County council outsources range of services including technology support with seven year contract worth at least £5.2 million
Worcestershire County Council has signed up business process service provider Liberata to take on a range of services, including technology support, human resources and finance, for itself and the county’s schools.
The seven year deal has a base contract value of £5.2 million, but depending on the level of operations it could go up to £23 million. Liberata has forecast it will provide savings of at least £2.2 million over its lifetime.
Councillor Marc Bayliss, Worcestershire’s cabinet member for transformation and commissioning, said: "The commissioning of these services meets our aim to create a lower and more transparent cost of service while also ensuring our commitments to schools and other customers can continue to be delivered now and in the future."
Liberata will take over the management of the council’s technology solutions, along with its future ICT transformation. Other responsibilities will include payroll and control services, human resources transactions, accounts payable and receivable, occupational health, general ledger application, and the transformation of human resources and finance processes.
Schools services
The company will also provide systems and payments support, HR consultancy and finance advice for schools. These could be made available to other councils, reflecting its long standing role in providing support to schools.
It is planning to create a new base in Worcestershire and taking on 106 council staff in various roles, along with a promise to take on 25 apprentices in the area over the next five years.
This is the company’s second significant local government deal of recent months. In September it signed a £34 million contract to take on frontline and back office service for Burnley Council, with a commitment to create up to 100 new jobs.
Picture: Worcestershire County Council's offices by Bob Embleton, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons