Rochdale Council curtails joint venture with Mouchel

CONSULTING firm Mouchel has confirmed that it is in talks with Rochdale Council about winding down its 15-year joint venture, Impact Partnership.

The deal, which was signed in 2006, created a joint venture company which was meant to handle all of the council’s highways, property & regeneration and customer & business services (such as IT, payroll and a contact centre).

However, Mouchel confirmed to the stockmarket yesterday that it was in talks “to mutually agree an amicable exit from our partnership”.

It added that its order book would decrease by £130m as a result of the partnership dissolving, but said it would have little impact on its profits or cashflow.

The council said that following a review of the partnership, it had decided to bring responsibility both for highways and for property & regeneration back in-house.

During a council meeting last week, Cllr Colin Lambert said that the partnership “was entered into in 2006 by all parties in good faith under very different economic circumstances and since that time the economic climate has fundamentally changed”.

“In particular, the contract included targets for the delivery of jobs growth which have become increasingly difficult to achieve under the global recession.”

The contact centre service which was provided by Agilisys under contract to Impact Partnership is likely to remain in place and the payroll and ICT services provided by Impact are also under review, with a decision expected to be made on whether to bring those services back in-house due in February.

“We will continue our strategic review for both payroll and ICT, because a large number of jobs have been successfully delivered in those services in the borough and more such jobs are in the pipeline, said Councillor Lambert.

“This proposal is being made in an entirely amicable way. All parties are co-operating to the fullest extent.

“When the final accounts are settled, no element of compensation will be payable. The negotiation of legal agreements is progressing.”