Northgate HR has landed an £850,000 deal with Coventry City Council for human resources systems, including recruitment.

The council, which has 16,000 employees, has chosen Northgate's ResourceLink software to manage all aspects of its human resources, from recruitment, training and career development through to pensions and retirement, in a three-year deal.

Electronic human resources will cut down on costs by saving on paperwork, the city council claims.

It is the latest in string of recent deals for Northgate, which is looking to extend its reach into HR. It is especially targeting lucrative outsourcing deals.

Back in April, it signed a seven-year outsourcing contract worth more than £16m with high-street chemist Boots. This combined its payroll and core HR systems for Boots' 65,000 employees into one database.

The trend for outsourcing human resources among companies is increasing (Recruiter, 12 July).

Research by the Noble Group found more than 35 out of 100 finance directors questioned said they outsource, or are considering outsourcing, their HR functions.