Over the next few years, the public sector, and especially local authorities, will face some serious challenges: as well as ever-tightening budgets, higher labour costs and general inflation causing financial pressure, there is the new procurement bill and a growing emphasis on environmental performance, social value and governance with the emergence of ESG.

All of this means that procuring essential services such as FM will become increasingly difficult, balancing the need for councils to receive value for money with meeting their wider obligations and serving local communities.

Recently we have seen local authorities turn away from traditional private sector outsourcing for a number of reasons, not the least being a drop-off in service standards.

I believe the new procurement regulations will lead to more councils exploring alternative models and embracing innovation and new ways of working.

At Vertas our local authority partners are telling us that versatility, flexibility and the ability to trade commercially – generating much needed additional income for the council – are increasingly what they are looking for.

Partnership working, especially with established local authority trading companies such as Vertas, provides a winning combination of ethical commercialism and public service values.

The LATC Joint Venture model has been in existence for more than 15 years, and our partnerships have evolved to meet the challenges faced by councils. They are based on shared control of every aspect of their activities, from service delivery to supporting local communities, environmental sustainability, governance and, crucially, generating increased revenue through commercial trading.

This shared control means that we can adapt such key elements as deploying resources, policies, service levels, financial measures and investment quickly and effectively, at both management and operational levels, without protracted contract negotiations.

• Vertas is wholly owned by Suffolk County Council, and is one of the UK's leading LATCs. The company has developed joint venture partnerships with a number of local authorities, including Derbyshire County Council.

Contact Vertas: mail@vertas.co.uk www.vertas.co.uk

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