Concern as contract is renewed

Opposition councillors at Lincolnshire County Council have promised to closely monitor a renewed £17m contract with Serco after a mixed history with the authority.

The contract includes all aspects of the council’s customer services, including for highways, education, transport, libraries, heritage, adult and children’s services and road safety, writes Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Jaines.
It will also support the council in the development and delivery of new digital services to improve its customer services.
The decision to award the contract to Serco was confirmed this month following a formal competitive tender process.
Sophie Reeve, assistant director commercial at LCC, defended the council’s decision, stating: “The contract was awarded to Serco following a formal competitive tender process.
“This approach is also less expensive than delivering these services in-house, saving taxpayers’ money while maintaining quality of service.”
She further highlighted that the customer service centre managed by Serco had recently retained its Customer Service Excellence Award, a testament to its high standards and hardworking staff.
However, the decision has not been without its critics.
Lincolnshire Independents Councillor Marianne Overton expressed concerns about the transparency of the contract awarding process, in particular that the decision had not gone before a recent scrutiny committee ahead of final approval.
The decision to outsource the operation of the Customer Service Centre services to external suppliers was approved by executive councillors in June and scrutiny councillors in May of 2022. However, the contract was only confirmed this month, August 2023, raising questions about the delay.
Overton mentioned: “I have asked for the information. I haven’t yet got it… I’ve asked for the papers that back up the decision.”
She also recalled the initial problems when Serco first took on contracts for Lincolnshire County Council almost a decade ago.
Overton emphasised the importance of scrutiny, stating: “Obviously, on scrutiny we’ll continue to monitor their performance as we always do, and then call them to account for them to look as necessary.”
Recently, the company has become responsible for supervising the accommodation of up to 2,000 asylum seekers at the former Dambusters’ home in RAF Scampton.