The report, by the Chief Executives of Hammersmith & Fulham Council (H&F), the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) and Westminster City Council (WCC) say that combining back office and management costs could save £35 million a year.
Council leaders say that combining services is the best way to protect frontline services and jobs in the future while improving service delivery in many areas.
A ‘Sovereignty Guarantee’ has been signed by the three councils to safeguard local autonomy, responsiveness and identity. Each of the councils will retain their own councillors and decision making processes. Services key to local areas, such as housing management, licensing and planning will be not be combined.
The proposals, which will be discussed at the councils’ respective cabinets over the next 12 days, starting with H&F’s Cabinet on Wednesday 16th February, recommend:
- Reducing chief executive posts from three to two
- Combining children’s and education services with a single director
- Combined adult social care with a single director in charge of commissioning services.
- Discussions are underway with Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust about working closely with GPs in providing integrated community health and adult social care services across the three areas.
- Combined corporate overheads, including IT and HR.
- Combined facilities management and dangerous structures services.
- Other combined environmental services, initially across two boroughs in some cases, including leisure, highways, transport and parking correspondence.
The three cabinets are recommended to look at moving towards a single management team for the environment family of services in the future.
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