Decision

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.