Client:	London Borough of Lambeth
Contract Type:	Revenues - Council Tax Administration, Business Rate Administration, Cashiering Services, IT support for Housing Benefits and Call Centre Services
Duration:	December 1997 for 7 years, extended in December 2004 for 5 years

                         
 

The challenge

Our contract with the London Borough of Lambeth found us facing some challenging circumstances and has required true partnership working in order to achieve the success of services they receive today.
 
Lambeth presented us with a particularly tough environment and were looking for a significant improvement in services whilst lowering their costs. Having not previously worked with external partners for such services the project required a complete re-structure of systems, procedures and processes in order to successfully implement change.
 

The solution

The Council Tax and NNDR services were moved to Capita’s Bromley Shared Service Centre and in response to recruitment and retention issues from Lambeth’s Brixton call centre, this work was moved to a new purpose built call centre in Coventry.
 
New practices and procedures were put in place along with a more robust recovery programme. As this was a new partnership venture for Lambeth it was critical to ensure continuity in communication. Regular meetings including, Benefits, IT, Revenues sub group, and arrears strategy meetings were held focussing on and reviewing improvement requirements.
 
Whilst we initially re-engineered Lambeth’s processes, a continual programme of improvement has been maintained in order to deliver the higher service standards required as a result of the extension to the contract.
 
New initiatives have included the implementation of a 24hour credit/debit card payment line and the introduction of a telephone based Direct Debit instruction process (AUDDIS). Both solutions have delivered an improvement in the access for Lambeth residents, seen an increase in the use of these methods of payments and ultimately contributed to the improvements we have achieved in the collection of Council Tax and NNDR.
 

The outcome

The Council Tax and NNDR contracts have made substantial improvements and in 2004 the contract was extended for 5 years.
 
Collection rates on Council Tax have been increased from 78.6% pre-contract to 93.1% in 2005/6, NNDR up from 89.2% pre-contract to 98.3% in 2005/6. 
 
"We are delighted with the continued performance improvements Capita has been able to bring to the Council Tax and Business Rate collection figures, and look forward to working in partnership with Capita for the next five years."
 
Richard Ennis, (then Executive Director of Finance), London Borough of Lambeth