Agenda item

[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 the review are set out in Appendix 1 of this report.

In order to meet the needs of staff, visitors, and residents, it is essential to have safe, welcoming, and well-maintained buildings.  Security has a crucial role in supporting that objective and by bringing the team and staff inhouse, the Council will have a greater degree of control over the management of this service.

The Council’s Asset Management Plan sets out how the Council will approach future decisions about its estate.  As we move forward beyond the Covid pandemic, it will be important to continue to ensure we have right buildings to support the delivery of services for our residents.

As part of the service review and following consultation with a number of other local authorities who employ inhouse security or concierge teams, it was clear that a directly employed security service is better placed to respond in a more agile and innovative way to the Council’s future property portfolio changes. 

A dedicated security team would help to meet the evolving needs of the Council to improve the customer experience and overall management of buildings.  As a highly visible team that constitutes the first point of contact for many service users as they enter our buildings, the creation of an inhouse security team will enable the Council to have direct control, performance management and consistency of service in line with our other front-facing services.  

Through regular Security Industry Authority (SIA) led training and the promotion of Haringey’s corporate values, incoming security staff will be subject to the same standards as current Council staff within the Operational Facilities Management (OFM) service, under the same management team, to create a more coherent and effective service.

Combining functions within a new operating model such as static security guarding with an increased focus on customer-facing or ‘way-finding’ roles, as well as a greater emphasis on building maintenance checks, will allow incoming security staff to develop a broader range of skills to adapt more flexibly to the way we run our buildings in future. 

It is recognised that this more holistic approach to security and facilities management will lead to a new operating model within the OFM service.  While a future inhouse team with enhanced roles and responsibilities, and improved terms and conditions, is more financially expensive when compared to maintaining external provision it still represents the best value solution with the added social value, greater flexibility, and improved front line customer service offer. 

These social value calculations are set out explicitly within the Enabling Framework contained within the Council’s Insourcing Policy.  Haringey’s approach to Community Wealth Building also puts an emphasis on the Council using all its available levers to build the prosperity of local people and communities economically, through employment, and socially, with an emphasis on those who are working in lower-paid employment.

Alternative options considered

Maintain existing service externally – this option does not deliver in terms of the Council’s wider insourcing policy objectives.  Bringing security inhouse will allow the Council to realise additional service benefits by implementing a new operating model that will embed the team within OFM and enhance security officers’ roles and responsibilities in line with improved terms and conditions.  Third party provision of security does not provide sufficient levels of control to drive service improvements and ensure that the service is managed in line with other teams within the OFM service.  Whilst this option had the potential to deliver greater financial savings, it did not deliver on the social value calculator contained within the Enabling Framework set out in Appendix 1.

Hybrid Insource – Various options have been explored in which part of the service was brought in-house, whilst other elements continued to be provided through third party provision.  These options are set out in more detail in Appendix 1 and were not progressed because they did not provide sufficient assurances over the cohesive management and control of the service and increased the operational risk by splitting the fixed security element of the service through two providers.   A hybrid option would not fully meet the core objectives identified within the Insourcing Policy and would dilute the social value benefits derived from a full insource.

Concierge Model – The service review also considered a model staffed by concierge officers without SIA accreditation.  This was not considered operationally robust enough to ensure the highest standards of safety for staff and visitors based on existing data regarding security incidents in Haringey over the previous five years.  It was noted that this model may be operationally viable under different circumstances where the corporate estate was rationalised to one central building.