Barnet Council has launched a consultation with residents on the review of its two major contracts with Capita, following approval from Policy and Resources Committee on Tuesday 11 December.
Hendon Town Hall
As part of the public consultation, Barnet Council is seeking residents’ views on:
- the strategic aims that the council has proposed as the basis on which to assess the future delivery arrangements for each service in the review
- the proposed phasing of services for review
- the quality of services that residents have used
- the council's approach to delivering services
On Tuesday, 11 December, members of the Policy and Resources Committee approved the recommendation that Finance and Strategic HR services should transfer from Capita to the council by April 2019, subject to the outcome of the public consultation. Committee members also approved the recommendation that a phased approach is adopted to review the remaining services, to enable a thorough and full assessment to take place on the best way to deliver them in the future.
Following approval by the committee, it is recommended that services should be reviewed in the following order of priority:
Phase 1: Finance and strategic Human Resources
Phase 2: Highways and Regeneration
Phase 3: Barnet-based, customised services
Phase 4: volume transactional services
The final phase will be high volume transactional services, many of which are based outside of Barnet. The phases will be assessed in order from January 2019 and will be dealt with as quick as possible.
The Leader of Barnet Council, Councillor Richard Cornelius, said: “Both contracts have delivered significant financial benefits since their commencement in 2013. Staff working on these contracts have been instrumental in delivering efficiencies, service improvements and increased income across a range of services.
“However, at the same time, there have also been various issues in respect of overall service performance across the two contracts, which must be addressed.
“Working through the detail of these arrangements, to ensure we achieve best value for residents, means it’s important that we take the time to get this right, while making progress and taking action where needed. Through this consultation we want to hear residents’ views on these services and our approach to the review.”
Residents can take part in the consultation by visiting the Engage Barnet website. The consultation runs until 15 February 2019.