Flexibility and a strong partnership

Borough of Pendle

Increased Savings Deliver a Plan For The Future

With a budget of £21m, Pendle Borough Council in Lancashire provide services to a population of 90,000. Liberata has been working in partnership with Pendle Council since 2005 and a new contract sees this continuing to 2030. The council need to save a further £3.8m over the next three years and build for the future. Pendle adjoins Burnley, another customer of Liberata in this region.

“Our partnership with Liberata now runs to 2030 as they continue to help us reduce our budget deficit whilst delivering high quality services.”

Dean Langton – Chief Executive

How Liberata helped

Collaboration

Liberata is supporting the council with channel shift in corporate services. We also support them with events and implementation dates to ensure we are communicating the same message to different audiences. The team at Pendle are now also involved in servicing a number of other strategic partners across Liberata, operating as a shared service centre.

Digital maximisation

We are redesigning all services to exploit developments in technology including the continual shaping and set-up of the Digital by Default programme. Further investment in intelligent customer experiences via Liberata’s partnership with Jadu will deliver increased savings while the implementation of further IT changes will benefit employees and supplies too.

Engagement

Liberata engage with the council’s executive leadership team regularly in their frontline role as the eyes and ears of both the council and Liberata. Members are also encouraged to transact online so they can experience the same process as local people using the services.

Social value

Walk-in customers are shown how to use a PC in the customer service centre or how to find council services on their own device ensuring they are confident in accessing services. Free WiFi in the centre ensures online access is available to all and that citizens are not excluded from accessing council services Throughout the contract, Liberata has been supporting the council with reviving the local economy and specifically with ensuring that local businesses apply for business rates relief, to which more than 70% of them are entitled.

Our targets were...

Deliver Savings

A true partnership that through its flexibility is delivering continued cost savings to the council.

Reduce budget deficit

Liberata will contribute to further reductions of almost £4m going forward whilst boosting revenue.

Implement the channel migration plan

Channel shift continues towards its target of moving 65% of customer transactions online while ensuring there is sufficient provision for vulnerable customers.

Ensure it is easy to access services without technical knowledge

Free to use WiFi has been installed in the customer service centre and one-to-one help is available for people who need it.

Revive the local economy

Over 150 jobs created in the town centre and support for local businesses applying for business rates relief.

Invest in IT services

Legacy systems have been removed and an in-house IT department transferred to Liberata, delivering efficiencies and speeding up processes.

What we achieved

150+

new jobs created

15 Mins

Majority of customers seen face-to-face within 15 minutes

65%

target for moving customer transactions online is on track

£8m

deficit reduction contribution alongside increased revenue

£3.5m

increase in Council Tax collected and collection rates maintained

81%

drop in face-to-face appointments as digital self-service continues its’ rollout

See how Liberata can help your organisation.

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As a Council we are focused on ensuring that the services delivered are both sustainable and of the highest quality. We are delighted to be working with Liberata to help deliver these services on behalf of our residents and businesses. Liberata stood out with its ability to drive transformational change and improve customer access and digital services.
Richard Baker
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
Borough of Broxbourne
Liberata is the ideal delivery partner to help us achieve our aims, whilst ensuring we can drive down processing times and improve the service for our customers. Council tax and business rates collection will improve, ensuring that we have the funds to deliver the vital services that have a positive impact on residents’ lives. We look forward to working closely in partnership with Liberata to help achieve our aims
Rebecca Keene
Broxbourne Borough Council
Eastleigh Borough Council has worked with Liberata for a number of years who undertake the council's empty home reviews, and I must say, their service exceeded all expectations. From start to finish, they demonstrated professionalism, efficiency, and a genuine commitment to addressing this critical issue in our community. Thanks to Liberata, the council has been able to maximise our empty home bonus year on year. This positive impact on our community cannot be overstated.
Kerrie Thomas
Eastleigh Borough Council
The RV Finder service from Liberata has really helped us ensure that our data is as accurate as possible and, when the VOA has processed the outstanding cases, I fully expect to see more than £1,000,000 of additional RV. The “risk and reward” model works well and the Council only has to pay for their success and the service is something that we will use on a regular basis.
Steve King
Leicester City Council
Liberata has been empowered to create a seamless integration with technology to digitally transform the Revenues and Benefits service whilst trying to protect local jobs. The joint strategy has helped to deliver innovative solutions that have exceeded expectations, whilst providing savings to the authority. This surge in digital engagement has helped deliver strong year one outturn with electronic billing and the technology will enable us to show improvements in the benefits speed of processing and in Council Tax processing of moves, discounts and exemptions.
Andy Stevens
Swindon Borough Council
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