There is already enough for leaders and chief executives to worry about – from children's services to the financial settlement, from funding social care to managing devolution bids – without having to lose another hour's sleep over the EU referendum. Nonetheless, the timescale, the logistics of organising it and the timing pose potential headaches for officers and councillors.

A referendum in June this year – which looks likely, though it could be any time before the end of 2017 – will be a massive diversion from a whole raft of crucial elections on 5 May including local, Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland. If the EU poll is early to mid-June, then the public awareness campaign, scheduled to start six weeks beforehand, could begin before the other elections have taken place.