Hampshire council aims for £900,000 IT savings

More employee self-service and job cuts on cards as council looks to plug £55m hole in its budget

Hampshire County Council aims to shave £900,000 off its annual IT bill by reorganising its IT services unit and reducing contract costs.

The cuts come as part of the council's efforts to deal with a £55m hole in its 2011/12 budget. The council also plans to axe 1,200 jobs as part of its cost cutting.

"There can be no debate over whether or not we make cuts, the withdrawal of government funding to meet the national debt leaves us without that choice," said Ken Thornber, leader of Hampshire County Council.

As part of the IT savings, the council will merge its Culture, Communities and Rural Affairs department with its Property, Business, Regulatory Services and IT department.

It also hopes to improve its productivity through better use of IT. It expects to be able to make a saving of £1m through improving its support and administration functions and enabling more employee self-service.

Recently, Hampshire teamed up with Dorset County Council to develop a joint ICT strategy.

That collaboration was expected to save Hampshire somewhere between £2m and £5m in IT costs over the next three years.

As part of the shared services arrangement, the councils share computer centres, business continuity, technical expertise and technical services. A joint management board was established to explore possible savings on major IT systems, shared contracts and procurement and a joint support and service desk.

"In order to meet the current and future financial challenges we have undertaken a comprehensive review of how the council operates and of all its services and we are now embarking on a change programme that is of an unprecedented scale," added Thornber.