Cheshire East councillors have selected a provider for a major IT contract to handle adult and children's services cases.

The contract, estimated to be worth £1.287 million over four years, is set to be re-awarded to LiquidLogic and Oxford Computer Consultants (OCC).

Funding is to come out of the council's existing budget, with the final value of the deal being revealed upon signing, with a pre-meeting report claiming contracts of this nature 'frequently apply annual contractual inflation linked to RPI'.

The decision was made at this week's CEC cabinet meeting, and received unanimous support from members.

However, CEC investigations into the existing system from LiquidLogic and OCC 'exposed the need for further council internal effort on reporting' in order to 'ensure that ICT systems are best utilised' for the best return on the council's investment.

With the current contract for handling the services ending in March 2021, it means the firms will provide the service for CEC until 2025 — taking the length of the authority's relationship with LiquidLogic and OCC to 11 years.