By Mark Smulian | 6 August 2013
The largest outsourcing programme ever attempted by a local authority is going ahead after the rejection of a legal challenge.
Services at the London Borough of Barnet will be handed over to wings of Capita in two contracts, leaving few staff working directly for the council. The whole programme is known as One Barnet.
Barnet’s business services will go to the main Capita company in a ten-year contract worth £350m covering estates, finance, payroll, human resources, IT, procurement, revenues and benefits administration, and customer and support services.
Subsidiary Capita Symonds will take over Barnet’s planning, regeneration, cemetery, crematoria, land charges, air quality, environmental health, highway management, trading standards and licensing and transport in a £130m contract, also for ten years.
The council has said One Barnet will save it £165m over the contracts’ lifespan.
Residents opposed to the outsourcing lost a judicial review in April, when their case was ruled out of time. The Court of Appeal has now upheld this, clearing the way for the deals to proceed.
Council leader Richard Cornelius said: ‘I am delighted that we are finally able to get on with delivering these savings to the Barnet taxpayer.
‘Our strategic contracts with Capita aren’t about giving the same for less. They are based around improving and developing the services we have on offer over the nextten years.’
Barnet’s is one of few such mass outsourcings to go ahead. Similar proposals at Cornwall Council and Suffolk County Council were shelved amid political dissent with the respective leaders being ousted for their roles in promoting the ventures.
Law firm Trowers & Hamlins acted for Barnet during the legal battle surrounding One Barnet.
Helen Randall, its head of public sector commercial, said: ‘We are delighted to see these two ground-breaking contracts move ahead and to have been a part of this cutting-edge project.’
