Kent Legal Services delivers record £3.7m contribution to county council

According to figures released today, the team made a £2.42m profit - also a record - against a turnover of £12m.

A further £1.3m came through savings achieved through its Evolution, Efficiency, Enterprise project, which was launched last year with aim of saving the council £3m by the end of 2015. 

Kent Legal Services identified negotiations to bring paralympic cycling to Kent and a new mortgage scheme for first time buyers as among its most significant successes during the year.

Its current workload includes advising on Kent County Council's grammar school expansion scheme and a high speed broadband project.

Geoff Wild, Director of Governance and Law at Kent County Council, said: “It’s been a phenomenal year for Kent Legal Services. Our record figures combined with the first year of our Evolution project mean that we have made a significant contribution to the council at a time of great financial pressure.

"Our work with clients on suppressing their legal risk has borne real fruit and is massively reducing Kent’s legal costs in real terms at a time of growing need and shrinking budgets. Our profit this year means that Kent Legal Services has now contributed nearly £11m over the past 10 years to front-line council services."

Wild said he expects the Evolution project to save a further £1m in 2013/14.