The Shared Services Joint Committee noted the Shared Services Update Report. The Committee also recommended the approval of proposals to create a new shared Compliance Team.

Shared Services Update Report

The Committee received a report on the Shared Services arrangement between Chorley Council and South Ribble Borough Council. The report included a draft of a dashboard that will be used to monitor the performance of the Shared Services. It noted that most shared services are operating on a 50/50 basis, but that there are a number of exceptions including:

• The IT Infrastructure Team which is split 40% Chorley Council and 60% South Ribble Borough Council
• The IT Digitisation Team which is split 20% Chorley Council and 80% South Ribble Borough Council.

It also listed the services that were not currently being shared. These include Environmental Health, Planning and Enforcement and Economic Growth.

It should be noted that proposals are being developed to review the percentage split of the Events and Historical Site teams, to reflect the needs of both councils with a view to move to a 50:50 split.

— Shared Services Update ReportSSJC Report Template

The report also included a case study of how shared services had reduced the number of Full Time Equivalent employees in some departments, whilst also allowing the Councils to create new, specialist posts.

In July 2024, the Local Government Association published several workforce capacity reports for key professions such as Legal services, ICT, Finance, and Building Control.

— Shared Services Update ReportSSJC Report Template

The report concluded by highlighting a number of areas that could be considered for future sharing arrangements between the two councils.

Shared Compliance Team

The Committee considered a report on the creation of a shared Compliance Team by merging the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Planning Enforcement Teams at Chorley Council and South Ribble Borough Council.

The report noted that there is currently a temporary arrangement in place for the management of CIL for Chorley Council to support South Ribble Borough Council. CIL is a charge that local authorities can choose to impose on developers undertaking new building projects in their area. ¹

The sharing of knowledge and resources has proved beneficial to the collection of CIL in South Ribble, and the improvement of the processes. There is a related issue in terms of Planning Enforcement capacity and another item on this agenda presents proposals for creating a shared CIL and Planning Enforcement service.

— Shared Services Update ReportSSJC Report Template

The proposed new team would consist of 7 Full Time Equivalent posts. This would include a shared Head of Service, a shared Team Leader, three shared officers and two enforcement officers who would work solely for one of the two local authorities. The report proposed that one enforcement officer would be based in Chorley, and the other in South Ribble. The new team would cost £431,000. This would be funded by charging each of the councils £184,000, with the remaining £63,000 being funded from the Community Infrastructure Levy. The report estimates that this new arrangement would save the councils £50,000 per year.

The report acknowledged that the creation of a shared service may initially cause some disruption whilst staff adapt to the new ways of working, but concluded that

the sharing of good practice and development of a larger team is likely to lead to a more resilient service that is better equipped to meet future demand.

— Proposed Shared Compliance Team