Northampton Borough Council media release:

Shared services on the agenda for Northampton Borough Council

Northampton Borough Council is working with LGSS, the organisation set up to share services between Northamptonshire County Council and Cambridgeshire County Council, to explore the potential of joining the partnership.

 LGSS was set up more than a year ago to provide a wide range of support services for both local authorities.  Since the establishment of LGSS, the two founding authorities have saved £11 million and to join the partnership could pave the way for savings for Northampton Borough Council in administration and other back office costs.

 Northampton Borough Council is at an early stage in negotiations with LGSS and no decision has yet been made over which services could be included in any sharing agreement.

 LGSS provides a full range of back-office services, including IT, HR, finance, property and asset management and legal.

 Cllr David Mackintosh said:  "LGSS has proved that it can deliver cutting edge services in a way that enormously reduces costs.

 "We have been clear that we will reduce management costs and ensure that the taxpayers’ money is spent effectively, with a focus on frontline services.  We are in discussions with LGSS about how Northampton Borough Council can benefit from being part of that shared service organisation to become the leaner, more efficient organisation we need to be.”

 Andrew Langley, vice chair of the LGSS joint committee said: "We have proved the case for sharing services ourselves and are delighted to be in discussions with Northampton Borough Council to see how LGSS could benefit them. We are always looking for opportunities to improve the quality of business services whilst reducing the cost, and sharing services with a wider number of partners and customers would achieve this. As LGSS grows we expect economies of scale which would mean parties would benefit from the likely reduction in costs.”