Londoners are reaping the benefits of pioneering schemes by London's boroughs to work in partnership to deliver more efficient and effective services to their residents.

A host of examples and case studies of joined up working have been put together in a new workbook produced by London's Improvement and Efficiency Partnership, Capital Ambition. Capital Ambition is part of London Councils.

The workbook shows how sharing and reviewing services can produce significant savings through staffing costs and administration whilst providing better facilities to the service user.

So far a number of boroughs have taken part in the programme and are outlined in the guide, these include:

Customer Service improvements in Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Waltham Forest and Newham. This was focused on tailoring services to suit the needs of residents and improving their experiences in dealing with the council.

Smartcards introduced in Hillingdon, Waltham Forest and Lewisham. These cards provide access to parking, libraries and other council services. In Lewisham cards are given out to care leavers who receive payments while looking for work. In Waltham Forest the closure of all cash offices has saved £110,000 a year.

A new customer service programme in Richmond meant creating a new front facing customer area and increasing accessibility for residents. This resulted in faster call handling and turnover of cases.

E-forms introduced in Ealing have cut down on administration tasks and provided a central and easy place to report problems. It is estimated that in the first year this saved around £50,000.

The introduction of these services has produced savings of £3 million by cutting down on staff time and costs as well as increasing user satisfaction for residents.

Steve Johnson, Director of Capital Ambition said: "These are just some of the examples of how London boroughs are working together to develop ideas for shared services to improve the customer experience and significantly reduce costs.

"The workbooks' case studies clearly show that significant savings can be made by looking at London as a whole and capitalising on the great work that is already in action as well as looking to the future.

It is more important than ever that things are done efficiently in order to save money whilst ensuring the user or resident at the heart of the service."

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