The Government Legal Department has used its 2026-27 Business Plan to set out where legal capacity will be directed across Whitehall over the next year. Published alongside GLD's Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, the document frames the department as an enabling part of government: less visible than spending ministries, but closely tied to the legislation, delegated powers and implementation work behind the government's main reform programme. According to the plan, GLD's 3,900 lawyers and legal professionals will support work ranging from the US/UK Economic Prosperity Deal to domestic reform on employment, housing, energy, transport, financial services and justice. The document presents legal support as part of the machinery required to turn ministerial priorities into legislation, commencement orders, guidance and defensible administrative decisions.
That matters because the plan is not simply a staffing document. It is also a practical guide to which measures are moving from policy commitment into drafting, scheme design, guidance, litigation risk and institutional change. In practice, GLD's workload often shows where policy has reached the point at which legal text, rather than ministerial announcement, determines what can be done and on what timetable. In accompanying remarks, Douglas Wilson KC (Hon) OBE, Treasury Solicitor and Permanent Secretary, said the department's task is to serve the elected government while supporting lawful and workable policy. The business plan places equal weight on rule-of-law advice and delivery support, reflecting GLD's role from Bill preparation through to implementation.
One of the heaviest items in the 2026-27 pipeline is the Employment Rights Act 2025. GLD says it is advising across government on implementation of one of the largest changes to employment law in decades, covering workers' rights, trade union recognition and fair pay, while also helping the Civil Service prepare for the operational changes the Act will require. For employers, unions and public bodies, that points to a next phase focused less on headline announcement and more on commencement, guidance, enforcement design and internal readiness. Departments will need legally robust approaches on workforce policy, regulator interaction and any changes that flow into public sector employment practice.
Housing and property law form a second major strand of the plan. GLD is supporting the government's target to build 1.5 million new homes, while also working on the Renters' Rights Act 2025 and the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. According to the business plan, the Bill would make commonhold the default tenure for new flats and prevent the creation of new leasehold flats, marking a substantial change in English property law. The consequences reach well beyond housing policy. Developers, lenders, conveyancers, managing agents and existing leaseholders would all need certainty on transition, consumer protections, dispute routes and the treatment of shared building responsibilities. For ministers, the legal question is whether reform can be drafted in a way that is workable in practice as well as defensible if challenged.
The plan also groups together several technically demanding measures outside the housing and labour fields. GLD is advising on the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which is intended to widen regulatory oversight and strengthen protection for essential public services and critical national infrastructure, and on the Financial Services Bill, where regulation of cryptocurrency markets and stablecoin arrangements will require alignment between domestic law, regulators and international standards. The document also refers to legal support for the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, showing that GLD's role extends beyond Bills into wider programme delivery. Transport and justice reforms sit in the same portfolio. GLD is supporting the Railways Bill to establish Great British Railways, alongside the Victims and Courts Bill, which the government says will strengthen protections for victims through new sentencing powers and an expanded role for the Victims' Commissioner. The department is also advising on implementation of the Mental Health Act 2025 and on finalisation of the US/UK Economic Prosperity Deal, showing the spread between domestic reform and international legal work.
Alongside policy delivery, the business plan sets out organisational changes inside GLD itself. The department says staff numbers outside London grew by 22% over the past year, with expansion in Leeds, Manchester and Bristol. In 2026-27 it plans to increase the number of senior staff based outside the capital, publish quarterly data on its geographic distribution and move its Bristol office to a new city-centre site. That regional shift is paired with internal modernisation. GLD says it will introduce new roles intended to free lawyers for complex and high-value work, replace its current case management system with a modern platform and invest in early talent and new career pathways into the profession. For client departments, the practical test will be whether those changes improve turnaround, resilience and specialist capacity.
The accompanying Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26 provides some of the baseline for judging whether the plan is credible. GLD describes itself as one of the largest legal organisations in the country, operating across London, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol and Croydon as well as client sites. It also reports that its staff engagement index reached 65% in 2025-26, six points higher than in 2022 and in line with the Civil Service average, while its litigation teams retained Lexcel accreditation. This year is the final year of GLD's 2024 to 2027 strategy, so the 2026-27 plan functions as both a delivery document and a test of institutional capacity. If the programme stays on track, the department's influence will be seen not through public profile but through whether employment reform, housing legislation, cyber regulation, rail restructuring and justice measures move from statute into workable administration.