SOMERSET County Council has decided to make an early exit from its contract with suppliers of services costing £14 million a year.

The contract with Southwest One was due to expire in November 2017 but the county council cabinet has decided to bring all services back in-house within the next 12 months.

Southwest One was set up with IBM in 2007 to provide administrative and back office services for the county council, Taunton Deane Borough Council and Avon and Somerset Police.

The council expects costs to fall significantly once it has regained control of those services.

The pull-out has been welcomed by Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger who said any backlash must not be felt in West Somerset, which is currently sharing services with Taunton Deane.?

But, said Mr Liddell-Grainger: “West Somerset District Council had nothing to do with Southwest One and was not party to the contractual arrangements in the first place.

“I am determined to see none of the expense for putting right others’ mistakes falls on West Somerset.”

Taunton Deane councillors will debate the issue in January – and Avon and Somerset Police Authority is now believed to be talking to Wiltshire police.

In 2012 and 2013 services such as procurement, property and facilities management, HR and finance advisory, and some parts of ICT were successfully returned to the council.

Leader of the council, Cllr John Osman, said: “This is an important decision and has been taken after a great deal of consideration.

“Having carefully weighed up the benefits and costs of letting the contract run its course or leaving it early, we have concluded that an early exit is in the best interests of the county council and its tax payers.

“Our partners in Southwest One have been kept informed and we will be working closely with IBM and Southwest One to make the transfer back of services as smooth as possible.

“This contract was created nearly a decade ago when the economic climate was very different. Since then local government has changed dramatically with a well-documented fall in funding and consequent need to make savings.

“We are a smaller organisation that has made big changes to the way it works. The fixed price nature of the contract has prevented us from making some of the savings that should come with those changes. 

“More change is on the horizon and the pressure to make efficiencies and savings has never been higher. We need more flexibility than this contract allows and leaving early allows us to start making changes and savings sooner.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger said ending the contract was only logical and he had every admiration for the county council’s decision to bite the bullet and get out.

“There is inevitably going to be some small cost to the council but whatever it is it will be a price worth paying,” he said.

“I hate to say ‘I told you so’ but I was one of many people who warned at the time that the arrangement was unworkable – as it has proved to be, mainly because no-one ever took charge of it.”