Lancashire County Council are next on Reform UK's list for a major crackdown on spending
Nigel Farage has been outlining his DOGE-style units - which will go into multiple councils they now control and look to cut spending
Lancashire County Council has been given a hint of what to expect from the self-styled ‘DOGE’ team that Reform UK is sending in to assess the authority’s finances.
It is to become the second of the councils the party controls to receive a visit from the unit, which is based on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency within the Trump administration in the United States.
A letter sent from the leader of Kent County Council – whose DOGE assessment is already under way – to “whom it may concern” at the authority, sets out what will be analysed as part of the process.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands similar correspondence will be issued to the chief executives of all 10 Reform-run authorities ahead of their DOGE visits – although there may be tweaks to the contents made by each individual leader.
The Kent letter, published on X by Reform chair Zia Yusuf, states that the scope of the DOGE review – to be carried out by a group of what the party describes as “software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors” – will include, but not be limited to:
***contractual arrangements with suppliers and consultants;
***all capital expenditure;
***use of framework agreements and direct awards;
***any off-book or contingent liabilities;
***use of reserves and financial resilience;
***any audit flags raised by internal or external auditors in the last three years.
During the local election campaign, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage regularly derided Lancashire County Council in the national media for spending £520,000 on a four-year contract to provide its staff with “ergonomic chairs”.
However, in their analysis of the ‘value for money’ offered by the authority, external auditors Grant Thornton – who inspect the county council’s books and processes every year as required by law – concluded in their most recent assessment, of the 2023/24 financial year, that they had been “able to satisfy ourselves that the council has made proper arrangements in securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in its use of resources”.
The £1.2bn net budget set by the previous Conservative administration in February for 2025/26 required a transfer from reserves of just £1.5m. The authority’s core reserves stood at £188.8m at the end of March and were assessed by its finance bosses as being sufficient to maintain the county council as “a going concern” in the medium term.
Nevertheless, new County Hall leader Stephen Atkinson highlighted the failure to make previously planned savings of £51m in recent years – which have had to be rolled over and added to those required over the next two years in order to balance the books. That meant the authority already had a savings target through to March 2027 of £103m – even before Reform took control.
County Cllr Atkinson also criticised the approximate £100,000-per-day interest bill generated by the county council’s £1.2bn of debt, accrued on non-day-to-day spending – such as acquiring and maintaining assets, like schools and roads.
The Kent County Council leader’s letter – also signed by Nigel Farage and Zia Yusuf – advises the authority’s senior officers that the DOGE team is “subject to strict duties of confidentiality” and “bound by data protection obligations and professional standards”.
However, it warns that if they were to “resist this request”, Reform would “pass a council motion to compel the same”. The party said it will “consider any obstruction of our councillors’ duties to be gross misconduct”, adding: “We trust this will not be required.”
It is not known whether such a strident tone will also be adopted in Lancashire. The LDRS has sought to clarify whether Lancashire County Council chief executive Mark Wynn has received the same or a differently-worded letter – or, indeed, any correspondence at all at this stage.
County Cllr Atkinson said in a statement after it was announced on Monday evening that Lancashire was to receive a DOGE visit: “Residents gave us an overwhelming mandate to
root out waste and reinvest in frontline local services. I’m excited to see how this unit can deliver for the people of Lancashire.”
Opposite politicians in Lancashire have branded the DOGE visit, variously, undemocratic and unnecessary.
Zia Yusuf told The Telegraph newspaper on Sunday “For too long, British taxpayers have watched their money vanish into a black hole. Their taxes keep going up, their bin collections keep getting less frequent, potholes remain unfixed, their local services keep getting cut.
“Reform won a historic victory on a mandate to change this. As promised, we have created a UK Doge to identify and cut wasteful spending of taxpayer money. Our team will use cutting edge technology and deliver real value for voters.”