Your route to minibus procurement

Minibuses are an important part of fleet in both the public sector and the third sector. Their flexibility can meet the needs of your diverse passengers. But the procurement process can be daunting and complicated.

There are a number of legal requirements and decisions to make – from the vehicle’s specification to licensing. Crown Commercial Service is here to help you source a minibus that meets your needs.

Getting the right licence

First things first. You will need a driver who is legally permitted to drive the minibus. The driver must be at least 21-years-old and have held a driving licence for 2 or more years.

Drivers who passed their test before 1 January 1997 can drive any 9 to 17-seater minibus, of any legal weight without an additional permit. But the rules are different for those who passed after 1 January 1997. They can only drive a minibus with up to 8 passenger seats. And those drivers will need to pass an additional test, or apply for a special minibus permit. You can find out more about minibus licences on the government website.

Room for everyone

Your new minibus must be fit for purpose – with room for everyone and everything you need to transport. Firstly, make sure you select a minibus with an adequate gross vehicle weight (GVW). The standard GVW for a minibus is 3,500 kilograms and this increases to 4,250 kilograms if you transport specialist accessibility equipment. If you are travelling with heavy equipment and/or your passengers are adults, you may need a larger minibus with a higher GVW.

Your next big decision is the vehicle’s capacity. A minibus can carry between 9 to 17 people, including the driver. But flexibility is a key feature of the minibus. And this is particularly important for community transport where you may need space for wheelchair users, or the facility to remove or adjust seats.

Passenger needs

Your vehicle must always meet the needs of passengers. If they are adults, or teenagers, you may want a high-roof minibus. And if passengers use wheelchairs, you will need a lift at the rear of the vehicle, or a removable wheelchair ramp, with wheelchair tracks. You may also want additional storage in the minibus if passengers are likely to carry large equipment. Or you may choose seating and flooring that is hard wearing or has particular hygienic qualities – again, depending on your passengers’ needs.

Safety first

Safety is key and you will be legally responsible for the safety of the minibus. If the minibus is less than 12-years-old, a technically-competent person must carry out a regular in-depth safety inspection every 10-weeks. This increases to every 6-weeks if the minibus is more than 12-years old. And if your minibus has wheelchair access, then additional safety checks will be necessary. You must also carry out a daily pre-use walk-around to check the functionality of lights, tyres etc.

These checks and inspections are your legal responsibility but you may be able to outsource some of them to a lease provider, or build them into your manufacturer’s support package. This option may be beneficial where the driver works in social care or education but does not have specialist experience in vehicle care. You can find out more information about your legal responsibilities on the government website.

Your route to market

Once you have a clear idea of your needs, you will be ready to progress to the next stage and select your preferred route to market. If you are building a minibus you will need the services of a minibus converter. Converters often specialise in modifications such as wheelchair accessibility, storage or premium upgrades. You can select a manufacturer’s base vehicle and instruct the manufacturer to work with a converter to build your minibus. But, if you prefer, you can select your own vehicle base and work with a converter directly. You can choose to buy your minibus outright or sign a lease for 2 or more years. But if you do not want a long commitment you can, simply, rent a minibus for any length of time – from one single day to 12 months.

When procuring a minibus there is a lot to consider. But you will want to make sure that your passengers fully benefit from the adaptable features available in this most flexible of vehicles. And, whatever your needs and whichever procurement option you choose, Crown Commercial Service is here to help.

Power to your procurement

Crown Commercial Service can offer multiple routes to market for minibus procurement – from purchase or long-term leasing to short-term rental.

Find out how you can buy, lease or rent a minibus – with information from Fleet Acquire solutions at Crown Commercial Service.

Sign up to Crown Commercial Service’s Fleet newsletter for the latest news and industry insights.

(First published in LAPV)

Our new sustainable ‘one stop shop’ travel and venue solutions agreement launched

The Travel and Venue Solutions (RM6217) agreement will provide a complete range of UK and global corporate booking services including the introduction of virtual, digital and hybrid meeting solutions to further enhance the customer ‘one-stop-shop’ journey.

