North Somerset Council saves millions by privatising some services

This is the team leader who is going to save North Somerset Council taxpayers millions of pounds - and his company takes over this week.

Agilisys Limited was awarded the 10-year contract for the delivery of a number of support services at a full council meeting in August.

Services to be run by Agilisys, together with its sub-contractor partner Liberata, include revenues and benefits; ICT; contact centre; and payroll.

The contract starts on Friday, October 1.

The council says there will be no ‘net’ job losses and in fact more than 200 new jobs will created over the next four years.

And according to the council the contract will mean budget savings of more than £13.6 million, with the majority of these being delivered by 2014-15.

But with local authorities being asked to make up to 40 per cent cuts by the new coalition government Nailsea community tax payers cannot expect a rebate although there are promises to peg charges.

Council leader Nigel Ashton said: "We are ahead of the game doing this and many more councils will follow us along this path in the months to come as they are forced to make savings of between 25 and 40 per cent.

“Because we have taken action to approach the market early to explore the most cost-effective way of delivering some of our services, we have achieved a really good deal.

"An important aspect of this contract award is that Agilisys will only be paid once the benefits have been realised.

“They will be making significant investment of around £4 million in programmes to replace the financial management system and also in a system to manage electronic data and records.

"I hope we can also dispel the myth that outsourcing means the loss of jobs - I am quite clear that awarding this contract will lead to no net loss of jobs.

“This deal will save taxpayers millions of pounds while at the same time helping to safeguard jobs and services in North Somerset."

Agilisys chief executive officer Kay Andrews said: "We are delighted to have been appointed as North Somerset’s strategic partner, and our team is already in place and starting work.

"We have a very strong track record of delivering innovation and transformation in local government, which in turn reduces costs and improves customer services.

“This is critical in the current economic climate and we look forward to working with North Somerset to deliver our joint vision and make a meaningful impact on the council and its residents."

The support services affected are ICT; some HR and finance functions; payroll; revenues and benefits; contact centre; procurement and business improvement; facilities management and the print unit.

All these services (apart from revenues and benefits) will transfer to Agilisys on October 1 with revenues and benefits due to transfer on May 1 2011.

The annual cost of these services together with the provision of a financial management system is £10.38 million.

A North Somerset spokesman confirmed that current district council employees who will work for the new company will still be based at Weston town hall and also at the Castlewood building at Clevedon.