Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Local authority definition

What does Local authority mean? In legal practice, a local authority is the elected council that provides local government for a defined area, exercising statutory functions including planning, housing, social care, education, highways, environmental health, licensing, and the collection of council tax or rates. The expression appears widely in legislation and case law; its precise scope is set by the relevant statute. England: county councils and district councils (including metropolitan boroughs), unitary authorities, London Boroughs and the Common Council of the City of London; parish and town councils are local authorities at the most local tier. Wales: unitary county and county borough councils. Scotland: the...

Children in Need in England: Local Authority Duties, Assessments under Children Act 1989 ss 17 and 47, Service Provision (including NRPF), and Judicial Review

Published by a LexisNexis Local Government expert

Practice notes

Please note that this Practice Note reflects the law currently in force in England as it stands. In Wales, this subject area is governed by the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 together with the related statutory instruments.

General duties of the Local authority

In each local authority area, the safeguarding partners are namely:

the local authority
integrated care boards, any part of which falls within the local authority area
the chief officer of police for a police area, any part of which falls within the local authority area

These partners are required to put in place arrangements for themselves and relevant agencies to collaborate in exercising their functions, with the clear aim of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children within the area.

All partners and agencies identified in the Child Safeguarding Practice Review and Relevant Agency (England) Regulations 2018, SI 2018/789 (broadly, education and childcare, health and social care providers, housing, health, criminal justice and police) should be fully aware of, and comply in full with, the published arrangements issued by the local safeguarding partners, and maintain processes for sharing information. See Practice Note: Safeguarding children...

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Jill Morgan

Jill Morgan is a Chartered Legal Executive and the founder of Clear and Credible Ltd, a content writing and copywriting business, specialising in law, local government and social welfare. Jill has specialised in housing law for a number of years, particularly homelessness and possession proceedings. She has a keen interest in social welfare law and associated issues and has contributed to a number of published texts. Jill’s practice extends across all aspects of local government law, including governance, planning, licensing, environmental health, property, housing and commercial contract. In her role as Deputy Monitoring Officer, she was heavily involved in governance arrangements and standards matters. Jill managed the local authority’s licensing team for a number of years and has a wealth of experience in advising at committees, sub-committees and contested hearings. In addition to contributing to the legal practice notes below, Jill has prepared numerous court digests and...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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