It consolidates two existing CCS commercial agreements – Public Sector Global Travel and Venue Solutions and Public Sector Travel and Venue Solutions (the latter expiring in February 2022), whilst meeting additional requirements such as private charter services,  and COVID-19 travel test kit solutions. 

For the first time, as the public sector increasingly focuses on ways to cut carbon emissions through responsible business travel, a scoring system has been introduced into the procurement process that will ultimately award suppliers who are driving innovation in the CNZ arena. 

Bidders were asked to set out how they will report on CO2 emissions per trip and how they will offer the most environmentally efficient solution through online booking tools, enabling customers to make more sustainable choices. 

It is just one of a range of solutions from CCS designed to help customers with decarbonisation across their procurement portfolio.  

Travel and Venue Solutions will go live on 15 December and will run for up to 4 years. Customers can call-off at any time during the lifetime of the framework.  

Richard Denney, Commercial Director, Corporate Services Pillar, CCS says: 

The new framework provides customers with an end-to-end solution for all their travel and venue needs, recognising that the UK public sector is paying more attention than ever to sustainability.  

It is another example of how CCS is working with customers to help them overcome their net zero challenges and help the UK to build back greener.

Innovations

  • the new lotting structure provides a broader offering in one consolidated framework, reducing the need for customers to separate their requirements across multiple agreements
  • lots have been separated to make it easier for customers to direct award and to reduce the implementation period
  • the scope of the framework has been expanded to include but not be limited to:
    • introduction of additional services to cover security, crisis management such as repatriation, emergency evacuation and exclusive use accommodation
    • additional services specifically for air/boat/heli charter services covering passengers and cargo
  • access to market-leading suppliers with the capability to provide the latest innovations in travel solutions technology through their online booking tool (OBT)  

Travel and Venue Solutions: Lotting structure

The lots will comprise: 

Lot 1 – Booking Solutions Point of Sale UK

Lot 2 – Booking Solutions Points of Sale UK & Overseas

Lot 3 – Booking Solutions Specialist Needs

Lot 4 – Booking Solutions Venues & Events

Find out more

To find out more about Travel and Venue Solutions visit the agreement webpage or contact the CCS Service Desk at info@crowncommercial.gov.uk or 0345 410 2222.

Don’t forget, you can find a full list of all the commercial agreements we offer, alongside details of how we can help you build policy considerations into your procurement, in our interactive digital brochure.

Changes to our frameworks in November

Welcome to our monthly framework update to help you with your procurement planning. We will publish it online each month and also share it in our newsletters and on our social media channels.

The update provides a brief summary of what has been awarded, extended or expired during the previous month. It also outlines what is due to expire in the next 3 months.

You can also get an overview of all of our live frameworks in our interactive digital brochure.

Frameworks awarded in November  

Frameworks extended in November

Frameworks that expired in November 

Frameworks due to expire in the next 3 months

Further information

If you need further details about any of these frameworks please get in touch.

You can also find out what new procurements we are working on by exploring our upcoming deals page.

If you don’t currently receive our monthly customer newsletter why not also subscribe to receive these updates and more directly to your inbox? Just fill in this short form.

IT hardware aggregation achieves customer savings of up to 30% in 2021

The requirement

Due to the increase in working from home, the pandemic has caused a rise in demand for IT hardware for organisations across the public sector. 

With budgets stretched like never before, we strive to help our customers make the most from every penny spent. That’s why, through our aggregation team’s regular bulk buying opportunities, we can provide you with the technology you need at the best price possible. 

After combining all customer requirements, we run an aggregated procurement process. We then benefit from competitive prices, discounts and favourable terms from suppliers. After taking the aggregated requirements to market, we can provide customers with contracts following a fully compliant tender exercise.

Contracts are delivered through further competitions in lot 2 of the Technology Products and Associated Services Framework.

Our latest aggregation

This summer’s IT hardware aggregation required the bulk buying of many different technologies such as: laptops and desktops; mice and keyboards, and tablets and iPads.

An NHS Trust, 2 schools and a statutory consumer body were some of the customers involved in this aggregation.

The solution

Before the aggregation, we reached out to the public sector to understand the level of interest in the upcoming opportunity. Based upon approximate volumes, we were able to identify the minimum indicative savings and ceiling prices. These are minimum savings that customers can expect.

