Revenue and benefits merger ‘saved £1m’

A pioneering partnership between Dorset councils claims merging departments and cutting staff numbers has saved £1 million.

Four years ago West Dorset District Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council merged their revenues and benefits teams, the people responsible for collecting council tax and business rates, paying housing and council tax benefit, and investigating benefit fraud.

Operating with fewer staff who now share the work, use the same IT systems and learn from each other, the outfit has now saved £1m.