Hounslow outsources revenue and benefits

The London Borough of Hounslow has this week awarded an outsourcing contract worth £50m.

The council appointed BPO service provider Liberata on a 10-year contract to manage a host of Hounslow’s back office functions including the administration and payment of housing and council tax benefits, council tax and national non-domestic rates billing, collection and recovery as well as the preparation of grant claims and government returns. The company will also provide a call centre and some front office services.

Liberata was awarded the contract following a re-tendering process under EU procurement rules. The company was one of four short-listed by Hounslow. The others were Capita, Northgate (formerly SX3) and Serco (formerly ITNET). The company was selected as the preferred bidder at a meeting of the council executive, with negotiations completed and a contract formally signed recently.

As part of this contract, a number of initiatives will be introduced to improve delivery of services to Hounslow residents.

Cllr.Jagdish Sharma, deputy leader of Hounslow Council, said: "We are pleased to announce Liberata Plc as the Council's preferred supplier of the management of our revenues and benefits service.

"Overall, Liberata's bid promised delivery of quality services for Hounslow's residents and represented the best value for money for the Council."

The new contract will officially begin in January 2006, when it takes over from the existing supplier, Serco. There will be a gradual transition to Liberata over the next few months.

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