Customers could then confirm how many items they wanted to buy, along with any required services, and state whether the items were necessary or optional by signing a call-off order form and letter of intent. Once volume was confirmed we ran the aggregation, identified the supplier who offered the best quality and price, and presented each customer with a standalone contract. 

It normally takes around 6 weeks from customer confirmation to award.

The results 

The total customer saving for this aggregation was more than £200,000, with an average saving of 14%. Despite the average, one school benefitted from savings of 30% by combining their requirements with a larger NHS Trust.

By bringing together a range of customers with similar needs, our aggregations help organisations harness bulk buying power to unlock greater savings.

Add power to your procurement with CCS

Taking part in an aggregation means many of the usual further competition procurement steps are handled by us, saving you precious time and resources. We will draft all documentation, build the specification and run the procurement. 

This is a fully managed service, provided and funded by us. It is a tried and tested approach that has delivered significant savings to the public sector. 

Our next IT hardware aggregation (NFC144) is now open for expressions of interest from customers. You have until the end of January 2022 to submit your requirements, with a formal contract award set to take place in March 2022. 

If you would like to take part, please complete our enquiry form quoting ‘NFC144 IT Hardware Aggregation’ in the comment box and a member of our team will be in touch. Or, you can email the aggregation team

Learn more about the framework on our Technology and Associated Services framework web page

To find out more about aggregation with CCS, visit our aggregation web page or watch our Microsoft Licensing Aggregation webinar.

Generate value by responsibly disposing of unwanted assets

With last year’s change in working patterns and more of us permanently working from home, organisations are beginning to dispose of assets they no longer need. Lot 6 of this framework provides a removal service and helps our customers to meet social value objectives.

What is an asset? 

An asset can be anything you own, from a mobile phone or electrical device to equipment and machinery. It can even be high capital value such as property, vehicles and land. 

How can we help?

Through lot 6 of our Courier and Specialist Movements framework, we offer an end-to-end managed service for the removal of unwanted assets of all sizes and weights. 

Our suppliers provide asset assessment, expert advice and alternative solutions on how to dispose of unwanted property. We can manage the moving, recycling, reselling, donating or securely disposing of assets.

Customers can donate and recycle unwanted assets, helping to meet social value targets. Or, customers can resell assets with secure transportation and storage, receiving part of the monetary value. A full audit trail is provided if the asset has to be destroyed.

The benefits

This framework will help you to responsibly remove unwanted assets. You will also be able to: 

  • realise value from almost any asset, including old and end-of-life vehicles, electronic devices or high value items
  • understand how much your assets are worth, with a a full valuation service for all assets prior to any auction
  • realise value from anything confiscated or seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA)
  • free up space for any items, including vacant office furniture, outdated equipment and lost property

With 6 available suppliers on this lot, we are able to move and dispose of any type of unwanted asset. This ranges from small items, such as mobile phones and IT equipment, to larger items including boats, land and buildings. 

Further competition and direct awards are enabled under this framework. You can visit our web page to learn how to buy through CCS, understand pricing and access relevant documents.

Find out more

To find out more about our unwanted assets framework and receive a fully managed service for asset recovery, 

  • visit the Courier and Specialist Movements Framework (RM6171) webpage
  • contact the CCS Service Desk at info@crowncommercial.gov.uk 
  • call us on 0345 410 2222

You can find a full list of all the commercial agreements we offer, alongside details of how we can help you build policy considerations into your procurement, in our interactive digital brochure.

Critical IT vulnerabilities in Apache’s log4j

On Friday 10 December 2021, a worldwide IT vulnerability was discovered in the logging function of an Apache product which the internet and internet-based services use widely.

The government is treating this issue with the utmost seriousness and continues to work to protect the services it relies on.

What CCS is doing

We continue to evaluate all our digital products and services, taking action to mitigate or remediate as necessary: 

  • following the implementation of security measures, access to the DigiTS travel and accommodation booking service has now been restored
  • the digital supplier filtering tools for supply teachers, management consultancy, legal services and facilities management were restored on Friday 17 December

Guidance for customers

All our procurement systems are now fully available. If you experience problems accessing any of our systems, please call us on 0345 410 2222 or email info@crowncommercial.gov.uk.

We continue to monitor responses from framework suppliers to ensure they are following National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) guidance. We advise you to make sure that your own organisation, and any suppliers who provide digital services for you, are also following NCSC guidance.

Guidance for suppliers

All suppliers to government should be following NCSC guidance and ensuring  products and services are evaluated and remediated as necessary. 

Please contact NCSC and gsgcyber@cabinetoffice.gov.uk with details of any affected service, an outline of the issue and the organisation/department(s) that you believe to be affected.

Chronic environmental impact, a simple preventative cure for the NHS

The professionalism and speed at which the NHS adapted its buildings and facilities to cope with the influx of COVID-19 infected patients has been and continues to be impressive and inspiring. One of the many strategies employed was the rapid deployment of modular buildings. The advancements made in such manufactured facilities are astonishing and are one of the reasons why we use them for the data centres used for our Crown Hosting agreement.

So, if I told you Crown Hosting using modular buildings could cut your ongoing electricity usage and bill for your data centre information technology (IT) by at least 75%, the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO₂e) by 99.9%, significantly reduce your water impact on the environment, generally become an environmental good egg and release valuable space in your buildings, would you read the rest of this blog?

Modular construction

Hospital operating theatres, intensive care units and isolation wards are all services where air-flow handling is vitally important for infection control. Modular buildings are manufactured off-site to exacting quality standards that are well tested before they leave the factory, then simply craned into a spare area of land and removed again when they are no longer needed. Hospitals have used them for fast deployment of longish term, but essentially temporary facilities for many years. 

Modular construction in sustainability terms is a huge boon simply because the buildings can be recycled. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has consistently reported that traditional bricks and mortar construction and demolition are by far the biggest contributor to landfill sites in the UK. Globally, cement, steel, aluminium and plastic used in construction are responsible for 39% of the CO2e emitted and 30% of the water used in the UK every year. Clearly, buildings that can be removed to another site and re-used can only be a good thing for the environment.

Data centres

Data centres are for the IT widgets, servers, networks, security systems that very few people see, but we all use. They can be a cupboard, a room or a building. The cloud, the internet, our email, photos, banks, health records, payroll, pensions, the IT for everything our modern society relies upon lives in data centres. They need to be secure and reliable. The disruption caused when they go wrong could mean you can’t see your photos or at the other end of the scale, lives could be lost. 

The vast majority of organisations, including those in the NHS, have a problem with a mismatch between the buildings they construct as data centres and the fast pace of change in IT. If you build a hospital you expect it to last decades, but traditionally built data centres constructed even 10 years ago are obsolete. The problem is that the IT is getting smaller and we need it to do more. The net effect of this is that we try to cram ever more into those cupboards and rooms, but the facility obsolescence becomes ever more costly to overcome.

Tiny rooms

EURECA was a European study of public sector data centre facilities, including the UK, and it found that 97% of them were tiny. The problem with tiny facilities is the energy wastage associated with keeping them reliable (so the IT stays on) and getting rid of the heat generated by the IT. Cupboards and rooms in buildings will either use an extension of the cooling system used for the building or bolt-on additional air-conditioning units. This has huge potential to be highly inefficient. The EURECA survey found that on average, for every 1kWh used by the IT, another 3kWh was wasted by the facilities. When you put more IT into these tiny rooms, such as when it is refreshed, the facility problem gets worse, not better.

The so what, “I’ve just one room/cupboard/server room”, is that everyone has lots of them, scattered in every building, the cumulative problem is enormous. DEFRA has been tracking electricity use in central government ‘server rooms’ for nearly a decade. The last report in 2019 estimated that 56% of all electricity consumed by central government IT was within data centres. This percentage will likely be similar across the public sector and is an enormous electricity bill just for the IT, but then think about the 3 times amount wasted through inefficient facilities. Frankly, I’m embarrassed first by the impact this has on our environment, but then I get cross about the waste of taxpayer money.

Crown Hosting

Crown Hosting came about to address these problems for public sector organisations that need data centre facilities and it does so using modular construction but on a huge pan-public sector scale. Crown Hosting is a CCS procurement framework and the single joint venture supplier of the services within it is called Crown Hosting Data Centres Ltd. The products and prices are pre-negotiated and benchmarked, and procurement is by direct award.

