Two more London boroughs to explore shared legal services

The London boroughs of Haringey and Waltham Forest have identified legal services as one of seven areas where they could share services.

The move comes as Islington and Camden councils ditched radical plans to have a single chief executive and senior management team, but said they would continue to investigate the scope for shared services.

Haringey and Waltham Forest have agreed through a memorandum of understanding to explore the business case for the arrangement, which along with legal services would cover:

  • School meals
  • Call centres
  • Organisational development and learning
  • Audit
  • Payroll
  • Recruitment services.

The move comes as both councils look to make significant savings against the backdrop of government cuts. Haringey needs to secure a £50m reduction in expenditure next year alone, while Waltham Forest has to find £65m over the next four years.

Haringey and Waltham Forest suggested that the arrangements would also be a means of sharing good practice.

However, they acknowledged that differences between the two areas meant it would not be possible to share services across the board.

Haringey Council Leader, Cllr Claire Kober, said: “Given the scale of the cuts, we have to find new and imaginative ways of providing services in order to bridge the funding gap we and Waltham Forest face. We have to examine all proposals which can reduce costs and protect frontline services.

“Haringey and Waltham Forest have unique differences and challenges which mean that in some areas it will not be possible to share services. This arrangement will be pragmatic in that we will only share services when it makes clear financial sense to do so.”

Cllr Kober said Haringey’s existing working arrangement and partnerships with other boroughs would continue.

Waltham Forest Council Leader, Cllr Chris Robbins, said: “Our aim is to save as much money as possible by making things more efficient and doing things with other councils, but the cuts are still going to have an effect on everyone in our community.

“All of our residents have had a chance to have their say about what we cut and they've told us that they support the principle of councils sharing services in order to protect services. We are in advanced discussions with Haringey Council to provide a variety of reliable joint services which will help both councils save money.”

Cllr Robbins said the proposals would only go forward if they met the needs of residents and provided savings.

He also stressed that “at the heart of the negotiations is the understanding that we will not be merging either now or in the future and both councils will remain separate local and politically accountable entities”.

In a statement, Camden and Islington said their investigations showed that sharing services “remained achievable and a desirable goal”.

However, the two councils rowed back from sharing a chief executive and senior management team.

The statement said: “ While it is clear that both Camden and Islington face an unprecedented challenge to plug large budget deficits, actual savings would not be delivered until years three and four or later. The proposal would have required additional costs in years one and two and very significant organisational upheaval for both boroughs.

“As both boroughs tackle the financial challenge we believe that our residents would prefer our focus to be on delivering immediate savings without the complexity involved in sharing senior management. This would allow officers from both boroughs to ensure that changes in national policy are implemented in such a way as to reduce any negative impact on the lives of our residents.

”

The two councils said they would continue to explore where services can be shared, with proposals to be considered “in due course”.

This summer the London boroughs of Merton and Richmond approved plans for a trial that could lead to the first fully shared legal service in the capital. Merton's head of legal and civic services, Helen White, joined Richmond as interim head of legal and electoral services from 1 August 2010. She has been tasked with developing proposals for a fully shared service.