Local government legal departments are braced for a double whammy of budget cuts and an increase in workload, exclusive research for the Gazette has revealed.

The study also found that 61% of departments are considering reducing their use of external advisers.

The Gazette survey, which received responses from 75 local government heads of legal, showed that two-thirds expect to have their budgets reduced in the year ahead, compared to just 30% last year. The proportion anticipating a budget increase shrank to 5%, compared to 16% in 2009.

Legal departments are also expecting job cuts, with 40% of respondents predicting a fall in headcount, while only 7% expect a rise.

However, local government heads of legal said their departments’ workloads were due to increase, particularly in the areas of: employment; procurement; children’s services; and data security/freedom of information.

Although most respondents said they were confident that the legal department could continue to meet the council’s needs at present, a significant minority of 14% said they were concerned about their ability to cope in the next 12 months. One head of legal said: ‘The volume of work is increasing, with unrealistic expectations on turnaround, which cannot be met with existing, let alone diminishing, resources.’

Another said: ‘Any further cuts would lead to the retention of an in-house service being unviable.’

In tackling the challenges ahead, 78% of respondents identified developing shared legal services with other councils as one of the top five methods they would use to reduce costs.

Some 61% said cutting the use of external advisers would be one of the top five methods.

The research was carried out for the Gazette by HB Editorial.

The full results can be found in the Gazette’s Local Government 2010 supplement this week. Download a free copy at www.lawgazette.co.uk/supplements.