Southwark Council response to budget: three boroughs investigate shared services

In a bid to protect frontline services from budget cuts the political leaders of Southwark, Lambeth and Lewisham have written to their respective chief officers to ask them to start investigating sharing back office functions and joint procurement.

The letter from Councillor Peter John, Leader of Southwark Council, Sir Steve Bullock, elected Mayor of Lewisham and Councillor Steve Reed, Leader of Lambeth Council stresses the importance of continuing to deliver vital services for residents despite the economic challenges of the coming years. But it argues that this may only be possible if councils work together. 

It says: "It is clear that we will not always be able to meet these challenges on our own.  We will need to work collaboratively and councils will have to adopt radically new ways of working to deliver higher quality services with scarcer resources."

The letter follows a meeting between the three council leaders. The chief executives of the three boroughs have now been tasked to consider where potential exists for efficient and effective joint working and to present a range of options by the autumn.

Speaking after the chancellor revealed his emergency budget, Councillor Richard Livingstone, Southwark Council's cabinet member for resources said: "The Chancellor announced the need for all but two government departments to make cuts of an average of 25 percent over the next four years.

"This is unprecedented. We are facing the most significant cuts in public sector spending in generations. At present there is uncertainty as to how deep these cuts will go and how quickly; but there is genuine concern as to how this can be achieved without at least some impact on what can be delivered. 

"It is the council's responsibility to minimise the impact of these cuts by innovating the way in which the council delivers services. We are going to do everything we can to support residents through times.

"We have to wait until autumn for the full picture. We will make efficiency savings, but these alone will not be enough. We are going to have to radically change the way we work as a council in order to keep on delivering for people and we are already taking steps to ensure that the services people need are delivered." 

And on shared services, he added: "Southwark has a huge amount in common with other councils, including Lambeth, Lewisham and other neighbouring boroughs, and yet we all carry a vast range of back office and administrative functions in isolation.

"I want to see if it is possible to merge any of those functions, in particular where they involve procurement from the private sector. I think these are ideas we should look into - as long as we can continue to provide front line services for people. We will still provide the services and we will still be answerable for them. 

"This letter is the very start of the process. If there is a chance to protect the services that matter to residents - recycling, activities for young people, help for the vulnerable and elderly - then we must take it.

"We also want to ensure that we avoid redundancies for permanent staff where possible.  We are therefore working with our neighbours to help us protect both services and jobs in these difficult times." 

The full picture of council budget cuts will not be known until the autumn, but already the government has advised of cuts in funding in 2010/11 of £3.3 million. Officers have been instructed to present options as to how this can be achieved while minimising impact on services to the public. 

To help meet the challenge the council's new administration has agreed a package of measures to tackle waste. 

In their first week in the job the new cabinet team agreed to take a pay cut by slashing £70,000 from the special responsibility allowances paid to councillors. They then revealed urgent steps to get to clamp down on the £12 million the council spends on consultants every year, with the introduction of tough new spending thresholds for consultants.

At the same time the council is taking radical steps to open up its decision making process to residents with the launch of a democracy task force which has been charged with finding ways to re-engage residents with council meetings. The task force has been given the go ahead to consider any option, no matter how radical, in a bid to make the meetings more accessible. 

On the Democracy Commission, Councillor Peter John, Leader of Southwark Council, said: "The way in which Southwark Council and its elected representatives engage with the residents of our borough has to change.  Too often we appear distant and disconnected from the concerns of ordinary residents, and changes which have been made to our structures and the way in which we operate as councillors have made it more difficult for the public to raise their concerns and hold us to account. 

"It is important that as part of this process the Democracy Commission explores all of the ways in which council meetings operate; where they take place; the rigidity of procedures and how debates and decisions are broadcast. I hope that its recommendations will be radical and far-reaching.  

"The work of the Democracy Commission provides a vital opportunity to change the way in which the public views Southwark Council.  I look forward to receiving its report."

For further details view the meetings and agendas