The appointment of Birketts LLP and expenditure of up to £20,000 from the agreed implementation budget of £0.746m for the purposes providing legal advice and preparing the legal agreement(s) pertaining to the proposed transfer of Careline service-users and staff to the expanded Helpline service provided through Colchester City Council’s arms-length trading company Amphora, along with Out of Hours, Sheltered Housing and CCTV monitoring (as agreed by the Cabinet on 21 February 2025).

The Council does not have the in-house capacity nor breadth of expertise and specialisms within its own legal services team to progress and prepare a legal agreement(s) for the Careline/Helpline transfer; and thus external support is required.

Progressing legal work and legal in house or seek quotes seek quotes from alternative legal firms.
See report for more details.