Northamptonshire Council is to reduce its core staff to 150 people, by transferring 4,000 employees to four new service providers. Under the plans, the council will remain the majority shareholder in each service provider.

Whilst the council already outsources services such as street lighting and road services to Balfour Beatty and Kier, the new plans mean that the council will be reduced to a commissioning role, purchasing services from external bodies.

A report by the Local Government Association last year suggested that of the 27 county councils in England, Northamptonshire was the ‘least able to fund itself’, in part because it charges the lowest council tax of any shire authority.

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