Crown Hosting’s scale addresses the problem of the enormous number of ‘tiny’ facilities, scattered everywhere, all needing cooling and electrical plants. So rather than looking after the cooling and electrical plant of thousands of tiny rooms, it looks after tens of rooms each of which is able to contain the same quantity of IT as hundreds of tiny rooms. This changes the provision from a multitude of cottage industries to mass production on a few sites. The cost drops enormously on a number of fronts including land cost, construction costs, building operation (facilities management), but the aggregation reduces IT costs too in areas such as networks and IT support.

The modular buildings are a boon too, their assembly on-site takes about 4 months which is much faster than the bricks and mortar approach that takes about 2 years after you have agreed on the design. In an IT-centric world where the IT changes every year, reducing construction time to months means that the data centre buildings are just right for the IT that is about to be deployed and for as far in the future as we dare to gaze. If in the future the buildings are not right for the IT anymore, they can be reassembled in a way that is.

Airflow and cooling

The modular buildings designed for hospital settings (operating theatres, intensive care units, isolation wards) have infection control and air-flow handling as a primary requirement. Those designed for temporary industrial kitchens have distribution of lots of electricity and removal of the heat from stoves and ovens as one of their requirements. Funnily enough, data centres have the problem of distribution of enormous amounts of electricity, combined with careful air-flow handling to get rid of the heat and prevent hot-spots. Kitchens in the UK, even industrial ones rarely use energy-intensive cooling systems, at home if it is hot in the kitchen we open the window.

Crown Hosting data centres continuously mix cool air from the outside with the warm air coming off the IT to provide a continuous temperature of 25°C to the IT. The average 24 hour temperature in the UK never goes above 20°C, so for the majority of the time that mixing is enough. For those parts of days where the outside temperature is above 25°C then simple drip fed evaporation of water into the air-intake provides enough cooling for it to be above 36°C outside before any energy intensive top up cooling is needed. 

Electricity

The cooling technologies employed by Crown Hosting data centres are simple, but the application of them is advanced and it means that less than 0.2kWh is wasted by the facility for every 1kWh used by the IT within it. We also encourage our customers to look carefully at what IT they put in our data centres. There is an environmental manufacturing cost of replacing IT, but electricity usage is an important factor. newer IT uses less electricity than older, a lot less to do the same work. The team behind the EURECA study illustrated that if you replaced 9 year old IT with new and it did the same job in the same timeframe, then you needed just 15% of the IT. The sustainability message from this is that you need to take charge and calculate when the environmental cost of changing the IT is lower than keeping the old.

Saving electricity is an important environmental message for data centres because the IT within them consume so much and facilities can waste even more. The carbon footprint can be directly related to the electrical consumption, in addition over 40% of global water withdrawals from the environment are associated with electricity production. Crown Hosting goes a step further than this, all of its electricity purchased from the national grid is green, so zero CO₂e or water usage from the mains electricity.

Find out more

If you are interested in saving money and the environment, consider relocating your IT to 1 or more of the Crown Hosting facilities. You have the power to make a difference so please, be a good environmental egg. To find out more, get in touch and speak to a member of our trusted team today. 

How the sustainable domino effect will help the NHS

To achieve sustainability within the NHS will feel like moving a mountain with a teaspoon, it is possible but it will be a long and hard journey. The tasks are endless each with their own unique problems and firmly underlined with the central core value that what they do is save lives. A change can be ideal in a sustainable target, but detrimental to the area in their role in patient care. 

While looking at what needs to be done it is often thought that answering in-depth riddles on the creation of the universe could be easier. When you look at the NHS as a single entity the task becomes too large, instead, by breaking it down into the component parts it helps to make it less intimidating, but what these components are is yet to be decided.

When you mention the NHS to anyone the initial thought is the large trust led hospitals, but what about all of the health centres providing local GP care to the community, the nurses, care professionals and admin teams that keep these areas running? Let’s look at one of these areas as an example of what could be changed. 

