Rutland County Council has approved a new contract for the schools admission service at a cost of £354,952.

Members of the Cabinet heard at their meeting on 7 March 2023, that the four-year contract will run from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2027.

Speaking to members, Conservative Cllr David Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Education and Children's Services, said: "One of the secret weapons at this county council is Julie Brown as she knows everything about school admission systems, and has been working them for a long time and in my opinion does a cracking good job.

"Our school admissions system with Capita, which we have been using for over ten years now, is due to expire at the end of March 2024. It is quite a complicated system, and we were duty-bound to look at alternatives with the team looking at this, led by Andy Nix, Head of IT and Customer Services, determining on balance that we should stick with the current system.

"As a result of carefully chipping away at the contract, we have in fact made a saving of £26,000 per annum on what we would normally have expected to pay, and I am therefore asking Cabinet to approve this new four-year maintenance and hosting contract at a cost of £354,952 subject to inflation."

Leader of the Council, Cllr Lucy Stephenson said: "What I like most about this programme is that we know how to use it, and we are getting bets value for money through carefully renegotiating an existing contract and renewing it with providers we already know. Having an efficient schools admission system can alleviate some of the stress involved from parents worrying about where their children will be going – it is very important that it therefore runs smoothly."

Members of the Cabinet unanimously approved the new four-year contract for the schools admission service.