Council chiefs have urged Whitehall to be ready to ease pressures on the sector for up to six months if Brexit threatens to stretch capacity.
Representative groups are understood to have suggested temporarily halting all-but-essential business – including routine Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections - to ensure the sector can cope.
The message has been relayed to Whitehall by the Local Government Association (LGA) and the nine council chief executives selected by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to advise the department on the state of Brexit preparedness.
Smith Square has said councils are prepared as they can be for Brexit but fears have been expressed privately that the sector could struggle to cope in the case of a no-deal Brexit or if an agreement leads to immediate and unexpected new burdens.