Power

The first thing that people think of when it comes to carbon net-zero is power. Looking at this from one aspect would be a move to a green sourced power supply, maybe including carbon offset certificates. In an ideal world, it would be a mix of solar and air source heat pumps, if the property is in a more rural area and has the available space then a small wind turbine would complement the building’s requirement. Theoretically, this could create an off-grid generation of supply, albeit I would never suggest that a health centre is fully off-grid the risk is too high. 

Lights, computers, administration and waste are all areas that need to be readdressed. Lights can be changed to LED systems that have a much lower per hour cost and better longevity, plus they are much brighter than previous energy saving bulbs. With the computer systems, it is more common to see medical notes on a computer system compared to the old style paper records. Laptops are more environmentally friendly than desktop systems but they do have a theft risk connected with them. Having a server system located off site would help to reduce the building CO2 further. One aspect of administration is the number of paper letters sent to patients. The majority of citizens now have email addresses so a simple email would be ideal and at zero cost. There are the exceptions where some will need to continue with physical letters, but as time moves on more and more are used to email as a main source of communication.  

Waste

Hospital sites can encompass all of the same plans as a health centre, but one area that requires additional thinking is waste, which is getting more attention in recent times. Would it not be better for the standard and recyclable waste to be collected from one location avoiding the need for the collection lorry to travel around a site? Offensive waste is a different matter entirely and needs a country wide approach. 

None of the ideas mentioned here are new, the NHS has multiple areas of interest and targets such as all NHS buildings must have LED lights by 2030, low emission generators and cooling systems with emergency generators being battery powered by 2025, along with electric vehicle charging stations in all car parks again by 2025. The plans are in place, the technology is available and getting better all the time. 

A circular economy

It is no surprise that we all have to look towards a circular economy in order to stop the reliance on a limited resource of natural materials. How we can achieve this in an organisation that has to dispose of some of its waste for infection control is another matter. In light of recent events with the COVID-19 outbreak and the quantity of PPE that was required and then destroyed, it is understandable that calls for washable PPE are the way forward but the question remains how can this be controlled in a medical arena?

This is where we have to embrace change, to encourage innovation with clear routes to market. There is no doubt that there are companies that can and have developed washable PPE, but will this product have additional requirements around it? Will it require specially developed washing machines, with new detergent? And what would the wastewater be like, would it be safe or would that then have to go through a cleaning process? As always in sustainability, every question is subsequently answered by 2 more questions.

Improved air quality

Right now it is procurement’s time to shine, the world has changed and one thing that COVID-19 has brought to the attention is being greener, the call for a greener rebuild and how air quality improved during the lockdown. Procurement can help achieve this target goal but it is down to all of us to look into each project and see how it can be improved, we need to stop the phrase of ‘business as usual’ and embrace the thought process of reimagining everything with a green sustainable tint to it. 

Data produced by both the NHS and the British Lung Foundation (BLF) have shown significant improvements in air quality during the lockdown, that asthma sufferers found their symptoms were better and that we all noticed a cleaner environment. The BLF reported “one in six people living with lung conditions in the UK say their symptoms have got better because of the fall in toxic air pollution since lockdown”. 

The solution

This is where the domino effect can come into play, by all of us making a transition to a more sustainable cleaner lifestyle it eases the burden on the NHS. Moving to walking or cycling to work, reducing the journeys taken with cars by working from home, purchasing electric vehicles and clean air zones, all of which will not just reduce harmful emissions and particulates but will help with the overall health of the citizen, which will, in turn, reduce the demand on the NHS. 

Prevention instead of cure is a phrase that has done the rounds a number of times, sustainability is exactly that. A council making a decision to close off an area to traffic to reduce pollutants can have a positive domino effect on the area, as the chances of citizens young and old developing breathing related issues can drastically reduce, and all of the health care required for this illness is no longer under the same pressure, so fewer trips to a hospital will mean fewer car journeys, along with all of the administration for the appointment and subsequent care. 

A two pronged approach to NHS sustainability is going to be required, yes there are the standard changes required like the LED lights and battery powered generators, but a wider picture has to be taken into account by the local area, by making the towns and cities cleaner and sustainable the effect will be felt by the local NHS which will by proxy become more sustainable. 

