Sefton Council awards two new contracts as part of major services review

Aug 7 2008 by Clifford Birchall, Formby Times

SEFTON Councillors have agreed to award contracts to Capita Symonds and arvato Services as part of their major service review exercise.

The companies will be responsible for services in:

Lot A: Technical Services (Capita Symonds)

l Architecture and quantity surveying

l Building maintenance and mechanical electrical design

l Engineering design

l Estate management

l Highways management and street lighting

l Drainage

l Energy management

Lot B: Finance and Information Services (arvato Services)

l Revenue services including council tax, business rates and general income

l Benefits services

l Finance and support services to schools

l Contact and call centres

l Benefit fraud investigation

l Payroll and human resources

l Information services

The MSR exercise has been underway for the last 12-18 months and had five key objectives to meet:

1. Achieve significant revenue savings and reduce current expenditure

2. Achieve national top quartile performance

3. Provide job security and protect terms and conditions for transferring staff

4. Ensure any work transferred stays within Sefton

5. Bring in capital investment which would not otherwise be available to the council and create local employment opportunities

In their bids both Capita Symonds and arvato Services have been able to satisfy councillors and officers they meet all of the objectives.

Benefits

SEFTON Council leader Councillor Tony Robertson said: “Our residents will now benefit from continuous improvements to the services while council tax will be able to be kept as low as possible.”

Conservative Group leader Councillor Paula Parry said: “Entering into these partnerships allows us to continue driving down costs while securing employment and bringing added inward investment to the borough which otherwise would simply not be possible.”

Labour Group leader Councillor Peter Dowd added: “By entering into these partnerships we are ensuring we are able to continue providing the best possible services for residents while keeping up the high standards that made us a four-star authority.”

Achievement

MANAGING Director of Capita Symonds, Jonathan Goring said: “This is yet another major achievement for Capita Symonds and reinforces our track record of improving services and creating jobs through strategic partnerships with local authorities across the UK.”

Rainer Majcen, managing director of arvato Services, said it would deliver first class public services by achieving shared goals of increasing quality and efficiency of services to provide real benefits to residents and businesses while reducing costs.

The contacts will go-live on October 1, 2008.