Peter Turner Assistant Director of Resources London Borough of Bromley Civic Centre Stockwell Close Bromley BR1 3WW
APPENDIX 1
Dear Peter, I am aware that you have received enquiries regarding Liberata’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) model. I thought it would be useful to, firstly, provide you with some background information and, secondly, to update you on where Liberata are in respect of the implementation of CoE. Firstly, and by way of background; it is worth remembering that the Council’s Revenues and Benefits services have been delivered via a private sector partner since May 1993. Initially, the contract was operated by a company named Capita and involved the transfer of Council staff to the service provider. In April 2002, the Council entered into a partnership with Liberata, which also involved staff transferring from the then incumbent supplier to Liberata. Since its partnership with Liberata the Council has enjoyed significant improvements across both revenues and benefits services. For example; in 2001/02, under Capita, Bromley ranked among the worst 10 performing authorities in the UK for benefits processing with claims processed in an average of 144 days. Under Liberata we are now among the top 25% of authorities with claims processed in an average of 32 days. Council tax collections have also increased year on year bringing real financial benefits to the Authority. Liberata has twenty-six business centres across the UK, including Bromley. Since 2002 a significant part of the revenues and benefits service has been delivered from Sheffield and more recently Redcar and has been one of the key strategies that have enabled the transformation of these services. The revenues and benefits employment market is particularly challenging in London and has posed a major risk to the service historically. The resilience offered by our Sheffield and Redcar operations has substantially addressed this risk.
Liberata now proposes to make significant investment in moving to a Centre of Excellence (CoE) model, based on standard processes, enhanced local customer facing services and Shared Service Centres (SSC). Consequently, positions in Bromley that are designated as back-office roles will be relocated to our SSC in Sheffield and it is therefore likely that this will result in redundancy for some staff in Bromley. Liberata are committed to minimising any job losses through redeployment, relocation and retraining, and also by working with other potential local employers. Liberata views its proposal as critical to the longer-term sustainability of the Bromley service and also its whole revenues and benefits business. I would reiterate that under its CoE model, Liberata will retain an enhanced local service operation, which includes a personal enquires centre and visiting service that will further improve the citizen experience. This in itself will lead to new roles being created, which will be offered to staff at risk of redundancy. Secondly; in terms of the latest position, Liberata is now in a 90 day consultation period, during which, fully detailed proposals will be agreed and I will of course share these with you at the earliest opportunity. Liberata are the only outsourcing organisation within the Public Sector market that has a partnership agreement with Unison and we place great value in our relationship. During the consultation process Unison and the Sector Forum, made up of staff across Liberata’s business, act as the consultation body. The 90 day consultation period commenced on 31 August 2005 and at that time 210 staff were at risk of redundancy. This figure has since been reduced to 168, including 40 staff working on the Bromley service. I anticipate further reductions in these numbers as we detail our proposals. I would also add that since the beginning of its relationship with Liberata the Council has strived to work in partnership and this has been fully reciprocated by Liberata. Some three years on we now have a strong partnership, which has delivered obvious and significant improvements to Bromley residents and stakeholders. Liberata has also proven itself to be open and honest in their approach including the engagement of officers, elected members and stakeholders.
I would take this opportunity to reaffirm Liberata’s commitment to delivering excellent services to the London Borough of Bromley, and more widely, to retaining its position as the leading revenues and benefits outsourcer. Your recent meeting with Liberata’s Chief Executive Officer, Bob Gogel, will have also supported this. Yours sincerely
Jason Fahy Operation Director – UK South