Birmingham City Council is expecting to find multi-million pound savings by renegotiating an ICT contract and taking its contact centre back in house.

The local authority anticipates it can save £150m from the remaining seven years of the Service Birmingham contract, which operates through a joint venture between the city council and Capita.

A report to Birmingham's cabinet will recommend approving continuing the ICT and revenue contract on the condition of significant cost reductions. The Cabinet is also poised to approve bringing the contact centre back in house by the end of the year.

Birmingham City Council said it was 'convinced' that by bringing the service back under local authority control it could 'deliver additional financial savings' and put customer interaction at the 'core' of the town hall.

The cabinet on Monday 30 June is also expected to agree on efforts to find further savings beyond the £150m figure.

Birmingham City Council deputy leader, Cllr Ian Ward, said: 'We have negotiated an agreement with Service Birmingham which provides a major step forward in reducing our cost base for ICT.

'On balance, the council considers the risk of changing ICT provider at this time, too risky, would take a considerable period of time to procure and would cost additional tens of millions upfront in early termination charges and re-procurement costs.

'What I will also want to see coming out of this challenge is for both parties to work harder to make the partnership work, better than it has to date. We need to make sure we have an ICT strategy that is fit for purpose and that we improve our control and planning for projects.'

The Service Birmingham contract initially started in 2006 and runs until 31 March 2021.