Local authorities are overwhelmingly in favour of requiring monitoring officers to be legally qualified, a recent consultation by Solicitors in Local Government (SLG) and the Law Society has revealed.

Some 70% of the 60 local authorities who responded to the consultation wanted monitoring officers, who are responsible for reporting contraventions of the law and cases of maladministration and injustice, to be legally qualified. Some respondents suggested the roles of monitoring officer and chief legal officer should be combined. Those opposed to the change said there was no evidence that the current arrangements were failing, and non-lawyer monitoring officers had ready access to legal support and advice from the authorities’ legal teams.

SLG vice-chairman Stephen Turner said aspects of the monitoring role had become ‘almost judicial’.