SLOUGH Borough Council which messed up the first phase of a controversial outsourcing contract – supposed to save the taxpayer £26.5m – has been told more anticipated savings are at risk.

A report by the council’s auditors claimed planned savings from phase two of the contract for private company Arvato to take over the council’s transactional services might not be achieved.

Phase two was launched in November last year, and included the private company taking over existing ICT service infrastructure and delivery of customer services.

But a report, due to be heard at an audit meeting on Thursday, read: “The council has a savings target of £9.4m for the year.

However, there are a number of savings schemes that are at risk of not being achieved. These include some procurement savings and planned savings relating to phase two of the outsourced transactional services contract.

A council spokeswoman said savings were anticipated to be made in the 2013/14 budget, however, had not been made as early as expected but will still be met over the length of the contract.

A maths blunder by a town hall financial officer last year turned a supposed £26.5m saving from the contract into a £2.7m bill.

The council has since pledged to submit a report to cabinet for any revenue outsourced contracts over £2m to 'ensure appropriate checks have been conducted’.

The report also identified weaknesses in the council’s savings plan after analysing five samples. Three did not have supporting documentation to show how savings would be made and what impact it would have on services. “Management may not provide adequate challenge and scrutiny to unrealistic savings bids, therefore the council may fail to meet the required savings to continue to deliver its strategic objectives,” it added.