Capita partnership acknowledged for successful service transformation

Cheshire West and Chester Council has been awarded the Service Transformation Award at the Local Government IT Excellence Awards 2009. The authority established itself as a new unitary council in April 2009 and the challenge was to deliver a single technical and operational platform for the new revenues and benefits service. This was successfully achieved by the four constituent district and county councils working in close partnership with Capita.

The transformation was delivered on time and on budget to coincide with the launch of the new council. This project has already delivered efficiency improvements with an enhanced single service to the citizen and will be the foundation for transforming further citizen services in future.

Jerry Faulkner, senior manager, Revenues and Benefits at Cheshire West and Chester Council, said: “Being a new unitary authority, our overall aim from the outset was to provide our residents with access to all revenues and benefits services available from the authority through a single application, and to ensure we remain an approachable and responsive organisation. Providing a top quality service for our many customers and communities is our main priority and we believe Capita is helping us achieve this.”

Prior to being formally engaged, Capita, as an incumbent supplier to the three district councils agreed to support the proposal and develop an outline project framework. Other suppliers also supported this process and partnered with Capita to ensure the draft project proposals were aligned and deliverable. Capita faced a huge task in aligning all the systems and designing the new primary platform and worked very closely with the internal team to ensure this work was completed successfully.

Paul Millard, operations director at Capita Software Services, commented: “Working with Cheshire West and Chester Council was an exciting project as it established itself as a new entity. Facilitating such a merger, especially from a technical and process point of view can seem daunting but the joint working and commitment demonstrated by all parties from day one ensured a smooth transition. It is great that this project has been recognised by the industry, but more importantly, that it has resulted in a high level of service being provided which the citizens of Cheshire West and Chester expect and deserve.”

The awards which were announced at the Socitm 09 Conference in Edinburgh on 12th October 2009 are in their 14th year and seek to highlight and reward local authorities that have used IT systems or processes to improve the efficiency and delivery of services within local communities.

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Capita Press Office, 0207 654 2399

Capita Software Services attributes its position as the leading supplier of software solutions to the public sector and housing marketplace, to its strong partnership approach. It works closely with customers to provide tailored systems in the disciplines of customer services, mobile technology, payment collection, income management, integrated housing management, revenues and benefits processing and services and policy training. Capita Software Services’ customers benefit from a bespoke service, helping them to streamline their processes and deliver a high performance citizen-centric service.

As a division of the Capita Group Plc, the company has experienced strong and consistent growth since its inception in 1994 and works with over 70 per cent of local authorities in the UK. Further information on Capita Software Services can be found at: www.capita-software.co.uk

The Capita Group Plc is the UK’s leading provider of BPO and integrated professional support service solutions.  With 36,000 people at more than 300 sites, including 60 business centres across the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and India, the Group uses its expertise, infrastructure and scale benefits to transform its clients’ services, driving down costs and adding value. Capita is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (CPI.L), and is a constituent of the FTSE100 with revenues for 2008 of £2,441 million. Further information on The Capita Group Plc can be found at: http://www.capita.co.uk