The East Kent Services Committee approved the service contract for PartnershipOne, a new 'local authority trading company' that will deliver Revenue, Benefits and Customer Services to Canterbury City Council, Dover District Council, and Thanet District Council. The committee also agreed to delegate responsibility for the contract management to the Head of Shared Services.

Approval of the Service Contract between PartnershipOne and Dover District Council, Thanet District Council and Canterbury City Council

The committee discussed a report on the approval of the new service contract for the delivery of Revenue, Benefits and Customer Services to the three East Kent councils by PartnershipOne. The new company has been set up by the three councils as a replacement for Civica, who currently provide the services but will be exiting the public sector business process outsourcing market in January 2025. The new service will formally launch on 1 February 2025, with existing staff transferring under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006¹. PartnershipOne will also be taking on the existing contract's Key Performance Indicators.

PartnershipOne is a company controlled by the Councils and predominantly formed to contract with the Councils. Any contracts let to PartnershipOne will benefit from the Teckal exemption under regulation 12 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015) meaning that a contract can be awarded to the company without the need to expose the contract to competition.

The service contract is for seven years, running from 1 February 2025 to 31 January 2032, and contains a break clause that can be triggered after two years. The value of the contract was discussed in a confidential appendix to the report.

The contract will be managed by a dedicated client team, reporting to a contract board made up of officers from the three councils. This board will meet monthly.