Burnley Council chooses partner for £34m services contract

Burnley Council is set to award a £34m 10-year contract to Liberata that will see the firm providing the local authority with a range of services from January 2016.

As well as saving £8m over the next decade on the transferred services, the council expects the contract to create more than 100 new jobs in Burnley town centre between now and 2021.

The decision was made following a meeting at the town hall that reviewed the council’s current procurement exercise and outlined Liberata’s bid for the services as “the most economically advantageous”, when compared to keeping the services in-house.

The leader of Burnley Council, Mark Townsend, said: “We are delighted to be awarding this contract to Liberata, as they bring opportunities for growth into the borough at a time of government austerity measures.

“Liberata has the objective of retaining jobs, skills and talent in Burnley and is looking to grow jobs and services in our borough.”

He added: “For many of the current council employees working in the services which form part of the contract, who will transfer with terms and conditions protected, this will mean new opportunities.”

Liberata, which has offices all over the UK, including in Barrow-in-Furness and Pendle, will handle IT and customer services; payroll and HR systems; revenues, benefits and debt management; environmental health and licensing; and asset and facility management services.

The MD of Liberata’s business process services, Charlie Bruin, commented: “We are delighted to have been selected by Burnley Council as a strategic partner to transform and run a range of council services.

“Key to enabling Burnley Council to meet its strategic objectives will be service innovation and digital transformation. We have a demonstrable track record in enabling our clients to drive down costs, while at the same time improve both the citizen and employee experience of critical services.”