IT has been trumpeted as a deal that will save Southampton City Council and the tax payer millions.

However, now that the ink is dry on a £290m contract with a private firm, council chiefs are refusing to spell out just how much cash will be saved.

Civic leaders boasted that the deal to transfer 650 jobs and key services to Capita would bring modernisation and much-needed investment.

Ruling Tories, backed by Liberal Democrats, said that an in-house alternative would be riskier, slower, more expensive and with no guarantee of service improvements or savings. Yet now the secret negotiations with Capita are over, financial details of the contract will remain hidden.

Unions and Labour politicians, who bitterly opposed the deal, have accused finance chiefs of running scared.

Labour leader Councillor June Bridle said: "Anybody who saw the real figures would know it's not a good deal for Southampton rate payers.

"It doesn't add up. It's a bad deal. The only one it's good for is Capita and its shareholders.

"Why are they so afraid to publish the figures if it's such a good deal?

"It's because they know it's not."

Cllr Bridle, who said that she was bound by confidentiality, said that the figures would become apparent through budget cuts.

She added: "You will see a gradual decline in services."

Unison branch secretary Mike Tucker also slammed the secrecy.

He said: "I think if the council is going to save real money it should announce what it is."

Unions are in talks with Capita over the transfer of council jobs.

Mr Tucker said that only pay and pension rights were secure.

"Capita are proving as difficult an employer as we thought they would," he said. "They are proposing to change the working conditions of transferred staff."

Mr Tucker said that staff were still "opposed to the transfer" and that there was "no enthusiasm to work for Capita".

He warned of a drop in front line services because there were now about 90 vacancies among 650 jobs due to transfer, saying: "Given the number of vacancies, they are going to have to cover with temporary agency staff. We cannot see how they can maintain the level of service."

Capita is set to take on customer services, IT, human resources, property, tax and benefits departments.

In a statement the council said: "The financial details of the contract are commercially confidential and we cannot comment on specific numbers."