According to a study conducted by LB Havering in 2005/06 to analyse the use of agency staff, an estimated £500 million was spent on agency staff across London during 2004-05, and agency and temporary workers accounted for up to 25% of the total workforce. Few local authorities had readily available management information about their agency and temporary workforce, commission, rates of pay, and quality of service from agencies was disparate.
The project had three initial objectives:
- To undertake an in-depth analysis of a typical London local authority with unmanaged agency staff expenditure;
- To undertake an analysis of the London-wide position with regard to the use of agency staff.
- To develop a step-by-step guide for authorities to use in order to achieve efficiency savings in the procurement of agency staff.
Electronic Knowledge Exchange (the EKE)
The project delivered a system to enable the sharing of information between the London boroughs on the cost of engaging agency and temporary workers for particular types of roles. This Electronic Knowledge Exchange captures information via automatic downloads from managed services for participating London boroughs and can be used for benchmarking and trend gathering at local, sub-regional and regional levels.
Procurement Toolkit
The original step-by-step guide, "Transforming the Procurement of Temporary, Agency and Interim Staff: Your Toolkit for Success" was launched in October 2006 and contained information of use to both organisations who want to take control of their agency worker spend and those which have already implemented a managed service.
It highlighted potential risks where procurement of agency and temporary workers is not managed, illustrated options available for taking control and provided information on best practice in implementing a managed service from the experience of local and district authorities both within and outside of London.
The OGC identified the Toolkit as 'best practice' and supported the dissemination of its benefits nationwide.
Updated Toolkit
Since its original launch, the toolkit has been downloaded and used extensively. However, case law and the legal context surrounding agency staff has changed since then, as has the overall procurement environment. Many authorities are now re-tendering managed services contracts. The latest version, downloadable at the link below, takes account of these changes and includes new case studies and new web links so that it remains a valid and useful tool.
Moving Forward
The next phase of this project will be to look at non-permanent resourcing issues from a wider perspective within an overall approach to the workforce, with a view to managing supply, demand and contracts more effectively to deliver cashable savings and services fit for the future. On category management, please see the following for details from our recent event: Agency Staff category management workshop 18 February 2011
Head to the Electronic Knowledge Exchange now Opens in a new window
Project id: CA19
Theme: Raising the Bar
Status: Active
Contact: CA-PMO@londoncouncils.gov.uk
Pan-London Collaboration report 
Toolkit Appendices - Monthly List for Agencies - template 