Increasing Number Of Councils Outsourcing
Gloucester City Council has announced that it has outsourced revenues and benefits
services to third-party provider Civica, in a deal it claims will save around 220,000 per year whilst also creating freelance jobs.The Guardian reports that Civica will supply administrative functions to the local authority for the next seven years, as well as bidding for contracts with other councils to be provided through the firms service centre in Gloucester.
This is good news for the council and the local economy, because anything that brings jobs to Gloucester is good news, said Cllr Debbie Llewellyn, performance and resources cabinet member on Gloucester City Council. It's very pleasing to be setting up a service centre with the potential to increase its contribution to the local economy and local jobs, with many companies likely to be looking to find a freelancer.
Whilst 67 of the councils employees have been transferred to Civica under the terms of the deal, Cllr Llewellyn insisted there would be no redundancies. Gloucester is currently conducting a wider review into how it runs its administrative functions and corporate support services.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Capita and Serco had been shortlisted for a Ministry of Defence recruitment contract.
Gloucester City Council arent the only ones benefitting from outsourcing, as Edinburgh City Council is reportedly set to outsource its waste and cleaning services to a third-party provider, in the hope they too will reap benefits from the concept.
According to the Scotsman, the local authority is poised to hand the contract to Lancashire-based firm Enterprise, owned by private equity firm 3i. The company announced earlier this year it had sold its debt to a consortium of financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, Angelo Gordon and KKR.
In these challenging times its essential that the council critically examines every opportunity to enhance services and improve efficiency, said council leader Jenny Dawe. Thats why we embarked on a detailed exploration of alternative models of business for the council to engage in.
Councillors will meet on Thursday to discuss the proposals, which the local authority hopes will provide savings of 71.6m. Enterprise recently agreed a 23-year contract to provide environmental and facilities management for Peterborough Council.
Last week, Cabinet Office Minister and Paymaster General Francis Maude called on local authorities to find more efficient ways of delivering functions, citing the need to save money in the current financial climate.
Whilst many local authorities have found that outsourcing works for them, Bournemouth Borough Council has been quick to insist that its relationship with third-party provider Mouchel has remained unaffected by the firms recent problems.
A 4m accounting error wiped one-third off Mouchels share price and forced Chief Executive Richard Cuthbert to resign, but Cllr John Beesley, Deputy Leader of the Tory-run local authority, told the Bournemouth Echo that public services would not be impacted.
The contract with Mouchel is one that prepares for every eventuality and if something happens with Mouchel, for example theyre taken over, were very clear about the continuity of service provision, he said. As far as were concerned our relationship with Mouchel is business as usual.
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