London Borough of Lambeth Contract

RNS Number : 2198J

Capita Group PLC

28 June 2011

 



28 June 2011

Capita selected by London Borough of Lambeth to form new collaborative partnership

The Capita Group Plc ('Capita' or 'the Company') today announces that it has been appointed as preferred bidder by the London Borough of Lambeth, following a competitive tender process, to form a collaborative partnership. The partnership will deliver a range of services encompassing and extending the existing revenue collection contract administered by Capita and additional services including management of the Council's call centre operations, ICT support services and a benefits resilience service. For these core services, the contract is expected to be worth £60m over 10 years with the option to extend for a further five years.

The partnership is a result of the Council's Revenue, Benefits and Customer Services ('RBCS') commissioning programme which aims to enhance the customer experience of its citizens, secure value for money and deliver wider community benefits. The commissioning programme allows for the opportunity to widen the scope of the contract up to £300m to achieve further efficiencies and service improvements for the Council and other third parties through the shared services offering.

Councillor Paul McGlone, Lambeth Council Cabinet Member for Finance said: "We are determined to make the whole experience of contacting the Council easier and as hassle free as possible. The new partnership with Capita will ensure we continue to improve the quality and standard of contact with our residents, but also save money. The service model proposed by Capita is flexible and scalable over time, meaning it is 'future proofed' for changes in the way people communicate with us. This will lead to a much improved experience when people contact us to pay their council tax, inquire about their benefits, find out about a service or report a problem."

Paul Pindar, Chief Executive of The Capita Group Plc commented: "Our understanding and relationship with the London Borough of Lambeth has developed strongly since 1997 and this new phase and collaborative partnership will further enhance the Council's services. Capita will support the Council in transforming their business processes and achieving further service improvements that will deliver valuable benefits to Lambeth's citizens and cost savings for the Council.

"Added value for the community is a key element of the partnership, particularly focusing on young people and unemployment. Capita's Community Development Trust will allocate £500,000 to provide targeted support for Lambeth residents including mentoring, training and employment opportunities. We look forward to developing the partnership with the Council and other stakeholders and making a real difference to the local community."

The partnership is projected to achieve savings of more than 16.5% or £10m over the life of the contract and generate an additional £5m in council tax revenue for the London Borough of Lambeth. Since the original contract commenced in 1997, council tax collection has increased from £40m to £106m with collection rates up from 78.6% to 94.6% in the same period. To facilitate further efficiencies and service transformation and to allow residents to deal with the Council how and when they wish, Capita is investing £6.5m in new technology over the course of the contract.

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For further information:

The Capita Group Plc

Tel: [phone]

Paul Pindar, Chief Executive

Shona Nichols, Corporate Communications Director

Media enquiries:

Capita press office

Eleanor Pinkerton

Tel: [phone] or 020 7654 2399 (out of hours)

Note to editors

The Capita Group Plcis the UK's leading provider of BPO and integrated professional support service solutions.  With 37,000 people at more than 350 sites, including 64 business centres across the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and India, the Group uses its expertise, infrastructure and scale benefits to transform its clients' services, driving down costs and adding value. Capita is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (CPI.L), and is a constituent of the FTSE100 with revenues for 2010 of £2,744 million. Further information on The Capita Group Plc can be found at: http://www.capita.co.uk.

 

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