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Deal to provide council with agency staff valued at £24m

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Published Date: 18 July 2008
THE value of the contract handed to an agency to supply the city council with all its temporary staff is £24 million, it emerged today.
A contract award notice has been published after councillors agreed a deal with temping agency Blue Arrow Limited.

The move is designed to save £1.4m a year, or £4.2m over the lifetime of the contract, by introducing a more effective use of agency staff.

But concerns have been raised about the impact on pay and conditions for workers as a result.

The Evening News revealed earlier this year that the council currently pays out more than £14m for the equivalent of 535 temporary workers to cover staffing shortages, or meet a demand for specialist skills. The figure of £24m does not include VAT.

Edinburgh North and Leith MP Mark Lazarowicz has expressed concern over the decision.

Blue Arrow was recently censured by an employment tribunal in Cardiff over unfair discrimination against a transsexual truck driver.





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  • Last Updated: 18 July 2008 11:16 AM
  • Source: Edinburgh Evening News
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Voldemort,

Edinburgh 18/07/2008 14:17:19
This is laughable there are sooooooo many staff in the council it is unthinkable that there is a staff shortage ! Maybe the monkeys forget what to do - or don't do anything but why don't they get a grip get efficient process flows in place and stop squandering our money on hoards of useless staff just so they can say that they have done something create jobs !

Listen Council it is simple ... your job is to serve the public and provide basic services to the majority of people ... your job is not job creation though you should not stand in the way of progress and allow companies to create jobs which you don't have to pay for ..... you do this by being a small efficient government body who makes life good for business and your citizens ....

Forget all this ethnic, PC, social work, and side show power politics game - just get on with the job you are employed to do by the public and stop wasting our cash so you can have an ego trip council !!

Get efficient or get out !


2

Brian M,

Edinburgh 18/07/2008 16:14:41
At the moment the city pays out £14 million. I take it that is for a year.

The new contract looks as if it is for 3 years. It is "valued" at £24 million, so it costs £8 million a year plus vat, ie £9.4 million, a saving of £4.6 million a year.

So why is it only going to save £1.4 million?
3

It's me!,

18/07/2008 17:56:59
According to my calculator the vat on £24million comes to £2.4 million so where is the saving? It breaks even so it seems like a lot of unnecessary commission is being taken from the temporay council workers. Why is an agency benefiting unnecesarily from this?

 

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