THE Forest of Dean District Council has launched a new revenues and benefits partnership with Gloucester City Council and Civica which it says will save council-tax payers £100,000.

A spokesman says the new agreement will see the Forest of Dean District Council, Gloucester City Council and handling specialist company Civica deliver a revenues and benefits service which keeps jobs in the Forest area, maintains and improves the delivery of local services while achieving annual savings in excess of £100,000 a year.

"By combining services with Gloucester City Council, Forest of Dean District Council will benefit from a cost efficient service model with lower operating costs than retaining in-house provision," the council states.

"Through the partnership with Civica, jobs will be retained within the local area and the council will have a stable platform to drive back-office savings in administration and the right environment to support innovation and pilot new ways of working to improve the delivery of services.

"This will build on the existing partnership with Gloucester City Council which currently supports the Forest of Dean's welfare rights services."

Cllr Brian Robinson, cabinet member for Efficient Council and Planning Policy at the Forest of Dean District Council, said: "We are very pleased to be able to join up with Gloucester City Council in this innovative partnership for our revenues and benefits services. This enables us to deliver an even better service for our customers giving them the option of going to Coleford or, in the future to Gloucester, whichever is most convenient.

"Staff will continue to work in the Forest of Dean and we will deliver a saving of £100,000 without reducing the level of service we provide.

"The government's Universal Credit will eventually replace housing benefit and the steps we are taking will help us prepare for future changes locally and keep jobs in the Forest of Dean. The council already works successfully with Gloucester City Council in a number of areas including welfare benefits advice."

The Forest of Dean District Council already uses Civica's specialist IT systems to facilitate revenues and benefits services including fraud management.