Decision details

Background:
Prior to 1st April 23, staff would approach agencies direct to bring in agency staff to fill vacant roles or to provide additional capacity as and when required. The majority of the spend was non-compliant with the Council’s Commissioning and Procurement Standing Orders and on occasion, the Public Contract Regulations 2015.
In 2022, a project was set up to review agency spend and several solutions were implemented, including the roll out of the Crown Commercial Services Temporary Agency Worker Framework (RM6277) which included multiple agencies across several job roles. This went live on the 1st April 2023.
Within the Housing and Property Services Directorate, there is a high dependency on agency staff for key roles, as the service department have been unable to recruit to the post or the role is required for a short period, to cover temporary work requirements.
The Housing and Property Directorate are currently in the middle of the Housing Transformation Improvement Programme (HTIP), which is due to be concluded in Summer 25. As part of the project, resources within departments will be reviewed to identify what each service requires in terms of resources to support the services we deliver to our tenants and residents.
Reason:
The Job Description and Person Specification for the permanent Asset Manager recruitment have been finalised and the role evaluated. The recruitment process is ready to commence and will precede the main Asset Management recruitment under HTIP, with advertising planned for June 2025.
While we await the permanent recruitment, the Housing Service needs to extend the Asset Manager role provided by Oyster Partnership, who are not on the CCS Framework Agreement.
The current employee has played a vital role in the development of our asset management strategy, developing long term investment plans and delivering the stock condition project.
Extension of this role will maintain operational continuity, avoid the risks associated with discontinuing a critical role and provide time to finalise the permanent recruitment process.
Commissioning process:
At the time of the initial appointment, there wasn’t an appropriate framework in place to procure senior specialists of this nature. This role has been extended to ensure there is service continuity until a permanent replacement is in place.
Commercial Board:
A report was presented to Commercial Board and virtual approval was provided on the 26th March 25 to extend the contract with Oyster Partnership.

1)To approve the extension of an asset management role with Oyster Partnership.
2)To set aside the Council’s Commissioning and Procurement Standing Orders to extend the role.

Without extending the role, the Council will need to either operate without the role or bring in another interim to cover the post. This will have a negative impact on service delivery.