Southampton City Councilhas signed
aten-year partnership deal with Capitathat willoutsourceIT and
other services.
The council will not reveal how much the contract is worth, but
in March, when Capita was selected as preferred bidder, it was
worth £290m.
The contract was awarded at the end of a three-year tendering
process and councillors finally agreed on the deal at a meeting
earlier this month. The plan caused controversy in the past after
the Labour group accused the company of bumping up prices by
insisting other services - in addition to IT - had to be included
in the package. They would have cancelled the deal if they had won
the next local elections.
The package will cover IT, customer services, human resources,
payroll, local taxation and benefits,
procurement and property services.
The council said the venture will bring £25m to the city in the
first three years of the partnership, which is set to transform the
way residents receive services from the council.
Gateway, the current one stop shop, will be refurbished and over
the next three years further service enhancements will take place,
including the development of a regional business centre and call
centre.
Councillor Jeremy Moulton, Cabinet Member for Resources, said:
"By working with Capita the city council will benefit from millions
of pounds of investment into customer services. We will also save
the taxpayer millions of pounds over the term of the contract money
that can be put back into frontline services."
The council will formally sign the contract early in August.
Work will then start to prepare 650 staff to transfer to Capita on
October 1.
Paul Pindar, Chief Executive of Capita, said: "We look forward
to working in partnership with Southampton Council to transform
public services in a way that will truly benefit the local
community. Our extensive experience of supporting local authorities
will allow us to help the Council to make step changes in service
efficiency and quality."
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