Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mrs P A Bradwell OBE.

Apologies for absence were also received from Glen Garrod (Executive Director for Adult Care and Community Wellbeing) and Heather Sandy (Executive Director for Children’s Services).

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

There were no announcements by the Leader, Executive Councillors or Executive Directors.

RESOLVED

          That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 May 2022 by signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(To receive a report by the Executive Director – Resources which seeks approval to procure contracts for temporary agency staff)

1.    That new contracts be procured for the provision of (i) general and (ii) social care temporary agency staffing requirements through the ESPO MSTAR3 Framework Agreement with effect from 5 December 2022.

2.    That extensions of three months to the current contracts be approved.

3.    That authority be delegated to the Executive Director – Resources, in consultation with the Executive Councillor for People Management, Legal and Corporate Property, to give effect to the extensions and to determine the final form of the new contracts and to approve the entering into of the new contracts.

The Executive Councillor for People Management and Legal Services introduced a report which set out a proposed course of action to address the Council’s Temporary Agency Staff contracts which were due to expire on 4 September 2022.  This included a short extension to the existing contracts and procurement of a new contract.

It was reported that the Council’s current contracts for temporary agency staff with Comensura (for general staffing requirements) and Retinue (for social care staffing requirements) would expire on 4 September 2022 with no further options to extend.  It was reported that the spend on temporary agency staff through these contracts between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 was c.£5 million.  The majority of this was through the Retinue contract for social workers with 70% of the total spend in relation to qualified and unqualified Social Workers.

The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board presented the comments of the Board following its consideration of this item at its meeting on 26 May 2022.  The Executive was advised that the Board unanimously supported the recommendations, however, some of the key points highlighted during the discussion included that there was recognition of the work being done to attract and retain staff but felt that more could be done to reduce the spend on agency staff.  The Board felt that more priority needed to be given to reducing the reliance on agency staff, however, it was noted that the Board was not critical of the work currently being done but it would like to see further work carried out on this and a report to be brought back to a future meeting of the Board.

During discussion by the Executive, the following was noted:

·       Whilst the figures in relation to agency staff use appeared to be large, it was noted that they accounted for around 2% of the total staff, which was reasonable for an organisation of this size.

·       It was recognised that there was an unprecedented situation in terms of a national shortage of skilled labour and there was a widespread struggle to attract and retain staff across all authorities in Lincolnshire.  It was noted that an attraction and retention framework had been launched in recent months to assist the Council in recruiting permanent staff.

·       The Executive was advised that the Attraction and Retention Framework had the highest priority within the People Strategy.

·       The contracts would be focusing on the quality of the agency workers as well as an element for the providers to address the harder to recruit positions.

·       It was queried whether the attraction for agency workers was the variation and the ability to move regularly to different authorities.  The Executive was advised that the agency staff did tend to stay on long term and did not move around too much.  It was acknowledged that the authority was losing some of its own social workers to agencies as the pay was better.

·       It was commented that agency work also provided staff with flexibility in terms of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

(To receive a report by the Executive Director – Resources which seeks approval for a mix of new commissioning arrangements as part of the future model of delivery of Corporate Support Services including HR Administration, Payroll, Exchequer, Adult Care Finance and the Customer Service Centre)

1.    That the future services design and sourcing approach be approved as follows:

a)    The entering into of a shared service arrangement with Hoople Limited for the delivery of HR Administration and Payroll to the Council and to schools;

b)    The outsourcing of the operation of the Customer Service Centre services to external suppliers;

c)    That the Council retains responsibility for digital transformation and the technology that supports it using a mixed model for resourcing transformation with a combination of in-house resource and external expertise secured as and when required;

d)    The insourcing of the Adult Social Care and Exchequer services.

2.    That the carrying out of the necessary procurement processes to secure the services of external suppliers referred to in 1b and 1c above, be approved.

3.    That authority be delegated to the Executive Director – Resources, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, and for 1b and 1c above with the Executive Councillor for Children’s Services, Community Safety and Procurement, and for 1b above with the Executive Councillor for People Management and Corporate Property, to take all necessary decisions and steps to progress the new commissioning arrangements referred to in paragraph 1 above and to progress the procurements referred to in paragraph 2 above, up to and including the award of contracts.

The Executive received a report which outlined options for the delivery of support services following the expiration of the Corporate Support Services Contract with Serco at the end of March 2024, and which could not be extended.  This contract included the provision of IMT Services (previously dealt with by Executive on 4 May 2022), Finance Services, HR Administration and Payroll and the Customer Service Centre.  Approval was sought for the mix of new commissioning arrangements as part of the future model of delivery and authority to commence procurement for the proposed outsourced service.

It was highlighted that the model of multi-stream contracts being let to prime providers so that a single outsourcing company (e.g. Serco) was responsible for a wide range of services had fallen out of favour with both providers and local authorities, due to a reduction in possible savings as the public sector has become more efficient.  As such, a mix of outsourcing and in-sourcing of services had been proposed.

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Board considered this report at its meeting held on 26 May 2022.

HR Administration and Payroll

The proposed approach was to enter into a shared service arrangement with Hoople Limited.  The Council was one of three shareholders of Hoople which was a Teckal company employing around 500 staff.  The Council’s payroll was complex and Hoople were experienced in delivering Council, schools and NHS payroll, although not Fire and Rescue. 

The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board presented the comments of the Board and it was reported that the Board accepted the arrangement that insourcing of this service would be too challenging and noted that Hoople did have experienced staff and therefore supported this aspect of the model.

During discussion by the Executive, the following was highlighted:

·       This report was welcomed.  However, it was commented that particular regard should be given to the complexities generated by the Fire and Rescue payroll.  It was highlighted that it was understood that Hoople would be looking to national providers to assist with this aspect of payroll.  The Executive was also advised that the payroll testing for Fire and Rescue was currently going well.

·       Concerns were raised regarding the increase in the level of payroll work and assurance was sought that Hoople would be able to manage the increasing workload.  Officers advised that they were confident that this would be managed, and the due diligence that was carried out successfully in 2018 would be updated and repeated following the decision of the Executive, to provide the necessary assurance to proceed.

·       It was important to note that any staff that TUPE’d across to Hoople would be able to continue to work in Lincoln.  It was confirmed that engagement with Serco staff, Hoople and HR officers would be taking place in the coming weeks.

Customer Service Centre (CSC) and Digital Transformation

The preferred option was to outsource the CSC as a single operational service, with the key technology selected and owned by the Council and where the responsibility  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.