New joint venture aims to bring better IT services to local council

Barking and Dagenham Council has joined forces with IT services and outsourcing provider Agilisys to create a new company called Elevate East London

Barking and Dagenham Council has outsourced IT, customer services, revenue benefits and procurement.

The deal was struck with outsourcing provider Agilisys, and has seen the creation of a new company, Elevate East London, tasked with providing the services.

The council said the deal will deliver better value for money and will therefore reduce council tax in the area.

About 350 staff from Agilisys and the council have transferred into Elevate. The company's board includes equal representation from the council and Agilisys and has ambitious growth objectives, with plans to develop local opportunities and create hundreds of new jobs over the next seven to 10 years.

As well as focusing on IT, customer services, revenue, benefits and procurement, Elevate will play a key role in supporting Barking and Dagenham in terms of a broader council transformation, looking at processes and planning to ensure that citizens' needs are met using more modern and efficient services.

Additional savings will be achieved through further projects over the life of the partnership, all of which will help the council protect frontline services.

"This is an innovative step for the council which will be at the leading edge of transforming services," said councillor John White, who will become a director on the Elevate board.