Residents First

Tri-borough programme boosts savings target to £40m

An ambitious shared services programme between Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea councils has scaled up its savings target to £40million a year across the three boroughs by 2015/16, up from £33million a year forecast previously.

The three London councils announced their ambitions for the extra £7m of savings, which have been identified within the corporate services portfolio, in a new tri-borough progress report which was tabled on 7 March during a meeting between the three councils’ leaders (pictured) and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.

The report highlights a number of key achievements by the three councils one year on from their original plans to share services, including:

Tri-borough councils join forces to speed up care proceedings in national pilot

The three tri-borough London councils of Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea are set to shine the spotlight on children’s care proceedings in a groundbreaking national pilot to speed up the family court process.

The new Care Proceedings Pilot will be launched on 1 April and is a national first, acting as a litmus test for what could be rolled out across the country.

The pilot involves a new ‘pact’ between the three local authorities and judges within the family court system to speed up proceedings. In particular, this pact will try to achieve the target set out in the recent Family Justice Review for children to have their need for a permanent plan resolved by the court within six months.

Two boroughs, one chief executive

Two of Britain's best local authorities now share a single chief executive, following a joint appointment at Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) and Kensington and Chelsea.

Derek Myers, who has been chief executive of K&C since 2000, took the helm at both councils after his appointment was ratified by H&F Council on Wednesday night.

The move, which will save the two authorities some £200,000 a year, is the latest in a series of major senior management shares between three west London councils.

In May this year Westminster, H&F and Kensington and Chelsea agreed radical plans to combine a range of services. Children's services, adult social care and libraries are already in the process of being shared and single "Tri-borough" directors have been appointed for each. Under the plan, there will be approximately 500 management and back office jobs lost across the three boroughs.

First £1m savings from sharing senior council posts

The project to share council services across three inner London boroughs is on track to deliver its first £1m of savings by cutting senior management roles.

The Leaders of Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham and Westminster announced on Monday that the savings include:

• £320k by sharing a single Director of Children’s Services;
• £320k by sharing a single Director of Adult Services;
• £100k by sharing a single Director of Libraries;
• £150k by combining environmental services across Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) and Kensington & Chelsea; and
• £120k by combining making a joint appointment to the Director for Schools’ Quality and Standards between H&F and Kensington & Chelsea.

Four out of five back combined council services

Nearly 80 per cent of residents in Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) support the idea of their three councils sharing some services.

The findings from an independently researched poll come as the three authorities make their first joint appointment.

Westminster City Council (WCC) Director of Adult Social Care, Marian Harrington, will be appointed across the three councils to manage the implementation of a combined adult social care commissioning service.

WCC, H&F and RBKC expect combined services to save £35 million a year by 2014/15 with around 500 jobs going in management, back office and support roles.