Council ditches £200m BT comms deal

Councillors have backed plans to withdraw from the RBT deal, which it said was expected to save more than £50 million during its 12-year span, saying: “The world has moved on.”

Chief executive Martin Kimber said that leaving the arrangement, under which RBT runs a range of services including payroll and IT, would leave the council “in a strong position to take advantage of new policy developments, such as the drive towards shared services with other councils.”

He added: “As a council, we will leave the partnership in better shape than we went in, and our staff will have learned much from the experience and expertise of our private sector partner.

“We now seek other opportunities to work together for mutual benefit.”

Mr Kimber thanked RBT staff—most of whom were seconded from the local authority—for the success of the partnership and said that “changes in the environment over the past two years” had led the council to acknowledge the benefits of pulling out earlier than originally proposed.

What do you think? Use the "write a comment" buttons to post your views.

“It is the council’s responsibility to constantly review the way in which it delivers services for customers and that has never been more important than it is in the current financial climate. 

“We need to adapt quickly to a changing environment, so we can continue to deliver the very best, with maximum value for money.

“Our relationship with our partners, including BT, needs to reflect that.”

RBT, which was launched in 2003, currently delivers a number of services on behalf of the council, including computing technology services, the human resources and payroll services, handling supplies and the running of customer service and call handling centres around the borough.

It was formed to make the council more efficient, customer-focused and fit for purpose.

A spokeswoman said: “BT’s extensive global experience was brought in to transform the way services are delivered, improve performance monitoring and improve the quality of customer services.

“The partnership also enabled significant financial investment to be made by BT in council services, at a time when other options were limited.”

The spokeswoman said that it had brought improvements in IT, supplies and staff systems and a best-possible four-star rating for the standard of the council’s revenues and benefits service.

Chris Ainslie, BT’s vice-president for local and devolved government, BT, said: “We acknowledge the council’s wish to bring its successful partnership with BT to a close.

“This partnership has benefited the local population since its inception in 2003 and we will begin discussions with the council aimed at reaching a speedy conclusion to everyone’s satisfaction.”

The council will now work with BT to finalise the details but access to services will be unchanged and customers will be unaffected.

Consultation will take place with trade unions about the future working arrangements of the staff covered by the RBT contract.

THE ADVERTISER SAYS  . . .

MANY positive words are being employed to justify Rotherham Borough Council’s decision to sever their relationship with BT four years early.

Borough council chief executive Martin Kimber has stressed that the local authority is leaving the partnership in better shape than when they signed up to the £200 million deal in 2003,

But eight years on local authorities have greater choices on who they may link up with to deliver services such as IT, human resources, supplies, payroll and service and call centres.

And while officers and members have consistently trumpeted the success of RBT, there have been contradictory voices of discontent echoing from the shop floor, with rumours of poor service delivery, wastage and inefficiency.

No doubt the benefits and disadvantages of the relationship could easily be listed by those at the heart of the organisation, but with the benefit of eight years working with a global communications giant the borough council can surely move on with greater confidence to secure a productive and financially beneficial alternative