Forward-thinking councils have been sharing services with their neighbours for some time. Such joint endeavours include cross-authority call centres and highways maintenance services.
But as the public sector belt tightens further, shared services are becoming the norm across a much wider range of departments.
Last week, Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham councils - both Tory-controlled - revealed plans to merge their education departments, a move thought to be the first of its kind in the country. The two boroughs expect the plans to generate 20 per cent savings over the next three years.
They are in preliminary discussions about merging their entire children's services departments, which could save both authorities even more cash. It is also expected to lead to an unconfirmed number of job losses.
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