Niyamath Parveez

It seems as though barely a week is going by without some local council having a major decision to make about outsourcing deals. The latest council in a conundrum this week is based in England in the United Kingdom, with Herts facing a major split about their plans to outsource a great deal of the local council services. It has been said many times before but the fact that anything that involves jobs and employment at this current moment in time is going to be extremely emotive and will cause a lot of concern for people based in the local economy. The threat of job losses is very strong and there is not much optimism to get another job in the local region so many people believe that the local council should feel duty bound to provide jobs to the local economy. Providing jobs to the local economy will provide further benefits in a greater level of expenditure with shops and service providers noticing a benefit. There is also the fact there is less pressure being placed upon the benefits agencies so it can be seen that using the outsourcing capabilities so often used by big business is not always the answer for a local council.

However, it is the benefits that fall to big businesses that mean a local council like Herts needs to be considering the benefits that arise from outsourcing. By outsourcing IT and HR services, Hart District council believes that they can save around 10% of their budget at a stroke and given the uses this money could have, it is clear why it is of benefit. Utilizing outsourcing could ensure that a greater amount of money is able to be placed into the local health services or improving the roads and that is what the council is trying to achieve.

However, although the fact that 10% of savings could be made, across the board this amounts to about £5 for each constituent in the local region and some argue that this is not a large enough saving to justify switching the work. It needs to be remembered that when the council gives away its power over these issues, it could leave itself open to a poorer quality of service. Given this option, many people would prefer to pay an extra £5 per year in order for the local council to maintain control over its services. Whilst Hart District council would ensure that contractual agreements contained agreements and guarantees about the services that would be offered by the outsourcing firm, it would be impossible to guarantee everything. Given the fact that it would be run by a business who would be primarily concerned with profit, it is inevitable that certain services may find a dip in quality.

The positive and negative benefits allied to outsourcing really comes to a head when using outsourcing as a solution for local councils and it is easy to see why local Unions like Unison are up in arms about the consequences which may arise from this decision being made.