Liberata and Southwark Council work towards seamless transition of services

September 24, 2009

Liberata’s contract with the London Borough of Southwark reaches its natural end on 31 March 2011. The Council have recently announced that they intend to deliver services in-house from April 2011.

In the meantime, Liberata and Council staff will collaborate on ensuring continued improvement in service delivery alongside a seamless transition of services back to Southwark.

Liberata and Southwark have worked together since 1998 following an initial short term contract that has been extended three times to 2011. Over the past 11 years the revenues and benefits service has been transformed, through:

• Helping customers who claim Benefit - In 1998 a backlog of 80,000 documents existed and the average time to process Benefit claims was 150 days. Processing times are now consistently below 30 days
• Increasing Collection rates – Council Tax collection has improved from 80% to 92%; an average improvement of 1% per year
• Implementing new technology – All four systems used to deliver revenues and benefits services, including document management, have been replaced with new, modernised systems
• Combating Fraud - Recognition by the Audit Commission for anti-Fraud Initiatives. Southwark Council is a finalist in the upcoming IRRV Performance Awards next month for excellence in Anti-Fraud, which is carried out by a Liberata team.

Liberata remains focused on developing the services to Southwark over the remaining term of our contract and wish Southwark well with their future venture.