Capita’s joint venture with Birmingham City Council – Service Birmingham – has been appointed by the local authority to run its call centre operations.
The deal is expected to be worth £110m over eight years, with an initial commitment for four years worth £52m.
Service Birmingham will manage the council’s call centre operations over two sites. One is the current city centre site and the second will be the newly-refurbished Fort Dunlop site, which opens in July.
The joint venture will provide a single point of responsibility for the operations, while current provider Vertex will manage day-to-day operations.
‘Our partnership with Birmingham City Council has gone from strength to strength and this new phase will further enhance the council’s services,’ said Capita Group’s Paul Pindar. ‘Service Birmingham has made major steps forward in the transformation of technology, and continues to support the council in transforming its business processes.
‘This combined approach is laying strong foundations for further service improvement for citizens and cost savings for the council. We will now help the authority to further improve citizen services to place them at the forefront of public services in Europe.’
The Service Birmingham partnership was formed in April 2006 to deliver business transformation across the council. The initial contract was to deliver ICT services and was valued at £475m over 10 years.
‘Improving the quality and standard of contact with our citizens is a vital aspect of our Customer First programme,’ said deputy council leader, Paul Tilsley.
‘Service Birmingham will ensure that the contact centre operation is fully integrated with our overall business transformation initiative. We look forward to a successful next phase.’
Highway Maintenance Budgets: The Long View
Mark Stevens, ADEPT, talks about local authority highway maintenance budgets, looking at how they have been impacted over the years by funding cuts.
