Tri-borough collapse set to raise children's services staff costs
Tristan Donovan
Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Westminster City Council's children's services are facing an annual bill in excess of £420,000 to establish a partnership with Kensington and Chelsea following the collapse of the tri-borough arrangement.
The estimated costs are revealed in a report to Westminster's Council's cabinet that sets out the implications of it dismantling the tri-borough arrangement, which included Hammersmith & Fulham Council, and creating a new "bi-borough" arrangement with Kensington & Chelsea.
The report says the ongoing cost of children's services staffing due to the changes will cost Westminster an expected £423,000. In addition, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea are expecting a one-off bill of £150,000 to move children's services and other employees based in Hammersmith & Fulham back into their boroughs.
The report also puts the total cost of implementing the bi-borough arrangement for all affected council services to be £358,000 in 2017/18 and £73,000 in 2018/19. A one-off redundancy bill of £405,000, excluding pension costs, is also expected. Around 330 of the two authorities' 1,500-plus employees will be affected in some way by the changes.
Under the proposed bi-borough arrangement, which starts 1 April 2018, Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea will pool the delivery of children's services, adult social care and public health.
The new arrangement will also see the two authorities create an integrated commissioning function for children's services, adult social care and public health.
"This will bring together commissioners from adult social care, children's and public health," said the report. "The new team will harness a range of skills and experience to deliver commissioning against an ambitious change agenda to enhance tangible service outcomes and maximise value for money across the three functions."
Integrated commissioning, the report says, will allow more innovation, be more sustainable and give staff more career development options.
While some services will continue to be run on a tri-borough basis after April, the report says these will be confined to back office functions and a small number of specialist services such as fostering and adoption.
The move to the bi-borough arrangement follows the two Conservative-controlled boroughs' decision to eject the Labour-run Hammersmith & Fulham from the tri-borough arrangement.
The tri-borough arrangement between the three London boroughs was established in 2012 in response to tighter local government budgets.
The report says the tri-borough arrangement saved each of the three authorities an average of £14m a year and improved the quality and efficiency of services.
