At least 95% of councils in England have such agreements with other authorities, up 27 percentage points from 62% last year.
Sharing deals have collectively saved councils £263m since they first started doing so. In December 2011 that figure was just £165m.
However, the LGA has warned that councils could hit a “ceiling” beyond which they will be unable to save more by sharing. It estimates an extra £170m of savings could be made before such a point is reached.
The sector body will use the research to argue that central government should “move on” from urging authorities to cut costs by sharing back-office functions and chief executives, Rhian Gladman, the LGA’s productivity team manager, told LGC.
Communities secretary Eric Pickles said councils should share more services in a controversial report published just ahead of the local government finance settlement last month. The ‘50 ways to save’ report said services such as planning, press, human resources and legal services should be shared between councils. “We are already doing this, and the debate about savings should move on”, Ms Gladman said.
The LGA found 337 councils were involved in 281 shared service arrangements. A survey in December 2011 found 220 councils had set up 143 shared services.
Peter Fleming (Con), leader of Sevenoaks DC and chair of the LGA’s improvement and innovation board, said: “The quarter of a billion pounds which has been saved is helping local authorities reduce the impact on frontline services of very large cuts to council funding.”
The LGA is due to publish an interactive map of all of the shared service arrangements this week.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Kaye Wiggins
Quelle/Source: Local Government Chronicle, 23.01.2013
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