89% of UK councils are now sharing services, many of them in IT, as local authorities continue in having to tighten their belts.
314 replies to Freedom of Information requests to local councils by Citrix revealed that 279 collaborate with other organisations in providing services, with only 35 saying they do not.
The shared services include telephony systems, resident data in customer relationship management (CRM) systems and IT support.
For example, Canterbury, Dover and Thanet District Councils share IT as they try and save £2.7m over four years. They have consolidated their individual IT systems into a shared mobile workspace under the banner of East Kent Services, providing customer services, income, and payments.
Other core social services such as adoption management, disaster recovery and mentoring young people are also often shared, as local government seeks to find an additional £10bn of savings in the next two years, having already cut the same amount since 2011/12.
Jason Tooley, UK & Ireland country manager, Citrix, said: "While most councils are already seeing the value of sharing services, there is an opportunity to simultaneously transform the workplace and deliver enhanced frontline services.
"As the reliance on this vast network of shared services grows and inevitably becomes more integral to service delivery, it is critical that employees can work productively wherever they may be."
