Savings from Somerset shared services falling well short of target

Southwest One partnership beset by SAP deployment issues

Somerset County Council (SCC) has concluded that its participation in a groundbreaking shared services scheme has yet to deliver the anticipated level of savings.

A review of the Southwest One partnership – a public-private partnership to deliver back-office services to public sector bodies in the South West – found that the roll out of the SAP system had resulted in “substantial but unquantified” costs.

To date the programme has delivered just £6m in savings – compared to the £190m in savings projected at the outset.

But the council report noted that under the original plan, most of the savings would be realised in the latter stages of the seven-year contract.

Southwest One, which includes SCC along with Taunton Deane Borough Council, Avon and Somerset Police Authority and Avon and Somerset Constabulary, along with technology partner IBM, was intended to deliver world-class IT systems to public sector bodies that would otherwise be unable to afford them.

But the first phase of the SAP rollout proved tortuous, with the start date delayed and problems with paying suppliers.

The SCC review panel did, however, note that Southwest One had successfully helped peg back the cost of delivering back-office functions.

It concluded that the contract should be renegotiated to the benefit of all parties.