said he accepted the council’s need for external legal support but said he and others had previously questioned the ‘significant rise in legal costs, particularly in children’s and adults social care cases’.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “These are obviously very sensitive matters where those impacted must come first.

“Parents and carers have said to me that they feel tribunals are often the only way of securing the necessary support for their loved ones as policies and budgets are tightened.”

The councillor also said it would ‘clearly be a false economy to spend money in legal fees to deliver savings elsewhere’.

He added: “Developers are also aggressively appealing planning and enforcement decisions which must be defended vigorously with legal and other expert advice.”

The council’s accessible housing and resources department has been one of the biggest users of external legal advice over the years, with others including planning, regeneration and transport.

However, most entries only list ‘deputy chief executive’ as the department, due to the directorate being home to the council’s legal services team.

The identities of the legal companies are equally opaque, with their names redacted from the data in most cases.

However, entries from 2024 show that the firms counting the council as a client include Buckles Solicitors, Gordons Commercial Lawyers and Verden Forensics.

The council has defended the millions it shells out on legal advice, pointing out it is one of the largest unitary councils in the country, with a £1 billion turnover.

John Chilver, the council’s cabinet member for accessible housing and resources, claimed the council was not unusual in requiring advice on contracts, procurement, property and employment.

He said: “Because of the numerous and varied services we deliver, lawyers act on behalf of the council and our residents in a number of ways.

“This could be acting in a child protection case, providing advice on a planning appeal, taking a fly-tipper to court, prosecuting a business on environmental health grounds or taking legal action against a rogue landlord.”

Councillor Chilver said the council’s internal team undertakes much of its legal work, ‘only seeking external advice where necessary’ and ensuring advice provided is ‘cost effective and value for money’.

He added: “Our spend on legal fees is comparable to other organisations of our size and any external legal work is procured by our inhouse legal team to ensure work is only outsourced if it cannot be undertaken in house.

“Obviously at a time of such budget pressures we know our residents do not want the council to incur unnecessary legal costs and I want to assure residents that we do not enter into legal action lightly and consider every single case on merits in terms of whether it’s in our residents’ best interests.

“We also work very hard to recoup legal fees where this avenue is open to us.”