Council’s controversial IT contract wound up

Birmingham City Council has ended its controversial Service Birmingham IT contract which at its peak cost it up to £120m a year.

The heavily criticised contract between the council and Capita was signed in 2005 and involved running technical and communications systems, council tax collection services and a call centre.

Calls for it to be dissolved mounted as exclusivity arrangements and the high costs of the contract were lambasted by critics.

Birmingham City Council will now see 167 staff transferred from Capita return, as well as welcoming back 147 council staff whose secondments have now ended.

Some services will remain with Capita until the contract naturally expires in March 2021. The council and Capita will continue to work together until then.

In a joint statement, Birmingham City Council and Capita said: “The longstanding contract between Birmingham City Council (BCC) and Capita has largely ended, with most service being brought back in-house. The ICT services delivered by Capita on behalf of the council have returned to council management after a four-month transition period, while Capita will continue to support the council in providing a range of hosted and off-site services, such as data centre hosting.”

They said that both organisations recognise that the change to this working arrangement is “timely and appropriate”.

“The original contract was awarded in 2006 and, after 13 years, the time is right to transfer the services back to the council. The services transfer back to the council today with overall customer satisfaction having improved year on year. The council now has a well-developed digital strategy that seeks to transform the IT service provision to deliver new customer-centric outcomes.”

The statement added: “Both Birmingham City Council and Capita would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff from both organisations for their professionalism shown during this association, particularly during the complex transfer project that followed the decision to bring some services back in-house.”

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