Revenue and benefits service for Northampton will now be delivered by Milton Keynes Council

The LGSS Partnership saw a number of services shared between the two councils, as well as Cambridgeshire County Council. But a report from NBC says that the LGSS partnership has ‘demised’, and councillors have moved quickly to ensure that one of the three councils becomes the ‘lead authority’ for revenue and benefits services.

Although the function will not transfer to Milton Keynes – and will remain with NBC until March 2021 before transferring to the new West Northamptonshire unitary council – technically the delivery of the service will be by Milton Keynes Council.

Outlining how this will affect staff, a report at an extraordinary meeting of the borough council, held on Monday (September 28) states: “It is neither assumed nor expected that under this model staff who deliver the Revenues and Benefits services for the borough will transfer to MKC. Those borough staff who transferred to the county council as part of the LGSS changes in 2013 are expected to remain Northamptonshire County Council staff and then become West Northants staff. It will then be for West Northants Council to consider the model going forwards.”

Councillor Brandon Eldred, cabinet member for finance, says: “We’ve got the best team in the county when it comes to revenues and benefits. They look after the most vulnerable people in the borough, and although they work with LGSS they feel part of the NBC team.

“They will in due course move over to the new unitary council. This will not change our service, and there will be no change to the controls NBC will have over policy. The main change will be the head of revenue and benefits, which will report to the section 151 officer (chief finance officer) at Milton Keynes.”

Labour leader Councillor Danielle Stone added: “This is a decision in a timescale that was none of our choosing. We challenged the wisdom of NBC originally becoming a client of LGSS, because it was a failed experiment. Now we have the most ridiculous situation where it’s going to Milton Keynes.”

And Lib Dem leader Sally Beardsworth said: “This has been rushed through and I worry for the safety of our staff.”

Opposition councillors also criticised the short time they were given to make a decision, and questioned who implemented a November 1 deadline to make a decision on the issue.