Kent County Council is to review the outsourcing of its legal services department, as part of a controversial assessment of contracting out nearly all of the council’s services.

The council’s Transformation Plan, seen by the Gazette, is part of a move to save £240m in a climate of ‘unparalled austerity’. 

Council leader Paul Carter appealed to employees to back the programme. ‘I am personally asking you to support the approach we have set out in this plan,’ he wrote.

‘The scale of the change required is so fundamental that the traditional way KCC has delivered change to its services will be insufficient.’

The legal services department will be one of the council’s first functions under review in phase one of its outsourcing programme, which will begin in October and run for six months. Kent intends to complete its outsourcing programme by April 2016.

‘KCC has a strong track record operating as a commercial provider to deliver successful and competitive traded services, for example our nationally recognised legal services,’ the document said.

‘We will build on this success to explore the most appropriate business models that will allow us to exploit market opportunities and further maximise our trading potential.’

Kent County Council was one of the first legal service teams to become a business in its own right and generate external income from outside the authority. It now sells services to more than 300 other public sector bodies.

Last month Kent Legal Services recorded a profit rise of 20% to £2.4m for 2012/13. Turnover rose £1m to £12m.

Head of legal Geoff Wild has been a pioneer in the local government shared legal services and was named as Leader of the Year in the Law Society Awards 2011. He was ‘highly commended’ in The Law Society Awards as In-House Solicitor of the Year in both 2009 and 2012.