Shared services provide real challenges for councils

The public sector will face "real challenges" in developing arrangements to share services, according to one local government figure.

As joint executive head of human resources (HR) at the London boroughs of Sutton and Merton, Dean Shoesmith is the first and only person leading combined HR departments in the capital. He said making the decision over whether to integrate public services is similar to choosing whether or not to outsource in the private sector - there is no uniform answer and the individual business case is "crucial". However, while businesses are used to delivering products of a similar quality at lower costs, councils are more focused on "gold-plating" their offerings, making them better but not necessarily cheaper.

The difficultly facing local authorities is that they are "not used" to making the type of business case that is essential in judging whether to combine services or not, Mr Shoesmith argued.

His comments come after local government secretary Eric Pickles gave his backing to proposals for the London boroughs of Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea to merging all service delivery.
The move is expected to save up to £100 million, although there would be significant job losses.

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