The Court of Appeal has confirmed that the judicial review of the One Barnet programme was out of time, and has refused the application against it.

Barnet Council will now continue with its plans to outsource back office services to Capita and enter into a joint venture to deliver development and regulatory services. The programnme will save the council £126m over the next ten years.

Trowers & Hamlins, who acted for the council on this case, said the ruling was a landmark case on the outsourcing of public services.

Helen Randall, head of public sector commercial, said: ‘This landmark case gives confidence to all councils considering partnerships, joint ventures and outsourcings to save money and improve services including regulatory, customer and back office functions.'

Barnet Council has welcomed the judge's decision. Richard Cornelius, leader of the council, said: ‘We can all now get on with making the huge savings in our back office costs which we need to do if we are to continue protecting our frontline services. Nobody has stepped forward to propose either cuts in services or increased taxes as an alternative to this programme.'