News
Landmark guidance forecast to save £100m on local government's temporary staff bill
Released on 13/10/2006
New national guidance is set to transform the way councils procure temporary staff, which could deliver savings of up to £100 million a year on local government's annual temporary staff bill.
Called 'Transforming the procurement of temporary, agency and interim staff', the guidance has been drawn up by the London Borough of Havering with funding from the London Centre of Excellence. The Office of Government Commerce has now adopted the guidance and is working with Havering and the nine Regional Centres of Excellence to promote it nationally.
The guidance, which has been written by local government human resources, finance and procurement professionals, comes in the form of an easy-to-use toolkit. It sets out the different approaches to attracting and engaging temporary workers supplied to the public sector through Britain's large number of temporary staffing agencies. It also offers guidance on how to select the approach best suited to an organisation's needs, the latest legal and HR advice and number of best practice case studies.
The guidance has been published in a bid to raise standards of temporary staff management across the public sector and to increase the productivity of HR and procurement professionals. The move has been prompted by the mounting cost of procuring agency, temporary and interim staff faced by local government. Over £500 million a year is spent by London boroughs alone.
Value Wales Procurement has recently adopted the guidance and is planning to issue it to Welsh local authorities to promote best practice in the procurement of temporary staff in the Principality.
Rita Greenwood, Group Director of Finance and Commercial, London Borough of Havering, said, "We recognised the need to address this area of substantial spend and believe the guide will help all organisations to decide the best way to procure and manage their temporary staff to achieve the best results for the community."
John Oughton, Chief Executive of the Office of Government Commerce, said, "This new guidance will greatly assist local government in obtaining best value for money when procuring temporary staff. With potential annual savings in excess of £100 million identified in this area, the amount of efficiency savings which could be released to support better front-line services is highly significant."
Rob Sykes, Chair of the Chief Executives' Task Force, said, "This is landmark guidance which will be an invaluable resource to councils and illustrates how the RCEs are bringing real value to the national efficiency agenda. It should go on to inspire local authorities to deliver better professional standards and substantial efficiency gains in a significant area of public expenditure."
See the toolkit (pdf) at the London Regional Centre of Excellence website.
The press release is available in the Press Office section of this website.
Contact details:
OGC Service Desk
Tel: 0845 000 4999
E-mail: ServiceDesk@ogc.gsi.gov.uk
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Page last updated: 2008-10-01
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