The title of a 1961 musical, Stop the World - I Want to Get Off, can convey the relentless nature of organisational culture and operations. In local government, the pace of events and artillery of pressing demands can often be so unceasing that it feels that (as poet, William Henry Davies, put it): ‘We have no time to stand and stare.’
But such time for reflection is vital. Local authorities are statutory creatures requiring express or implied statutory authority for all decisions. Authorities must also manage public resources prudently. But in the heat of daily battle, these obligations can easily be overlooked. And particularly if elected members are pressing for outcomes (perhaps already promised to constituents) which, with sufficient time and space for reflection, would be recognised as imprudent, unwise or simply wrong. As Lord Diplock pointed out in Bromley London Borough Council v Greater London Council [1983] 1 AC 768: ‘It is well established… that a local authority owes a fiduciary duty to the ratepayers from whom it obtains moneys needed to carry out its statutory functions, and that this includes a duty not to expend those moneys thriftlessly but to deploy the full financial resources available to it to the best advantage.’
Three statutory roles are designed to ensure that local authority corporate governance is effectively managed and coordinated. So (by the Local Government and Housing Act 1989) every relevant authority must appoint: (i) a properly resourced officer, as ‘head of their paid service’, (often called chief executive), who will, when considered appropriate, report on: the discharge coordination of different authority functions, staff appointment, numbers, and organisation and management of staff; (ii) a separate monitoring officer position to report formally on any breach of law or maladministration finding; and (iii) (under section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972) an officer (often known as the chief financial officer (CFO)), responsible for the proper administration of the authority’s financial affairs. The CFO has additional responsibilities under section 114 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 to report formally on any prospective authority decision involving unlawful expenditure or likely to cause a loss or deficiency or the proposed unlawful entry of an item of account.
The Code of Practice on Good Governance (Good Governance Code) for local authority statutory officers issued in June 2024 by their three professional associations ( the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives; the Chartered institute of Public Finance and Accountancy; and Lawyers in Local Government), aims to enable these officers to work effectively together ‘in what is known as the golden triangle to best advise their authority, implement its decisions, and help achieve good outcomes’. It indicates that ‘these three roles are senior, critical, and influential positions within a local authority, and have collective responsibility for governance’.
However, in practice, there has sometimes been disjunction and division between the three statutory officers involving (among other things) ‘dark arts’ undermining of key corporate monitoring officer advice. So, supplementing the Good Governance Code, on 11 August 2025, the associations issued The Golden Triangle: Governance Roles and Responsibilities (the paper). This gives ‘a quick guide’ to each of the three key roles and indicates how, working together, they should contribute to the sound corporate governance of their authority, advising impartially and with integrity. It points out that: ‘Crucially, all of these officers work on behalf of, and under the authority of, the whole council – not just the administration – and operate within various legal and assurance frameworks as set out in legislation and by regulators.’ They consequently must: lead ethically; act wisely and effectively; understand governance; build resilience; deliver sound decision- making; and properly resource the discharge of their roles and responsibilities. Each of these keyword headings is unpacked with explanatory bullet points. So, the monitoring officer is (among other things) responsible for ‘ensuring lawfulness and fairness in the operation of the local authority’s decision-making process’. This includes advising councillors and officers on governance, propriety and legality, developing training programmes on ethical standards, fostering a culture of integrity and, importantly, collaborating with the chief executive and chief finance officer on governance issues.
But as the paper points out: ‘Beyond these formal functions, these statutory officers contribute to a local authority’s effective organisational culture through their managerial and leadership roles. They are a crucial element in managing internal relationships and cross-departmental working, all of which are key to supporting effective governance and, in turn, operation of the organisation.’ This is an important point. If organisational culture generated at senior member and officer levels views corporate governance as a nuisance barrier to achieving key political objectives, the authority risks falling into serious and damaging error. And unless the statutory officers operate in harmony, it can be testing for monitoring officers swimming against a hostile tide.
The paper therefore reminds readers that: ‘Due to [statutory officers’] unique position within local authorities, particularly in the governance of the organisation, they have “statutory protection” to ensure they have the necessary authority to perform their roles.’ This ensures their ability to advise the whole council and discharge their full duties to the best of their abilities. This protection is necessary to provide the neutrality, adaptability and expertise their roles require.
The paper (read with the Good Governance Code) should help local government at all levels to understand what their authorities should be doing and how best to collaborate effectively with key corporate colleagues. For, a choir that sings discordantly is no choir at all.
Nicholas Dobson writes on local government, public law and governance
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