The London Borough of Hounslow is one of two London councils to sign new long-term deals with Liberata.
Liberata has announced two contracts with London borough councils – Photo credit: Flickr, Sebastian Wiertz, CC BY 2.0
Hounslow Council, which has worked with the company since 2005, has agreed a new contract for an initial seven years, with the option to extend for a further three years.
The contract, which is worth a potential £75m, will see Liberata provide a range of services to the council, including revenues and benefits assessments, transactional finance and post and print services.
The company will also provide HR administration and payroll services for the council as well as for up to 57 of the 75 schools in the borough.
Liberata already works on administration of council tax and business rate collection for the council, with the company saying in a statement that collection rates are high, with reductions in historic arrears.
It has also overseen the early implementation and rollout of the Department for Work and Pensions’ Universal Credit programme, as part of its work on revenue collection and benefits assessment transformation.
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Councillor Theo Dennison, cabinet member for finance and citizen engagement at Hounslow council, said: “Working with Liberata over the last 12 years has enabled us to get our council tax services online which has been well received by our residents.
“We want to be looking at more efficient ways of providing different services to our residents, our customers in a way that suits them and with Liberata, we have the process in place to make this happen.”
Meanwhile, Vijay Chandiramani, chief operating officer of Liberata, said that the company was “absolutely delighted to continue to develop and expand the strong partnership” with the council.
He said that the partnership would help achieve the objectives set out in the Government Transformation Strategy, published last month, by helping residents and businesses have a “better, more coherent experience when interacting with government services”.
Around 90 roles will transfer from Hounslow Council to Liberata as a result of the new contract, and Chandiramani welcomed the new staff members to the council.
“We are equally delighted to be welcoming employees transferring from the council, as we continue to fulfil our social commitment to support local teams and empower staff to achieve higher levels of productivity with new ways of working,” he said.
The London borough of Hillingdon has also announced a new contract with Liberata, which is for five years and is worth £5.4m. The company will provide revenue and benefits and customer services for the council.
Councillor Jonathan Bianco, cabinet member for finance, property and business services at Hillingdon council, said that it had chosen Liberata for its “proven services, expertise, deep understanding of Hillingdon and a unique partnership ethos”.
