Aylesbury Vale District Council to make savings with legal services deal

Through changes to the supply of its legal services Aylesbury Vale District Council is set to make savings over the next five years.

A recent meeting of AVDC’s full council has recommended the delegation of the authority’s legal services provision to HB Public Law, the shared legal service run out of Harrow Council, commencing from 1 September 2015.

HB Public Law was created in 2012 by combining Harrow and Barnet Councils’ legal teams in a shared service which specialises in public law, providing services to local authorities, schools, academies, local authority trading companies and housing associations.

AVDC’s cabinet and council had agreed at meetings in April 2015 this year that the authority’s legal service should be delivered through a third party to help address budget pressures in future years.

The cost of legal services has been cut from £742,000 to £600,000 since 2013 and the council is confident that further savings can be achieved.

HB Public Law is already providing an interim service for AVDC so the transition is expected to be relatively straight forward.

The new approach to providing legal services is part of the council’s New Business Model (NBM) work, an integrated programme of service innovation, investment and change.

Over the past five years more than £10.5 million in savings have been delivered by generating new income streams, cost savings and efficiencies to help manage the authority’s shrinking budget.

Councillor Neil Blake, Leader of the Council, said: ‘With tightly squeezed local government finances, it is imperative that we take every opportunity to transform the way we work without impacting on residents, in this case delegating our legal services to a third party. I’m confident we have in HB Public Law a cost-effective, flexible, robust and reliable legal service provider with a track record of delivering value for money.‘