The Council was seeking a “partner” with whom it could develop a working relationship capable of delivering improved Revenues and Benefits services to the people of Southwark.
The Council’s vision for these services was that the customer requirements must be paramount. The Council expected its partner to play a key role in helping it achieve that vision. It expected its partner to deliver the quality of service that will enable the Council to be in the top quartile of Best Value performers in London within three years, capable of providing a complete service solution that included the:
- Council Tax Service;
- NNDR Service;
- Benefits Service;
- Fraud Investigation Service and;
- Customer Care Service.
The partner was also expected to provide the applications and support, ICT technology, and ICT support/maintenance required to operate the systems in use within these service areas and assist the Council address the associated e-government initiatives and requirements.
The Council chose Evolve to assist them to find such a partner. Evolve consultants commenced by assisting the Council to prepare an advertisement, a Summary Specification, an Evaluation Model and a Questionnaire to enable receipt of Expressions of Interest and short listing. A Service Specification and a second stage Evaluation Model was subsequently prepared and agreed, and using these a possible suitable partner identified.
Our consultants assisted the Council with the evaluation exercise and played a leading role in the negotiation process. Using tried and tested Evolve templates, Contracts and Service Level Agreements were developed and implemented and Partnership mechanisms and Agreements were prepared and agreed. The complete exercise was successfully completed within the aggressive timescales set by the Council and the services seamlessly implemented.
The foundations have been laid for lasting improvements to the Benefits and Council Tax collection services within Southwark and the Council expect the use of the Benefits service to increase and for fewer people to ‘risk’ not paying their Council Tax.