Get in touch

To see our wide range of solutions for the NHS please visit our dedicated web page. If you want to find out more about how sustainability is embedded in our frameworks please contact Andrew Smith at andrew.smith1@crowncommercial.gov.uk

3 steps to sustainability for the public sector fleet

One positive effect of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has been the beneficial impact less travel has had on air quality. 

Subsequently, there has been an increased interest in sustainable transport solutions, accelerating the change from conventional internal combustion engines to alternatively fuelled vehicles, such as electric ones. 

At CCS, we know that many organisations expect to begin the shift to sustainable solutions in 2021. This is a challenging process for any organisation, so to help, we have identified the 3 steps organisations looking to transition to sustainability must consider.

Step 1 – know your data

First, you need to develop a clear understanding of how your fleet is currently being used. 

You should seek information on journey types, frequency and mileage, as well as the service, maintenance and repair impact on vehicles. You also need to understand driver behaviour which impacts fuel consumption and emissions. 

It is important to factor in hired vehicles and instances where employees use their own cars (also known as grey fleet). Remember to build in the cost to your business of all those mileage and subsistence claims!

Step 2 – understand demand and scope solutions

Next, you need to understand the optimum composition of your fleet.  

It sounds obvious, but your first consideration should always be how to reduce the need to travel altogether. For those essential journeys, you will likely end up with a blend of fleet and pool vehicles, hired in vehicles and, yes, grey fleet.

With the average car on the UK road 8 years old, and likely to be powered by petrol or diesel, grey fleet is an area that often inadvertently pushes up an organisation’s carbon footprint.

To counter this, salary sacrifice schemes are an effective method of providing a new, cost-effective and low-emission vehicle to employees while reducing an organisation’s carbon footprint and improving staff retention. 

To obtain buy-in for your electrification plans, you need early and meaningful stakeholder engagement. This of course includes employees, but also your internal sustainability, finance, estates/property and HR teams too. 

It is also critically important to plan your vehicle charging infrastructure early and before placing any orders for your new electric vehicles.  

Home-based charging can be relatively easy to implement and can even form part of the vehicle lease contracts. Work-based charging can be more challenging and costly. Explore options such as using public charging infrastructure or implementing revenue generating charge infrastructure. 

Step 3 – achieve great things 

Now to set your strategy and begin to implement changes. 

New vehicle models and technologies are being introduced at a rapid pace, so don’t assume you won’t need to revisit your strategy periodically. We share regular updates to help keep you up-to-date. 

Our Fleet Portal is a great tool that can help you identify all the latest vehicles available in the market.  It provides access to all vehicles available in the UK and, by using the filtering systems, it’s easy to identify those vehicles that meet your criteria. The competitive quoting functionality ensures value for money and visibility of whole life costs when comparing different vehicles.

Next steps

Wherever you are on the journey, every step you take moves you closer to reducing the carbon footprint.

Need help with your next step? We are here to help you with every aspect of your shift to sustainability.

Back on the road: building your green fleet plan

This article was originally published in Public Sector Executive.

The Government’s plan for growth recognises the role that our fleet and transport infrastructure will play as we seek to build back better. 

Transitioning to net zero will present opportunities for economic development and job creation across the country, encouraging new business growth, and helping us to leave our environment in a better condition than we found it.

And the interweaving focus on net zero, infrastructure investment, and the environment demonstrates the potential benefits for the whole UK presented by the technology that has emerged over the last two decades – technology which the Government is backing to power our recovery after the pandemic.

It also puts new demands on the public sector’s approach to fleet management, and makes the case for change even stronger. 

Public bodies need to consider now how they can adapt to a net zero, electric future, and what co-benefits can be achieved by making the switch. 

The switch

With the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans set to be banned by 2030, the public sector is approaching a very real turning point in how it manages its fleets.

The Government is investing £1.3 billion in the rollout of charge points for electric vehicles in homes, streets and on motorways across England. At the same time, investment is promised in the UK’s car manufacturing bases to accelerate the transition to alternatively fueled vehicles – whether electric or hydrogen-powered.

Public sector fleets are already starting the process of transitioning to fully electric or hybrid vehicles while also boosting their regional charging infrastructure. 

