Barnet’s Labour leader has accused the council of overruling a democratic decision on the future of its contracts with outsourcing giant Capita.

Cllr Barry Rawlings said it was “very disappointing” that a vote to bring a full business case for bringing all services run by Capita back under the local authority’s control had not been respected.

The council’s policy and resources committee agreed officers should draw up business cases for reshaping the Capita contracts, keeping them as they are or scrapping them completely at a meeting on July 19.

These three options were due to be presented to the committee on December 11.

But the council has since confirmed the contracts will be reviewed on a “phased basis”.

Cllr Rawlings said: “It is very disappointing to learn that full business cases for bringing Capita-run services back in-house will not be presented to the December 11 policy and resources committee as democratically voted for by cross-party councillors in July.

“Overruling a democratic decision from behind closed doors with no consultation with the committee and no real explanation why is not acceptable.”

Cllr Rawlings said the council should be looking to end its relationship with Capita quickly following a spate of problems with services run by the firm.

In September, a report by Grant Thornton into a £2 million fraud case by a Capita contractor revealed significant weaknesses in the council’s financial controls.

And last month, the outsourcing firm came under fire after making late payments of almost £2.4 million to the council pension fund.

Cllr Rawlings added: “The fact that they are proceeding so slowly raises concerns about this Conservative administration’s commitment and competence to negotiate a way out of this mess.”

A Barnet Council spokesperson said: “The review of our services with Capita is going ahead and is proposed to happen on a phased basis, as opposed to all at once.

“This will enable us to respond to performance issues in some critical services.

“It is intended that the report will recommend that finance and accounting, and strategic HR, will be transferred back to the council by the end of this financial year (March 2019).

“The arrangements for remaining services are still to be considered and timescales will be confirmed in due course.”