Government

Government bodies need to respond to the nation's biggest challenges, often quickly and under great pressure. We are here to help you effectively deliver policy initiatives and time-critical projects.

Government work is subject to unique levels of scrutiny and change. People working in this context need to keep pace with evolving legal, policy and transparency requirements while managing ever-increasing budgetary pressure to achieve more with less. We can help you balance these tensions.

With our in-depth knowledge of the sector and the legal landscape in the UK and beyond, we support the Government Legal Department, departmental policy teams and Cabinet Office advisers in achieving their goals. From renegotiating long-term contracts to springing into action
to stem a reputational issue, we know what to do.

Lot 1 CCS Supplier

We are a Lot 1 supplier to the CCS RM6179 Legal Services Panel. You can download a copy of our supplier prospectus here.

We have also been appointed to the CCS RM6240 Public Sector Legal Services Framework - Lot 1a (Full Service Provision) and Lot 2a (General Service Provision) for England and Wales. You can download a copy of our supplier prospectus here.

Our experience

We advised Supply Chain Coordination Limited and the Department of Health and Social Care on arrangements relating to vital NHS supplies.
We support Homes England’s role investing in supply and intervening in the market to help deliver 300,000 homes a year by the middle of the next decade.
We worked with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on the Radio Network Infrastructure Replacement Programme, supporting the procurement of critical national infrastructure that will enable all communication transmissions to and from ships at sea and HM Coastguard offices.
With the Ministry of Defence, we worked on availability contracts for fast jets and Tornado Aircraft, support contracts for ships and battlefield communications, outsourcing of facilities management and recruitment services, and complex PFI contract variations.
We supported the Department for Work and Pensions on its strategic estate management project, to deliver a future-fit, sustainable estate and are currently working with the DWP on its Health Transformation Programme relating to health assessments for the purposes of the benefits system.
We worked with the Cabinet Office, the Department of Health and Social Care and Government Legal Department on urgent procurements and contracts regarding the Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Did you know?

Procurement portal

We run the UK’s leading free to access resource on public procurement law at our procurement portal.

£5 billion+

We have recently acted for seven central government departments on projects with a total value of over £5 billion.

What our clients say about us?

“They are very pragmatic when dealing with [our suppliers] but ensure MoD's position is protected. They also proved themselves to be extremely agile and flexible and easy to communicate and work with - a quality which differentiates them from their competitors. ”

Ministry of Defence

“Your project lead has been absolutely fantastic throughout - responsive, calm, collected, friendly - always keeps a cool head in negotiations, brilliant at taking the lead and steering the conversation...”

Cabinet Office

“Mills & Reeve understood our appetite for risk very well. They always gave clear recommendations based on the balance of risks and outlined steps that could be taken to minimise them. ”

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

“We were looking for lawyers with not only the experience handling significant procurement projects but also lawyers who could help us vision and shape the project. Mils & Reeve delivered just that. Their overall approach, collaborative style and leadership added significant value. I would definitely recommend them. ”

Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education

Our clients

We work with over 40 central government departments and non-departmental public bodies, including:

British Council
Cabinet Office
Department for Education
Department of Health & Social Care
Department for Work and Pensions
GLD COVID-19 Cell
HM Land Registry
Homes England
Insolvency Service
Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Ministry of Defence
Public Health England

Our lawyers

We have over 125 lawyers working for government organisations, including specialists in key areas such as contracts and procurement,
projects, finance and banking, litigation, estates, employment and pensions and tax.

Our expertise

Local government
Public procurement

15 Jan 2025

10:00-11:00

Online

In-house in Focus: 2024 Contract Review Quiz

Mark Davison and Avneet Baryan will run an online interactive quiz about the significant contract law developments in 2024 as part of the In-house in Focus webinar series. Test your knowledge with our hypothetical scenarios and a discussion of the potential answers. There will...

23 Jan 2025

16:00-19:00

London

London HE discussion forum

Join us for our in-person London HE roundtable discussion focusing on the critical aspects of new OfS Condition E6 and its student and staff–related implications.

28 Jan 2025

10:00-10:30

Online