I recently worked with East Devon District Council – a large, rural local authority in the south of England – who decided to act on climate change by converting its streetscene fleet to lower carbon alternatives; in this case, electric Light Commercial Vehicles. The eventual solution is clean, low-carbon, and able to traverse the full range of the largely dispersed local authority area. 

Their new fleet can return to one of two charging stations for overnight charging, with real-time charging data so the fleet manager can be sure charging time is being maximised. There are now plans to install more charging infrastructure for staff, supporting electric vehicle usage beyond a single council service.

The solution is designed to be easily scalable, and while its benefits won’t automatically transfer to every local authority, the key elements of how we reached it will. More on that later.

The risks of grey fleet

Aside from vehicles owned by your organisation, it’s important to factor employee-owned vehicles into your net zero calculations.

Vehicles that your employees own and use for business purposes are commonly referred to as ‘grey fleet’. It’s reckoned that over a billion miles are incurred each year in employee-owned vehicles.

As we emerge from the pandemic and the UK inevitably gets back on the road, we’re likely to see a rise in employees making use of their own vehicles for business purposes. Any increase in grey fleet usage has health and safety risks. It also poses a greater risk from higher CO2 levels, with the average age of grey fleet vehicles estimated to be 8 years old.

If your employees are using vehicles that pollute more than your own fleet would, it’s worth considering a ‘green’ salary sacrifice scheme. 

Like any salary sacrifice scheme, the employer takes control of its design. Schemes are designed as cost-neutral for the employer, meaning no investment is required. 

The employer can specify the type of vehicles available, including Ultra Low Emissions vehicles (ULEV), and schemes can include fully comprehensive insurance, servicing and maintenance, road fund licence and breakdown cover. 

For electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles, salary sacrifice scheme providers can source home-charging equipment and build the right solutions into the lease package for the individual.

Like the traditional fleet example, there are commonalities in the approach that can be taken by local authorities that will deliver benefits suited to the reality of your local area. 

Three steps to sustainability

At CCS, we know that many organisations expect to begin the shift to sustainable solutions in 2021. This is a challenging process for any organisation, so to help, we have identified the 3 steps organisations looking to transition to sustainability must consider.

  • Step 1 – know your data

First, you need to develop a clear understanding of how your fleet is currently being used. 

You should seek information on journey types, frequency and mileage, as well as the service, maintenance and repair impact on vehicles. You also need to understand driver behaviour which impacts fuel consumption and emissions. 

Factor in hired vehicles and grey fleet. Don’t overlook the cost to your business of all those mileage and subsistence claims.

  • Step 2 – understand demand and scope solutions

Next, you need to understand the optimum composition of your fleet.  

It sounds obvious, but your first consideration should always be how to reduce the need to travel altogether. For those essential journeys, you will likely end up with a blend of fleet and pool vehicles, hired in vehicles and, yes, grey fleet.

Consider whether salary sacrifice schemes will work for you, and start early and meaningful stakeholder engagement. Talk to your employees at large, and your sustainability, finance, estates and HR teams too. 

Plan your vehicle charging infrastructure before placing any orders for your new electric vehicles. Home-based charging can be relatively easy to implement and can even form part of the vehicle lease contracts. Work-based charging can be more challenging and costly. Explore options such as using public charging infrastructure or implementing revenue generating charge infrastructure. 

  • Step 3 – achieve great things 

Set your strategy and begin to make changes. New vehicle models and technologies are coming along all the time, so revisit your strategy periodically. CCS’s Fleet Portal is a great tool that can help you identify all the latest vehicles available in the market. 

It provides access to all vehicles available in the UK and, by using the filtering systems, you can easily identify vehicles that meet your criteria. The competitive quoting functionality ensures value for money and visibility of whole life costs when comparing different vehicles.

Let us power your fleet

Our suite of Total Fleet Solutions provide you with everything you need to power your fleet through uncertain times. Whether you’re looking to procure, adapt and maintain vehicles, or run your fleet efficiently and sustainably, we’re here to help.

To learn more, visit our Total Fleet Solutions web page which is packed with framework news, case studies and insight. 

If you have any questions, our fleet category experts are here to help – contact the team.

Kim Harrison, Crown Commercial Service’s Senior Category Lead for Fleet