1 Nov 2001

From November 1st 2001 Slough Council's building maintenance and cleaning service is to be run by outside partners, Interserve.

Contracts valued up to £14m between the Council and Interserve give the company the job of looking after the Council's 8,000 council houses and other buildings.

320 staff have transferred from the Council to Interserve - a specialist company with the focus and experience of delivering well-run building and maintenance services for local councils.

The deal drawn up between the Council and Interserve aims to:

• Keep the former Council-run building maintenance and cleaning service intact and help it to grow.
• Take on all existing staff and provide them with better job security and prospects.
• Share any profits with the Council (above operating costs) to re-invest in services.
• Provide Interserve with a lump sum for repairs - using some of that to catch up on a backlog of repairs.
• Set-up a 24-hour FREEPHONE helpdesk with staff available, able to speak several languages.
• Work towards tenants being able to report repairs via the Internet.
• Set strict targets on performance.

Leader of the Council, Rob Anderson said:
"This is a partnership between the Council and Interserve. We will be working closely together to achieve improved services to customers, like council house tenants and better job prospects for staff. All the evidence shows Interserve has the right expertise experience, financial security and know-how to make this work well."

Gavin Scarr Hall, Managing Director of Interserve (Facilities Services) said:

"We look forward to working in partnership with the Council, employees and tenants to delivery an improved quality of service and better value for money. We will actively look for fresh business in the area to increase opportunities for staff."

The Council began searching for a partner to take on its building maintenance and cleaning service in November last year after a review of the current operation found improvements were urgently needed.

It searched for a specialist outside partner with the focus and experience of delivering a well-run council building and maintenance service. Interserve was chosen from a number of short-listed candidates and was the favourite of staff, members and council house tenants who had been consulted throughout.