Merger of two Councils or Value for Money?

Money is tight, savings must be made and all that stuff. The phrase “value for money” is so “in” at the moment, its unreal.

I’ve just found out  that Councillors at East Lindsey and South Holland gave the green light to the creation of the merged service company which will, they claim, save ratepayers in both districts £30.7 million pounds over the next 10 years. So, we are talking of savings on average of £3.7 million each year.

Not a small sum, but how much is it going to cost to create this merged service company? Or does the company already exist?

The agreement was given at both East Lindsey’s and South Holland’s Council meetings held on 28^th July 2010. I presume they held these meetings separately and not jointly ……
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Merged Services

The  services to be merged are:

• Customer Services
• Revenues and Benefits
• ICT
• Human Resources
• Finance

These functions will be transferred to the Company on 1^st August, and then be transformed through new ICT investment and more streamlined processes.

Forgive me for being sceptical, but aren’t these functions most of the work that the Councils do anyway??

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Value for Money

The news bulletin goes on to say “the ground-breaking move will ensure quality services are delivered to the public at a reduced cost – a necessity in today’s cash-strapped public services – by a private limited company owned by the two councils.”

When the term “quality” starts being bandied about, you know there’s something amiss. In my private capacity, I’ve got to say I’m yet to get quality service from South Holland as a normal service, and have only had it when I’ve made a formal complaint – about Customer Service and  Revenues & Benefits. East Lindsey do rate much higher in my books, but as the saying goes, there’s room for improvement.

Furthermore, Cllr Gary Porter, Leader of South Holland District Council said: “This is great news for residents because it means we can provide services more efficiently, saving people money and keeping services performing well.” I can well believe it will be a big improvement.

Cllr Doreen Stephenson, Leader of East Lindsey District Council said: “This is a move that will deliver the savings to residents and keep service standards high over the next 10 years.” As long as South Holland don’t run it, then I might agree with that statement.

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Recent History Lessons

I’m curious as to how much it will cost to set this all up, and if there will be any net savings in the long run. After all, we are hearing more and more about the spending spree of the last government, whereby quangos and organisations were created to help save money and improve services, and these ended up costing the tax payer more money than they saved!!

I’m also very curious as to the process that both Councils went through to actually determine how the value for money would be achieved, and the key inputs into the final decision. Being on the South Cambs  Scrutiny committee looking at value for money in Housing, I can’t but be interested in this particular “merger” of two councils that I am already familiar with.  Maybe some lessons can be learnt?