London Borough Of Hounslow Embarks On Digital Transformation

The London Borough of Hounslow has recently extended a contract with an existing supplier to continue with its digital transformation.

Business proves innovation firm Liberata is working with the local authority to provide it with revenue collection and benefit assessment services.

The £9.5m deal will see the company oversee the digital transformation of these services as part of Hounslow’s drive to enable greater citizen self-service and automate its existing business processes.

The channel shift towards digital services is predicted to bring significant cost savings to the council over the next 30 months.

“The extension of the contract will streamline administrative services so we can save money for council taxpayers and free up funds for our priorities such as schools and care for older people,” claimed cabinet member for finance and citizen engagement Councillor Theo Dennison.

Liberata is providing the Borough with business processes automation and change management services, including automating the previously manual and resource intensive process of assessing benefit claims.

Citizens will also be given online self-service options to pay tax bills and amend personal details, helping the authority to meet public demand for digital services as more citizens adopt an online-first attitude.

Cost Savings Since 2005

The partnership between Hounslow council and Liberata first began in 2005 and has saved around £22m to date by developing multi-skilled employee teams and improving debt profiling.

The council’s tax collection rate now stands at 97.8%, the upper quartile percentage rate for London.

Liberata has also helped the local authority recover a further £2m in come from the collection of historic arrears.

Such savings are passed onto citizens, as Hounslow is one of just three authorities in the country which has maintained its council tax rate since 2006.

“We are really pleased to be extending our partnership with the London Borough of Hounslow by helping it on its digital transformation journey,” claimed COO of local government business process services at Liberata Vijay Chandiramani.

“Local authorities continue to face the challenge of delivering greater efficiencies in response to tightening budgets, meaning service innovation is key.

“Our work with Hounslow is a great example of how we are using the know how we have collected from working in the revenue collection and benefits space to deliver a low risk, high value service,” he added.

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