Issue - meetings

[Report of the Director for Housing, Regeneration and Planning, and the Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods.  To be introduced by the Cabinet  Member for Finance and Strategic Regeneration]

The report will ask Cabinet to approve the creation of an in-house security team to sit within the Operational Facilities Management service.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Strategic Regeneration introduced the report which sought approval for the creation of an inhouse security team in line with the Council’s Insourcing Policy.  An inhouse security service would allow the Council to respond to the changing profile of its buildings and how they are used, and also provide greater control over the service to improve management and performance in line with related teams within Operational Facilities Management.  The existing workforce would benefit from significantly improved terms and conditions including better pay, annual leave, sickness and pension entitlement through the Local Government Pension Scheme.  The security workforce employed by the current provider currently comprised of local staff, with over 95% living in Haringey and the remainder living in neighbouring boroughs.

The Leader gave thanks to the team of officers who had worked to deliver insourcing, which was right for the Borough and would provide a better service for local people.

The Cabinet Member responded to questions from Councillor Emery:

-           The insourcing of the security service would provide better terms and conditions for local people employed by the current provider. 

-           All current staff would be covered under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) Regulations.  There would be no redundancies made.  The current contract paid staff at London Living Wage, which would continue.

RESOLVED

1.      That Cabinet approves the insourcing of corporate security services from the current provider United Guarding Services (UGS) in accordance with the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) Regulations.

Reasons for decision:

In October 2019 Haringey’s Cabinet approved and adopted an Insourcing Policy. The Insourcing Policy includes a commitment to a structured approach to support sustained progress on this agenda by:

•           making it easier for us to work collaboratively with our communities in the design and delivery of public services which reflect what they need, recognising that service delivery is a core element of our relationship with residents.

•           strengthening our organisational sustainability and resilience, by further developing the skills and knowledge of our workforce; and our organisational capacity and infrastructure.

•           increasing the numbers of locally employed people who will benefit from the excellent terms and conditions we offer as an employer.

•           opening services to increased scrutiny and accountability to drive improved outcomes; and,

•           squeezing the maximum financial and social value from each pound spent.

The Council’s Facilities Management (FM) service was the first major insource initiative brought inhouse following the publication of the Insourcing Policy.  The initial Cabinet decision to undertake an insource of FM in 2019 noted that ‘a review of security services will be conducted in a later phase to identify the most appropriate delivery model’.

Following completion of the core FM project, a further service review was undertaken by officers to identify the Council’s needs in relation to security.  This service review was tasked with reviewing a range of options to consider what future security arrangements would be most appropriate for the Council in future.  The scope and findings of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 464