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The appointment of Birketts LLP and
expenditure of up to £20,000 from the agreed implementation
budget of £0.746m for the purposes providing legal advice and
preparing the legal agreement(s) pertaining to the proposed
transfer of Careline service-users and staff to the expanded
Helpline service provided through Colchester City Council’s
arms-length trading company Amphora, along with Out of Hours,
Sheltered Housing and CCTV monitoring (as agreed by the Cabinet on
21 February 2025).

Reasons for the decision

The Council does not have the in-house
capacity nor breadth of expertise and specialisms within its own
legal services team to progress and prepare a legal agreement(s)
for the Careline/Helpline transfer; and thus external support is
required.

Alternative options considered

Progressing legal work and legal in house or
seek quotes seek quotes from alternative legal firms.
See report for more details.