Government Legal Department to pursue plans to become “A National GLD”

The Government Legal Department (GLD) has reiterated its plans to increase its footprint outside of London as part of meeting the Government’s Places for Growth programme.

In its annual report and accounts for 2023-24, the GLD said: “We want our people to be able to work effectively and efficiently from any location across a state-of-the art national estate.

"We aspire to achieve a common culture where any role can be performed from any location. We will ensure the hybrid working experience is positive both in terms of office environment, technology and culture and there is parity across all our offices.”

According to the report, the GLD employs around 2,600 lawyers and paralegals and has offices in 19 different locations across the United Kingdom.

Employees work out of bases at Three New Bailey in Salford (78), Wellington Place in Leeds (221), Rivergate in Bristol (104), and One Ruskin Square in Croydon (68). This means that 12.3% of the department's workforce is based outside London and the South East.

The GLD said this marked a "significant increase" in the percentage of colleagues working outside London and the South East over the last four years.

In the annual report, the department also declared a continued commitment to implementing hybrid working, detailed the most time-consuming projects it worked on—including advising the Government on judicial reviews brought by councils—and revealed that its total operating costs have increased 13%, mainly due to staffing costs.

On its finances, the GLD reported that its total operating income (excluding disbursement income) for the year was £298.3m, up from £264.6m in 2022-23, a 13% increase.

The department's administration costs (excluding disbursements) meanwhile were £285.7m this year, up 14% on 2022-23. The majority of this increase was related to increased staff costs, the report said.

Finally, it reported that the net operating income for the year was £8.3m, down from £10.7m in 2022-23.

The report also highlighted the work the department completed in 2023-24 in a number of areas, including on the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act.

Commenting on the Act, it said: "This was an enormous project for GLD and a prime example of close cross-GLD working. The range and remit of the Act is vast and the Bill grew by 60% from 338 pages at introduction to 538 pages at Royal Assent.”

Given the size of the documents, the Act and implementing subordinate legislation "has been a significant and wide-ranging project involving more than 35 lawyers across multiple [Government] departments," the report noted.

It also highlighted work on assisting the Government with legal challenges launched by councils and local residents over the Home Office's plans to accommodate asylum seekers at RAF Scampton and Wethersfield Airfield.

Opposition to the plans culminated in a series of applications for judicial review brought by Braintree District Council and West Lindsey District Council.

Some councils also sought urgent injunctions seeking to stop the Home Office from using sites pending the litigation.

The report said: "GLD's specialist planning litigation team supported the Home Office in successfully resisting the injunction applications, including on appeal to the Court of Appeal.

"Beyond the injunction applications, GLD lawyers also helped the Home Office resist attempts to apply for judicial review of the underlying decisions, where the focus was on the lawfulness of using the sites in terms of planning, environmental and other public law considerations, although some cases remain live before the High Court and Court of Appeal."

Elsewhere in the report, the GLD detailed the implementation of legal technology across its offices, including completing the rollout of 'Lawmaker,' a browser-based legislation drafting and checking tool developed by The National Archives.

It also said it modernised its corporate services by updating technology infrastructure, software, and support—including deploying Office 365 tools to upskill staff on technology use—and embedding new governance, portfolio management, and performance systems.

The report said: "Improvements in our technology are an essential component of our new strategy and will ensure that we can work smoothly as one GLD on an effective and interoperable system. Improving our systems and processes to manage our legal practice will be key. We need to optimise our use of technology and ensure we exploit opportunities to improve how we deliver our services."

Adam Carey