Issue - meetings

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive

The Cabinet considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive that sought approval for the procurement of a new three-year contract with the option to extend for one further year for a managed service provider for temporary agency workers.

The Council currently had a call off contract for the supply of temporary agency workers. This acted as a support contract if the Council’s first choice sourcing routes of employment from the casual working pool or fixed term appointments were unsuccessful in fulfilling temporary staffing vacancies.

The current provider delivered a managed service provider (MSP) solution which involved supplying their own temporary workers as well as workers from a 2nd tier of suppliers, that the provider managed on behalf of the Council.  Twenty-nine 2nd tier supplier supplied agency workers to the Council in the last year.  The 2nd tier suppliers tended to be used for more specialist requirements such as social care.  As part of the contract, an electronic ordering system was supplied by the provider to allow the Council and suppliers to communicate requirements, supply c.v.’s, upload key support documentation for new starters and for the completion of timesheets.  This ensured the Council quicker access to the temporary market, real time visibility of the status of requests and an electronic, auditable trail for all transactions.

The benefits that appointing a managed service provider brought to the Council included:

•  Contracting with one supplier with expertise of the market who could then source from an extensive supplier pool on the Council’s behalf.

•  A supplier that could manage all of the employment and IR35 legislation that were significantly higher in the temporary agency market.

•  A saving in resource in staff not having to engage the market and contract manage multiple suppliers.

•  One point of contact for all requirements and queries.

•  Benefitting from lower rates by accumulating spend with one supplier.

•  Obtaining management information on the Council’s ongoing agency spend.

•  A significant reduction in the number of invoices the Council would have to process and pay.

Some investigation was completed prior to the procurement of the existing contract about the possibility of removing the contract and the Council potentially establishing its own ‘agency’. The idea was raised following another West Midlands Authority establishing an in-house agency, removing the need for a MSP contract. The findings found that the implementation and ongoing costs would be significant and would not eliminate the need for agencies particularly in specialised markets such as social care. For these reasons establishing the Council’s own in-house agency to replace an MSP service was not recommended. In the last year a working group had revisited exploring mechanisms for the Council to potentially manage some of its temporary agency requirements in the future, but this had not progressed to anything definitive and would not be possible to implement prior to the current agency contract expiring.

The spend through the agency contract had been falling over a number of years. Over the last year, the contract had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20