The UK local government market has experienced a significant surge of public-private partnerships (PPPs). A new generation of long-term partnerships has emerged which are of an unprecedented size and complexity, typically bundling a broad range of council services and transferring staff from the council to the private partner. These white-collar PPPs deliver corporate and central support services that have been, until recently, the sole domain of local government. Public-private partnerships are difficult to maintain because they are large-scale complex contractual arrangements involving organisations from different sectoral backgrounds. White-collar PPPs are even more complex due to the kind and quantity of services delivered. This gives rise to the question of how to improve the partnering capacity of local authorities and private companies. Mario Walther develops a conceptual framework for the partnering capacity of public and private organisations in white-collar PPPs. An interpretive case study approach analyses the white-collar public-private partnership between the East Riding of Yorkshire Council and the private company arvato. He identifies eight elements that affect the partnering capacity of public and private organisations: strategy, culture, power, communication, relationships, the contractual framework, the client-management system and the performance management system. Recommendations for practitioners are suggested by identifying partnering capacity strategies.