Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is advising some of its own councillors to avoid making major changes during their first 100 days in office, despite the party leader promising to overhaul the British government at unprecedented speed if he becomes prime minister.
Internal guidance obtained by The Independent tells Reform councillors responsible for adult social care to concentrate on understanding how local services operate, building relationships with officials and asking questions before attempting substantial reforms.
The document presents a striking contrast with Farage’s national campaign, which has been built around a promise to deliver sweeping political changes within the first 100 days of a Reform government.
At the party’s conference in September, Farage said he would declare a national emergency, cancel parliamentary recesses and potentially keep MPs working around the clock to pass legislation.
He also promised to remove civil servants who resisted his government’s agenda.
But the leaked advice to Reform’s elected representatives adopts a considerably more cautious approach, warning that rushing into major decisions before understanding the responsibilities involved could undermine their effectiveness.
Reform’s own guidance tells councillors not to rush
The document, titled Leading Adult Social Care: A Practical Guide for Reform UK Cabinet Members, was written by Diane Morton, chair of Reform’s adult social care network.
Morton previously served as the cabinet member responsible for adult social care and public health at Kent County Council.
Dated August 2026, the guidance was produced just weeks before Farage outlined his first 100 days programme at Reform’s Birmingham conference on 4 September.
It advises newly appointed councillors with responsibility for adult social care to spend their initial months familiarising themselves with services rather than attempting immediate structural changes.
“Don’t rush into big changes,” the document states.
Councillors are encouraged to understand the financial and operational pressures facing their departments, meet the people responsible for delivering services and develop working relationships with experienced local government officers.
The guidance also recommends that councillors listen more than they speak and resist the temptation to arrive with ready-made solutions before establishing what problems actually need addressing.
Far from depicting council officials as obstacles to political reform, it emphasises the importance of developing trust and maintaining productive working relationships.
The practical advice is hardly controversial in itself.
Adult social care is one of the most expensive and complicated responsibilities facing local authorities, involving the support of older people, disabled adults and residents with complex care needs.
Decisions can affect vulnerable people’s safety, their independence and the financial stability of councils already struggling to meet growing demand.
Understanding those responsibilities before introducing substantial reforms could reasonably be regarded as good management.
What makes the document politically significant is how sharply its approach differs from the message Reform is selling nationally.
Farage promises a national emergency and sweeping changes
At Reform’s September conference, Farage made his proposed first 100 days in government the centrepiece of the party’s electoral pitch.
The party leader promised an administration that would immediately begin implementing major changes to public spending, immigration policy and the machinery of government.
He said a Reform government would declare a national emergency and cancel parliamentary recesses to ensure its programme could pass through Parliament as quickly as possible.
Farage even suggested that MPs could be required to sit for extended periods, potentially through the night, if that was necessary to push legislation through.
The proposals formed part of his argument that Britain had become trapped by political institutions incapable of delivering meaningful change.
Reform also introduced the idea of individual pledges for senior ministers, who would be expected to meet specific targets within their first 100 days or face dismissal.
Farage described the arrangements as a way of ensuring that ministers were personally accountable for delivering their promises.
One of the most ambitious commitments came from Robert Jenrick, the party’s Treasury spokesman, who pledged to identify £100 billion in spending reductions and offered to resign if he failed to deliver the promised tax changes.
Those commitments would involve extraordinarily complex decisions about public finances, government departments and the provision of services.
Yet Reform’s own guidance for councillors responsible for adult social care suggests that the first priority when assuming responsibility for a major public service should be understanding how it works.
One approach to council officers, another to Whitehall
The most obvious contradiction concerns Reform’s attitude towards public officials.
At local government level, the leaked document encourages councillors to establish relationships with experienced officers and recognise the value of their knowledge.
The advice reflects a basic reality of council administration: elected politicians set priorities, but professional officers provide operational expertise and ensure that decisions comply with legal and financial obligations.
In central government, however, Farage has adopted a much more confrontational approach.
He has promised that civil servants who obstruct Reform’s programme would be removed and replaced with people recruited from outside government, including business.
The distinction raises questions about whether Farage regards the expertise of public servants as an essential part of effective administration or an obstacle to the changes he wants to deliver.
There are differences between taking responsibility for adult social care at a council and assuming control of a national government.
