Government Commercial Agency

How to negotiate agency rates with confidence

You have every right to check you’re getting the best possible deal, and it’s something we recommend you take steps to do. If you were buying a new car you would shop around to find the best price, interest rate and terms and conditions for you. The same is true for the supply of temporary staff. In this blog we give you our top tips to help ensure you are getting a good deal.

Shopping around for an agency may seem uncomfortable due to the mystique created within the education market. We want to dispel common myths and give you the knowledge to confidently negotiate the best possible deal for your school. You might feel that you don’t have the time to negotiate the best deal for urgent bookings. We recommend planning ahead and agreeing rates with your agencies in advance. This will result in long-term cost savings and time management benefits, ensuring you get the best deal no matter how last minute a booking is. You won’t need to renegotiate every time you require a temporary worker. The agreed rates will be set until you next review them with your agency or agencies.

Top tips

Understand your position

make sure you know how much you spend on temporary resource in your school and with which agencies
are there other schools that you could partner with?
- combining your spend with other schools will give you a higher overall spend and better negotiating power
what daily charge and mark-up rates do you currently pay?
- if you do not know, you really must ask
speak to your peers and find out what are they paying to help you gauge what rate is reasonable

Determine your bargaining range

establish the optimum daily charge and mark-up rates you would like to pay, as well as
what is the highest daily charge and mark-up rates you are willing to pay?
- this will show you the range within which you should negotiate

Communication

invite the agency or agencies you use in for a discussion – this is more effective if done face to face
define your negotiating position and discuss:
- agency performance – have you received a satisfactory service from them?
- spend – set out what your anticipated future spend will be
- discuss challenges:
  - is your school facing cutbacks?
  - do you need to reduce unproductive time by limiting the number of agencies you work with?
discussing these issues will help incentivise the agencies to retain your business rather than lose you to a competition
- it often leads to more attractive rates being offered
work out a mark-up rate which is acceptable to you and the agency
- if the agency is unable to meet your requirements do not be afraid to walk away
remember that this should not be a confrontational conversation: clarity and communication are key

Dispelling common myths

The benefits of negotiation are not worth my time and effort

It is not a waste of time to save money (and time in the long run). It’s true that the initial process of getting a better deal needs an upfront investment of time, however, the result will be a fair price every time you need a worker, no matter how last minute. Peace of mind and controlled costs will be worth the time spent negotiating with an agency.

If I try to renegotiate with my agencies our good relationship will be affected

Negotiation is common practice in the recruitment market and can generate positive outcomes for all parties. It should not be a process that adversely affects professional relationships and most agencies will respect your need to get a good deal. This enables you to spend your already strained budgets on other vital resources.

A higher charge rate means the worker gets higher pay

Not necessarily. If you are paying a higher mark-up, this could significantly diminish the worker’s pay. If you pay a lower charge rate with a lower mark-up, the teacher can still receive more than if you were paying a higher charge rate with a higher mark-up. Read our recent blog to find out more about the impact of mark-up rates.

I am not entitled to know what the mark-up rate is

You are entitled to know the mark-up rate you are being charged, subject to general data protection regulations. This information is not commercially sensitive when shared between the agency and their customer – which in this case is you.

I have to sign the agency’s terms and conditions

You can request agencies sign your terms and conditions. Under the Supply Teachers deal, agencies use the CCS framework terms and conditions. These are written with the best interests of schools in mind. They also mean you have peace of mind that agencies are adhering to the Keeping children safe in education standards.

My agencies have exclusivity over workers

It is rare for an agency to have exclusivity over a worker. Most workers actually sign up with several agencies, which creates competition in the market. If you are able to offer more competitive pay, workers are more likely to be attracted to your vacancy.

I can’t avoid temp to perm fees

Agencies can charge transfer fees to protect their legitimate business interests through temp to perm fees. Agencies must, however, provide you with the option of an extended period of hire or a transfer fee as set out in The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003. Temp to perm fees can be avoided with the Supply Teachers deal, when a worker has been in post for 12 weeks or more and 4 weeks notice is given to the agency.

Workforce Alliance Looks to 2020

Managing Directors from NHS Procurement in Partnership and Helen MacCarthy, Health and Education Category Director, Crown Commercial Service, came together at the HCSA Conference in Harrogate to set out their vision for Workforce Alliance and the benefits it can provide to NHS Trusts.

As the biggest public procurement partnership in the UK, Workforce Alliance brings together the procurement and commercial expertise of the NHS and Crown Commercial Service, and through its collaborative, solutions-based approach, it’s already helping ensure that NHS trusts have quick and easy access to a sustainable workforce.

The panel outlined their plans for the partnership, and what benefits are available to customers. They answered questions on the role of robotics in the workforce, and the benefits to public sector procurement professionals of working with the Alliance. Chaired by NHSI’s South Regional Head of Procurement Mark Gronow, the panel was quizzed about lessons learnt, how the Alliance will achieve its goals and how its work is benefitting NHS trusts and public sector bodies.

