Consultation on Barnsley whole council (all-out) elections

We currently elect councillors in thirds and hold elections three in every four years. We're considering whether to move to whole council (all-out) elections where we elect all councillors at the same time once every four years. We're considering this because:

• it follows a recommendation from the Local Government Association Corporate Peer Challenge in December 2024, which suggests moving to all-out elections to enhance stability. This also reflects the move from other councils to whole council elections.
• as part of the Devolution White Paper, the government has proposed to change how local councils work through re-organisation. This means most councils should have a population of 500,000 people or more. Barnsley Council has around 250,000 people and we want to show that even though we're smaller, we manage our borough effectively and can continue to deliver quality services for our residents through strong and stable leadership.
• most councils now have whole council elections and Barnsley is out of step in this regard
• changing to whole council elections would mean that all seats on the council would be elected at the same time, once every four years. This would achieve an estimated saving of £1.2 million over the next seven years.
• there will be whole council elections in 2026 due to the new council's new ward boundaries so this would be the best time to make this change permanent

Our consultation will be open from 20 March to 2 May 2025. You can give us your views about whole council elections.