A newly appointed council cabinet member may have different powers, responsibilities and opportunities for reform from a prime minister or senior government minister.
But both roles involve complex public services, statutory obligations, financial constraints and officials whose knowledge can be essential to delivering political commitments.
Reform’s local guidance appears to recognise those practical limitations more openly than the party’s national rhetoric.
Former councillors have complained about a lack of change
The leaked document also arrives amid questions about Reform’s performance in local government.
The party secured a major breakthrough in the May 2025 local elections, winning control of several councils and presenting its new administrations as an opportunity to demonstrate how it would govern nationally.
Farage and his allies promised to eliminate wasteful spending, challenge established council practices and make rapid improvements to local services.
Some Reform-led councils subsequently announced savings programmes, environmental policy reversals and changes to council administration.
Kent County Council, one of the party’s most prominent local authorities, claimed millions of pounds in savings during its first 100 days, although opposition councillors disputed aspects of those figures.
Reform has also experienced internal difficulties as some elected representatives have left the party or criticised decisions taken by its local leadership.
In May, The Independent reported that 68 councillors had departed Reform over the preceding year, through resignations, defections and other circumstances.
Former Durham councillor Nick Brown complained that the party had failed to deliver the transformation promised to voters.
Brown said he had expected meaningful changes after Reform took control locally, but believed councillors were increasingly expected to follow instructions from the party leadership rather than act independently.
His criticisms are not proof that Reform’s wider local government programme has failed, particularly as councils inherited existing budgets, contracts and legal obligations.
They do, however, illustrate the difficulty of reconciling ambitious political promises with the practical responsibilities of running public services.
New revelations follow ITV’s undercover investigation
The dispute over Reform’s internal guidance follows another difficult week for the party.
An ITV undercover investigation recently exposed racist and extremist remarks made by some Reform members, councillors and prospective candidates.
Several people featured in the investigation were subsequently suspended or resigned, while the revelations renewed questions about candidate vetting and the party’s internal culture.
The programme also captured individuals discussing how they presented themselves to voters and the extent to which their intentions should be disclosed before an election.
That material has added to concerns about the gap between Reform’s public campaigning and the conduct of some people operating within the party.
However, the leaked adult social care guidance should be distinguished from those controversies.
Its central recommendation is that newly elected councillors exercise caution when taking responsibility for vulnerable people’s care.
There is no evidence that this particular document was intended to conceal policy plans from voters or encourage councillors to avoid fulfilling election promises.
Instead, it illustrates a tension between the practical advice given to people already in office and the language used by party leaders seeking to win national power.
Reform insists it will deliver its promises
Reform has rejected suggestions that the leaked guidance undermines its national programme.
A party spokesperson said its commitment to major changes during the first 100 days of a Reform government remained in place.
The spokesperson also insisted that councillors who had made specific commitments to their local electorates would be expected to deliver them.
Reform argues that the party provides guidance and support to help elected representatives fulfil their responsibilities effectively.
That response leaves an important distinction between the two approaches.
The guidance encourages social care cabinet members to understand services before changing them, but it does not explicitly instruct councillors to abandon manifesto commitments or delay every decision for three months.
Farage’s national proposals, meanwhile, concern a much wider range of powers and policies than those available to individual local government cabinet members.
The question is whether the caution recommended for local public services would also be appropriate when pursuing more sweeping changes across Whitehall.
Two very different versions of Reform’s first 100 days
Farage has made speed and disruption central to his argument that Reform offers something fundamentally different from the Conservatives and Labour.
His proposed first 100 days are intended to demonstrate that a government willing to confront established institutions could deliver changes that other parties have failed to achieve.
But the party’s own guidance for adult social care suggests that governing requires a different set of skills from campaigning.
It asks councillors to develop knowledge, understand budgets, build trust and work constructively with the people already responsible for delivering services.
Those are principles that would be familiar to politicians across local government, regardless of party affiliation.
They also invite an awkward comparison with Farage’s promise to move rapidly against civil servants considered resistant to his programme.
Reform maintains that its national commitments will be delivered and that councillors are expected to honour the promises they make to voters.
Yet the August document gives those responsible for adult social care a markedly different instruction from the urgency demanded at the party’s September conference.
Before attempting major changes, Reform’s own guidance tells them to spend their first 100 days learning how the system works.
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