County Council plans to outsource almost all services?

[Osem]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11398678

A county council has agreed to slash its £1.1bn budget by 30% by outsourcing almost all its services....

.....Under the New Strategic Direction almost all council services will be offloaded to social enterprises or companies over the next few years.

A good or a bad idea?...

[Jon T]

It'll waste more money. You can be sure that the managers that currently run these service will stop on in some sort of co-ordinator role. Then there will be someone doing the same job as them in the private/social enterprise set up to provide the service.

If this needs to happen, i'd prefer to see it go the "ALMO"(arms length management organisation) route, this is the way a lot of council housing services are run already.

Private companies taking over would be the worst, as obviously they are profit driven, social enterprises on the other hand aren't allowed to make a profit and must return any money made back to the organisation.

[georgepomone]

This council have no where to turn now. I live in Ipswich and people are sick of this cash cow. Their headquarters could house the United Nations. Those at the top have overinflated salaries. The local district councils are joining together and pooling resources so the County will really be of less importance as time goes on.

[Jon T]

Originally Posted by georgepomone

This council have no where to turn now. I live in Ipswich and people are sick of this cash cow. Their headquarters could house the United Nations. Those at the top have overinflated salaries.

Which is unlikely to change, the senior managers are the same people that will negotiate any deals with the private sector, as such, they will ensure that any agreement made with the private sector ensures their own continued employment. Even if it means them tranferring out of local authority emplyment. The problem with this is that the council will still be paying their wages in the form of whatever management fee they pay to the private company.

Originally Posted by georgepomone

The local district councils are joining together and pooling resources so the County will really be of less importance as time goes on.

Yep, that's happening at the LA that I work for. There is a plan for all IT staff at district/borough level to be merged into one service, and that service to be converted into an ALMO.

[Taf]

ALMO? The new name for QANGO?

[Jon T]

Originally Posted by Taf

ALMO? The new name for QANGO?

ALMO - Arms Length Management Organisation

They have their own management structure and staff, and are limited companies in their own right, with the Local Authority as the sole shareholder.

I forget the precise date, but sometime in the early 2000's I think, LA's were offered large financial incentives to create ALMO's to manage their housing stock. I suppose a QUANGO may have similarities, as I suppose an ALMO is (Q)ausi (A)utonomous. However as much as the ALMO's may not like to admit it, they are still very much a (local)government body.

In the context of the housing side of things, read her: http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk..._organisations

[Dai]

If you happen to be at management level it's a stroke of pure genius. You secure your own jobs and make sure that the cost reductions and redundancies hit the employees at the sharp end.
I have to admire their style although I fear the end result.