In December 2014 Northamptonshire County Council announced plans to outsource services in a bid to save £148 million over the next five years.

The council currently employs around 4,000 staff but plans to downsize to a core workforce of 150 once the outsourcing project is complete. The majority of its services will be outsourced to four independently operated “community interest companies” that will be free to compete with others for council services.

Representatives from UNISON, Britain’s biggest trade union, have expressed concerns regarding the future jobs of current council staff (who are likely to be TUPE’d) and whether other councils will follow Northamptonshire’s lead, suggesting that this project could be “the beginning of the end for public services as we know it.”

Tonia Williams, regional organiser at Unison, said: “The way this is being presented to staff is that everything is going to be okay, you will all have jobs in the new community interest companies.

“But what they are not really being honest about is that they can set these companies up, but further down the line the contracts for Northamptonshire’s council functions could go out to the open market.”

However, earlier in the year council leader Jim Harker claimed the council’s traditional methods “not only no longer work financially, but also do not meet the needs of the citizens.”

The changes are likely to be the biggest seen in Northamptonshire County Council’s 125 year history.

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