Could County Hall become a super-centre?

NOTTS County Council could become a "super-centre" for office work currently done by other local authorities.

The move would see the county take on human resources (HR), finance and payroll tasks from other authorities – and some believe this could pave the way for local authority mergers here.

The departments which deal with HR, finance and payroll still rely on paperwork but would be updated with the latest computer software if changes are agreed.

Some £8.3m has been put away by the county council to cover the so-called "change programme".

The plan should ultimately save money for every local authority involved – but this could come at the cost of jobs.

There would be demolition work at County Hall to create open-plan offices in the main building.

The idea was floated after the authority halted plans to share back-office work with Leicestershire County Council.

Tim Gregory, County Hall director of corporate services, denied the latest plan were a step towards unitary status, or mergers, in Notts.

He said: "We are convinced that we have to change our business systems. Our HR system and finance is antiquated.

"We are one of the few local authorities that has not done something about its business systems.

"Nearly all of the big authorities have had to move towards this.

"It is not as if we can continue as we are. We are very, very old-fashioned. We have got to find a very significant amount of money. We have got to improve the organisation and drive out cost.

"I would like to be able to offer services to other people but I don't think our systems are strong enough.

"We have not got to the point of making that decision. We will be putting more detail on the council papers later."

He said: "There will be further job changes in subsequent years. These changes will be part of those indicative numbers.

"It will impact on the way we manage the business across the whole organisation."

Council chief executive Mick Burrows said: "We need to invest to save. This means spending now to save on our annual running costs over the next few years and beyond.

"We are initially proposing to allocate £8.3m. The programme will directly affect the way we work, how we operate as a business and how we will provide services in the future.

"The main costs will be for staffing, the purchasing and implementing of new financial, IT and human resources systems and an internal staff restructure."

Lib Dem leader Coun Jason Zadrozny said: "It is one of those ideas that sounds very good, if it's about sharing services – but whether it is deliverable is questionable.

"They may make savings but they don't know by how much.

"I think it is unlikely that this is a step towards unitary status by the council but it would make it easier if unitary status was on the agenda."

chris.birkle@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk