City of Wolverhampton Council has unveiled plans to outsource its landlord licensing scheme.

A council cabinet meeting this week agreed to spend £2.5m on a private contractor, claiming it would be cheaper than the local authority doing it.

A report for the committee claimed the council “faces challenges” with staffing and IT so there would be “cost savings and greater compliance” if it was outsourced, reported Birmingham Live.

The provider would get a five-year contract worth £500,000 annually and the scheme would be funded by the fees collected.

Councillor Steve Evans, cabinet member for city housing, said: “We have got a lot of private rented sector landlords, it’s really important for the city and renters that they are safe in the knowledge that we have fit and proper landlords.

“We are talking potentially thousands of properties across the city. “There are a number of ways of doing this, we don’t have the IT or the staff capacity to carry out thousands of checks, we have looked at other models.

“You could just set up your own team and hope they manage to get through thousands and it covers the costs, I don’t think that would be a viable way forward.”