The case study below shows what local authorities can achieve working in partnership with the private sector:

• Pendle's Beacon Partnership

Summary of the Project
Pendle Borough Council and Liberata entered a 15-year £100 million contract to provide back office and customer services in 2005. The partnership also created a 500-seat business centre and is aiming to create 300 new jobs.

What is covered
The main services covered by the contract are: IT; human resources; customer services; property services; FM, property services; and revenues and benefits. The partnership also created a new business centre that houses council services and Liberata’s operations as well as providing space for other private sector businesses. The centre opened in 2007.

What’s unique about this solution?
The partnership was, at the time, the most ambitious business process outsourcing project undertaken by a district council acting alone. “The prime objective was a step change in regeneration opportunities” says Stephen Barnes, chief executive at Pendle. The area has a significant manufacturing sector but needed to diversify. The outsourcing process was structured to help stimulate town centre physical regeneration and attract new jobs to the area.

The partnership, and the tendering process that created it, led to the council being awarded beacon status in 2005. The range of service delivery mechanisms used by the council reflects a confidence in its sourcing strategy: its leisure services are delivered through a charitable trust, but its partnership with Liberata uses a more conventional outsourcing contract.

What was the outcome of this project?
The new business centre also houses Liberata’s national scanning and indexing function, which provides services to other councils, such as Hillingdon.

An immediate cost saving of £447,000 – equivalent to 12 per cent of the controllable service budgets – was achieved at the start of the contract. Further efficiency savings are expected through IT enhancements such as new HR, payroll and telephony systems.

What were the key lessons learned?
A number of lessons emerge from Pendle’s experience:

• Cost-effective tendering – the council made judicious use of external advisors, claiming the tendering process cost half that of equivalent exercises
• Paying attention to the interests of staff – Stephen Barnes, stresses the efforts that were made to protect the conditions of the 183 staff who went through the TUPE process and the close consultation with the trade unions
• Nurturing the relationship – Liberata’s Client Director at Pendle, Rod Haig, attends the council’s management team. “We have a grown-up relationship”, he says, which focuses on positive outcomes alongside the occasional need for “tough negotiations”

For more information, please contact:

Name: Mr Stephen Barnes
Position:  Chief Executive
Authority: Pendle Borough Council
Telephone: 44 (0)12 8266 1780
Email:  stephen.barnes@pendle.gov.uk
Website: www.pendle.gov.uk