Joint Venture Between Liverpool Council and BT To End

A 13-year partnership between Liverpool City Council (LCC) and BT is set to end after the telecoms company decided it couldn’t issue a further price reduction to meet the authority’s need for savings.  

The city’s mayor Joe Anderson has recommended talks be held to discuss the transfer of ownership of the Liverpool Direct Ltd (LDL) venture from BT to the council.

“BT and LCC have enjoyed a long and successful partnership through LDL, bringing commercial expertise, transforming services and bringing in resources to the city,” claimed the mayor.

“LDL has created over 300 jobs and generated multi-million pounds worth of savings since July 2001, as well as bringing in around “90m investment and avoidable costs for the residents of the city and the city region,” he added.

Currently, the scheme, which was created in 2001, includes HR and payroll, IT and web services, customer access, and revenue and benefits services.

The two parties say they are aiming to complete negotiations by the end of March, with the implementation of proposed new arrangements happening over the following months.

According to the council, financial discussions with BT have been taking place for several months due to the “serious financial position” the city is in. Further savings were needed but the company has reached a point where it cannot reduces its prices any further.

“Both BT and LCC agree that now is the right time to set a new direction for the relationship between us,” claimed Neil Rogers, LDL Chairman and BT Global Services president.

LDL has had great success and was ground-breaking in its day but [we are] working with [the council] to agree whether a different approach would better help the city meet the increasing challenges it faces,” he added.

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