Lambeth looks to Capita for services partnership

Lambeth council has made Capita the preferred bidder for a collaborative partnership deal that will cover the provision of a range of services. The contract for three core services - call centre operations, ICT support and benefits resilience - is expected to be worth £60m over 10 years with the option to extend for a further five. It has been agreed under the council's Revenue, Benefits and Customer Services programme, which allows for the scope to be widened into other service areas to a total value of £300m. The two sides plan to have all the arrangements in place by 1 December, at which point the contract will come into force. Capita has previously held a contract dating back to 1997 for revenue collection for the borough, but won the new deal through a competitive tender. It said it will invest £6.5m in new technology and that the contract will provide savings projected at 16.5% or £10m over its lifetime, and generate an additional £5m in council tax revenue. Councillor Paul McGlone, Lambeth cabinet member for finance, said: "The new partnership with Capita will ensure we continue to improve the quality and standard of contact with our residents, but also save money. The service model proposed by Capita is flexible and scalable over time, meaning it is 'future proofed' for changes in the way people communicate with us. This will lead to a much improved experience when people contact us to pay their council tax, inquire about their benefits, find out about a service or report a problem." This article is published by Guardian Professional. For weekly updates of news, debate and best practice on public sector IT, join the Government Computing Network here.