Partnership to save 3 million

17 July 2013, London: A strategic partnership set to save 3 million over five years has been set up by Malvern Hills District Council, Worcester City Council, Wychavon District Council and Civica, a market leader in specialist systems and business process services that help organisations transform the way they work. The partnership will establish a centre of excellence in the area, to provide services to the three South Worcestershire councils and other public sector organisations. Starting initially with the existing revenues and benefits service for the three councils, the partnership will offer transactional, assessment and a range of other services to support other councils as they struggle to maintain services with dwindling budgets. Cllr. Paul Middlebrough, Leader of Wychavon District Council, said, These are difficult times for all in the public sector. By adopting a partnership approach we have been able to bring together a wide range of skills and expertise together with economies of scale that allow us to offer a high quality service at a very competitive rate and protect jobs. Cllr. Adrian Gregson, Leader of Worcester City Council, said With the advent of Universal Credit, South Worcestershire councils were facing the prospect of having to shed a large number of jobs in the shared revenues and benefits service. This partnership offers an innovative solution to protecting local jobs while continuing to give the councils oversight of the service. Cllr. David Hughes, Leader of Malvern Hills District Council, said This is an enterprising solution that will deliver significant savings for each of the three councils, and provide opportunities for further service improvements and resilience. The new partnership will give greater job security for staff and provide the prospect of creating additional local employment over the coming years. Simon Downing, Civica chief executive, commented, We are delighted to be working with the South Worcestershire councils to create this long-term partnership. Local authorities face significant challenges to deliver quality services and welfare reform while spending less, and the councils have worked together successfully through an innovative shared service. This new programme builds on the foundation of our successful partnership with Gloucester City Council, and we look forward to working with the South Worcestershire councils to establish a new centre of excellence with a common vision to safeguard jobs while driving savings, innovation and growth. The decision has been approved by the Joint Committee and at all of the South Worcestershire councils. The final of these was on the 2 July 2013 after which a mandatory 10 day standstill period was observed. The contract will be managed by a comprehensive governance structure maintaining the current Joint Committee which consists of elected members from each of the councils in South Worcestershire.

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About Civica Civica is a market leader in specialist systems and business process services for the public sector that help customers to transform their way of working. The company works with more than 2,500 public sector organisations in the UK and internationally including 90% of the UKs local authorities, and has a clear focus on helping to improve service delivery and efficiency through IT-enabled processes. In September 2011 Civica established a ground-breaking partnership with Gloucester City Council to provide outsourced revenues, benefits and welfare rights services as part of the authoritys wider process to transform back office and corporate services while delivering annual savings. As well as achieving improved service levels and reduced costs, the partnership has created a centre of excellence to provide outsourced and on-demand services for other organisations which has delivered expertise and resources for 15 councils across the country.