Lincolnshire County Council is looking at sharing its HR administration and payroll services with an authority over 100 miles away.
When its current contract with Serco comes to an end in April 2020 it says it is looking to “enter a shared service” with Herefordshire County Council.
That authority has set up its own company called Hoople to carry out that work, and Lincolnshire’s council is to look at that company to run its HR in future.
Richard Wills, interim chief executive at the county council, said: “Our contract with Serco has saved the council money and some services have been run effectively.
“However other services such as our payroll function, have not been run as we expected. It’s right that we now look at how the market has changed since the beginning of the contract in 2015, and what our options are going forward.
“The option to enter a shared service agreement with Hoople is recommended to give the council increased confidence in its payroll arrangements by partnering with an organisation who specialises in local authority payroll.
“Although we are two years away from the end of the contract, we are looking at all the different options so that any changes will be well-managed. No decisions are being taken at this stage about other support services such as IMT, our customer service centre, and various finance support services while those options are explored in more detail.”
