Service improvements and cost savings at the South Worcestershire Partnership

Working with Civica the partnership is improving services, savings and business growth, while protecting local jobs.

The South Worcestershire Partnership (SWP), a shared services partnership set up in 2007, brought together the revenues and benefits, and fraud services of Worcester City, Malvern Hills and Wychavon District Councils. Through centralised delivery and adoption of new systems and processes, SWP improved outcomes for customers and saved over £1m a year.

To scale up service delivery capability and benefit from additional commercial and technology expertise, SWP entered into partnership with Civica.

The partnership has gone from strength to strength, leading SWP to extend the original five-year agreement to 10 years, saving a further £153,000 a year for the partner councils. Overall savings, approaching £2.4m, are supplemented by shared income from trading, additional projects and rental from new business wins.

Outcomes

• 40% reduction in call centre volumes by re-routing selected enquiries to online self-service
• Improved service levels across the board, delivered by approximately 25% fewer staff
• Job protection and growth through staff redeployment and local recruitment, with no compulsory redundancies
• Creation of a multi-skilled, flexible team delivering a resilient, consistent standard of service to customers
• Savings already approaching £2.4m, and growing through income sharing.

I am not aware of another public–private partnership that has such light-touch governance and focus on innovation, yet is delivering key frontline services at significantly lower cost and with year-on-year better outcomes.” Jack Hegarty, Joint Chief Executive/Managing Director, Malvern Hills and Wychavon Councils.

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