Agenda item

(a)  Agreed to the award of the contract to Supplier 1 as set out in Appendix 1 for the supply of the Council’s temporary labour needs for a period of up to four years (two-year contract plus optional extensions of up to 2 further years subject to satisfactory performance) from 25th March 2024 – 24th March 2028.

(b)  Delegated authority to the Executive Director – Strategy and Improvement in consultation with the Leader of the Council, and the section 151 officer, to complete the final negotiations and enter into contract with Supplier 1 for the supply of the Council’s temporary labour needs for a period of up to four years.

The Leader of the Council introduced a report that sought approval to award the temporary labour contract for the supply of temporary workers to the Council following a competitive procurement process through a framework agreement.  The current contract would expire in March 2024 and a replacement was required.

The proposed contract was for two years with optional extensions of a further two years subject to satisfactory performance.  The Part II appendix included details of the provider and was noted in Part I of the meeting without disclosing any of the exempt information.

The Council was currently operating at a spend for temporary workers at £21.9 million for 2022-2023. The majority of the spend was for agency workers covering vacant established posts, of which £16 million was in salaries and £1.85 million were attributed to agency and provider oncosts. There was also spend on additional agency workers where there was specific project or skills need where the Council did not have permanent staff who could undertake this work.  It was recognised that there would be a continued need for temporary workers but the Leader reiterated the administrations aim to reduce reliance on such provision.  The Cabinet asked about cost savings and it was noted that whilst savings of £767k had been negotiated with the current vendor in 2022-2023, there was still an opportunity to negotiate greater cost savings through the new contract.

The recommendations were agreed.

Resolved –

(a)  That it be agreed to the award of the contract to Supplier 1 as set out in Appendix 1 for the supply of the Council’s temporary labour needs for a period of up to four years (two-year contract plus optional extensions of up to 2 further years subject to satisfactory performance) from 25th March 2024 – 24th March 2028.

(b)  That delegated authority be given to the Executive Director – Strategy and Improvement in consultation with the Leader of the Council, and the section 151 officer, to complete the final negotiations and enter into contract with Supplier 1 for the supply of the Council’s temporary labour needs for a period of up to four years.