Local Authority Trading Companies

Experience in your sector

Increasingly, we are seeing local authorities establish limited companies to provide services such as housing development, regeneration initiatives and social care. This trend is emerging as some enterprising local authorities explore innovative ways of delivering services in a spirit of municipal entrepreneurship.

The intention is that, freed from the traditional constraints and bureaucracy of local authority control, these companies will have a more commercial focus and, ultimately, deliver efficiencies and additional income.

They are free to operate as commercial companies but remain wholly owned by the parent local authority.

The primary advantage of an LATC is that as a trading company, they can provide their services to a much wider market than a council department – and, crucially, they can generate income, to be ploughed back into the LATC itself or the council as a whole.

It would be pointless for these enterprising ventures to simply adopt the burden of council bureaucracy they were set up to escape.

Bridgehouse Company Secretaries can help LATCs navigate council policies and develop their own commercially-focused articles of association, policies and procedures and governance framework.

Company secretarial services for LATCs include:

• Acting as LATC Company Secretary
• Board meeting support including preparation of agendas, minute-taking and distribution of board packs
• Drafting policies such as corporate hospitality, expenses, anti-bribery policy and code of conduct and wording for directors’ handbooks.
• Annual compliance services such as preparing and filing returns and accounts, maintaining the company’s statutory registers and filing any legal changes with the relevant regulatory authority.
• Companies House filings
• Data protection advice and support on any aspect of compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation and the development of a data protection policy.
• Trademark services covering all aspects of trademark registration in the UK, EU or US and subsequent administration.

If you’re considering setting up a local authority trading company, talk to us about how we can help.