Temporary Agency Staff

Temporary Staff is a significant cost in most authorities. Supported by OGC and the RIEPs, the Local Government Services Group (LGPSG), a group representing local authorities throughout England has been established to focus procurement activities on Temporary Staff and Consultancy Spend.

The work of the LGPSG can be viewed at: Local Government Professional Services Group (LGPSG)

Managed Services for Temporary Agency Workers (M-STAR)

The Local Government Professional Services Group (LGPSG), a stakeholder group run by and for local authorities, has commissioned ESPO (on behalf of Pro5), the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and the DfE (Department for Education), to work collaboratively with local government colleagues in order to establish a national framework contract for the managed service provision of temporary agency staff. This framework is likely to include at least two lots, one of which will be for education temporary agency staff, including supply teachers.

The aim of this framework agreement is to:

1. Harness the substantial leverage of public sector spend to achieve maximum value for money.
Provide local authorities, including schools, with access to national and local supply of temporary staff via a robust, legally-sound performance managed agreement which also addresses vetting needs for schools,

2. Minimise duplication of effort by removing the need for individual organisations to tender or re-tender (there are a number of you with Neutral Vendor agreements that will shortly need renewing, providing the opportunity to combine our spending power).
Increase market competition, particularly in the neutral vendor sector.

3. Enable small councils to benefit from the leverage that ESPO and their Pro5 colleagues are best placed to secure.
Enable authorities to have access to improved management information in order to inform the management of demand for temporary agency staff and overall workforce planning.

4. The intention is to award the contract towards the end of 2010 so councils can have access when it goes live from January 2011. The contract will be advertised through a voluntary OJEU process and a Prior Information Notice has be posted with a provisional OJEU publication date set of July 2010.

For contact details and further information go to: http://www.ogc.gov.uk/managedservicecontract.asp

The Local Government Professional Services Forum
The Local Government Professional Services Forum, which is hosted on the IDeA Communities of Practice platform aims to promote collaboration and improvement in the procurement of professional services (i.e. consultancy, temporary/ agency workers, interims, specialists and similar) in local government, and support councils in securing better value from Professional Services spend. It's free to join, and the forum is open to any local authority employees with an interest in securing better value for money from spend on professional services.

http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk/comm/landing-home.do?id=3154840  

Join up with your colleagues today at: http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk/comm/landing-home.do?id=3154840 to share documents, experiences and ask questions. (Please note that if you are not already registered on an LGA website, you may need to register for the main site as well as this forum). How to use CoP guide

Associated Documents

Walsall Council's approach to agency staff managed services - incorporating innovation and added value.

In May 2006, Walsall Council implemented a managed service across its professional services, waste services and administrative agency staff spend. In October 2007, these arrangements were extended to cover the provision of agency staff within social care. See full case study.

What does 'good' look like?
Guidelines for agency-managed services in the Local Government context

Local Government Professional Services Group

Top tips for making savings through better procurement in professional services
As local government finances are squeezed during difficult economic times it will become even more important for councils to work together to save money and keep council tax down. This series of member guides provides tips on how your authority can make savings through better procurement. Download members guide.

Procurement of a Vendor Neutral Temporary Staffing Solution
In 2006 a group of 14 local authorities in the East Midlands formed a collaborative partnership to procure a temporary staffing solution. The authorities sought to minimise the effort and time involved in the procurement of temporary staff, whilst also maximising the potential service delivery options and cost savings by aggregating demand and introducing some common processes. The solution also had to meet their diverse staffing requirements and deliver service improvements and efficiency savings. The Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO) was engaged to assist the authorities in the procurement process, with input and support provided by the East Midlands Centre of Excellence (EMCE). Download Case Study here.

9 Steps to Demand Management
Demand Management places a structure and focus on external spend, targeting the rationale, quantity and specification of purchases rather than just the price. At a tactical level, it will challenge the match between business requirements and the products or services procured; at a strategic level it may form part of a wider transformation agenda. Available from the OGC servicedesk.