Causes of Poor Service Delivery and the Feasibility of Outsourcing to Improve Services in Local Authorities

This theoretical paper was undertaken to ascertain the causes of poor service delivery and to establish if outsourcing of public service delivery could be used to improve local Authority services. It interrogated and critiqued documents on what other researchers in their different contexts had established in view of the feasibility of outsourcing as a strategy to improve service delivery. It emerged in this study that political interference, lack of citizen participation. lack of funds and corruption were the main causes of poor service delivery in local authorities. Therefore, outsourcing was seen to bring quality and affordable services for the public while costs savings and emergence of hidden costs were the financial implications unveiled for the local authorities (LAs). Social costs, accountability for public service delivery and quality shading were cited to be the outsourcing challenges. It also emerged in this study that outsourcing can increase service quality and provide affordable services for the public. Taking into account the information that was accumulated and examined, the researchers came to the conclusion that the current services being offered by local authorities are very poor and this is attributed to many causes such as political interference, lack of citizen participation, lack of funds and corruption. The study therefore, concludes that outsourcing could be a feasible option to use to improve service delivery by local authorities.