Throughout the last decade, Local Authorities have had to react and adapt radically to a series of almost existential (in some cases) challenges to how they provide services to their residents, businesses and communities. Those challenges won’t be fading away anytime soon and the importance of the role that local council’s play is evidenced in the way that much government support for sections of the public is being channelled through councils.

Administering emergency financial interventions by the Chancellor in support of the public apart, the wider challenges for councils haven’t faded away (and won’t be, anytime soon) but where private rented sector selective licensing is concerned, councils don’t need to reinvent the wheel.

Where delivering key initiatives (decent homes, improved health outcomes, safer streets, regeneration) is concerned, Local authorities have already been working with partners for some time now. Sometimes it’s working more closely with partners they’ve worked with for years - such as police and fire & rescue but other times, it could be working with a private sector delivery partner on establishing selective licensing in an area. Saying this does though raise eyebrows in some quarters where delivery partners are equated with outsourcing firms. The two are very distinct however and any comparison is like that proverbially attempted between apples and oranges.

For one thing, working with a delivery partner doesn’t involve offloading council staff on to a private provider on a poorer contract. The delivery partner model allows existing council financial and staff resources to be used more effectively by making efficiencies via processes not payroll. Council officers are freed to concentrate on effective enforcement against non compliant landlords whilst the delivery partner deals with supporting good landlords in proving (to the council) their compliance with standards and with the licence conditions set by the council.

Whilst government in its review of selective licensing accepted that most selective licensing schemes run over budget, it remains the case that working with a delivery partner means that over the 5 year term of a scheme, a housing or licensing team will need less subsidy from the general revenue fund and can, at the same time, receive funds that it gets via civil penalties.

Transparency and democratic accountability are actively retained at all times by the council through close day to day partnership working and officers having real time access to delivery partner data on landlord compliance and with regular reviews of the scheme’s progress being put before elected members and as well as being published more widely on the council’s website, social media feeds and in the local press.

One widespread critique of outsourcing is that, as a model, it effectively sucks funds away from the role of providing services to the public as a “public service” and sends those funds to shareholders for their profit whilst the public get a poorer service and the shareholders don’t have to be accountable. Delivery partner working doesn’t have the luxury of being so arm's length. Everyone is aware that these days making a community work and getting better outcomes (whether that community is a village, town, city - or an electoral ward) is a question of “all hands on deck” and those hands can only work successfully in partnership and not outsourced at arm’s length. A selective licence delivery partner doesn’t replace a council team, it supports it.