As Michael Pace, NHS London Procurement Partnership’s Managing Director, explains: ‘Workforce Alliance is about a lot more than just frameworks. As an NHS business partner, we work in close collaboration with other NHS organisations to develop carefully tailored workforce solutions. It is only through this collaborative approach and building strategic business partnerships with our customers that we can properly understand their needs and provide the most effective solutions. And we do so with the patient at the heart of everything we do.’

Alyson Brett, Managing Director at NHS Commercial Solutions, said: “We are committed to developing the whole portfolio of health workforce services, and Workforce Alliance is the embodiment of how important partnerships are, and our committed approach to working together and sharing our many years of experience has already helped us to deliver frameworks in key areas including international recruitment, staff bank and temporary staffing.”

Asked about what lessons have been learnt along the way, Managing Director of NHS North of England Commercial Procurement Collaborative Keith Rowley, said: “We have learnt a lot but equally we know there is a lot more for us as a collaborative to learn as we evolve.

“The breadth of skills and experience, not just among the managing directors, but among our teams as well across the five partners means that we can offer that expertise on a local level. As an alliance we want to use the expertise and relationships we have to influence those decision makers to create benefits on a local and national scale.”

Helen MacCarthy, Health and Education Category Director for Crown Commercial Service, said: “By working with the Workforce Alliance, customers can access a depth and breadth of expertise, resource and geographical reach.”

She added: “There is a lot of passion within these teams, we are surrounded and supported by people who give up their time to make a difference. By coming together and ensuring we deliver quick and easy access to tools and support to ensure our customers have what they need to create a sustainable workforce, we can influence the market and ensure our customers and suppliers have confidence in the service we deliver.

“As one of our customers recently said: ‘We are always there with our expert procurement knowledge to support them with any workforce issues they may encounter’.”

Howard Rolfe, Managing Director of the East of England Collaborative Procurement Hub, said the offering from Workforce Alliance was truly responsive to customer need.

He added: “All our business models are customer focused, we are committed to providing a personalised service. Only through our collaborative approach and building strategic partnerships can we properly understand the requirements of the market and tailor solutions to address customer needs.”

There’s more information on the Workforce Alliance and its agreements here.

Photo: © Paul Dawson HCSA 2019

Supply teachers: agency mark up and the impact on worker pay

The hands and arms of a small group of people working around a laptop and papers

It’s really important to pay attention to the agency mark-up rate when sourcing supply teachers and temporary staff through agencies. It doesn’t just affect the rate you pay – it can also make a big difference to how much your worker will get paid.

What is mark-up?

Put simply mark-up is the fee the agency charges you for finding a worker.

It is a percentage added on to worker pay and legislative costs to make up the total charge rate. Legislative costs include pension and National Insurance payments, apprenticeship levy and holiday pay, all of which are a percentage of the worker’s pay.

Why does it matter?

It’s important to know what mark-up rate your agency is charging so you can be confident you are getting a competitive rate – not just for your school, but also for your temporary workers given it impacts on what they get paid too.

Workers typically register with several agencies and exclusivity is rare. As a worker is likely to be attracted by the best pay rate, by negotiating your agency mark-up, you are putting your school in a good place to attract the best workers.

Understanding the importance of mark-up will put you in a great position to negotiate with agencies. This is something you can – and definitely should – do. By negotiating on the mark-up rate you will benefit from:

lower charge rate to your school = savings
enhanced worker pay = increased opportunity to secure and retain workers
improved worker benefits = satisfied and committed workers, benefiting the children they teach

It’s also worth remembering that as the mark-up rates under the CCS framework are maximum rates suppliers will expect you to negotiate.

Here’s an example

Before we launched the Supply Teachers and Temporary Staff framework, the average agency mark-up schools were being charged was 38%. On a daily charge rate of £200 this would breakdown as agency fee £56, worker pay £101.81 and legislative costs £42.19:

Under the framework, agency mark-ups of 15% and below are achievable. On a charge rate of £190, the split would be agency fee £24.70, worker pay £116.89 and legislative costs £48.41:

In this example you pay £10 less per day and your worker receives £15.08 more per day.

Why not download our infographic to share this important message with your colleagues?

Workforce Support frameworks

Image of a doctor speaking to a mother and child

Crown Commercial Service and NHS Procurement in Partnership are working together to deliver health workforce services under the banner of the Workforce Alliance.

The collaboration is to ensure our customers have easy and quick access to a sustainable workforce and is part of a long-term plan to deliver a whole portfolio of health workforce services.

The Workforce Alliance has grouped four of its existing frameworks together to form Workforce Support.

We’ve selected the best aspects of our existing support frameworks and put them in one place as a joint offer under the Workforce Alliance. The package is aimed at providing customers with a route to source additional services in support of health HR and workforce functions.

The Workforce Support Services package brings together four CCS frameworks:

Managed Learning Service
Occupational Health, Employee Assistance Programmes and Eye Care
Permanent Recruitment Solutions
as well as the HR lot (lot 4) of its Management Consultancy framework

Together, these can be used to provide additional services in support of the other frameworks now offered under the Workforce Alliance:

The Workforce Alliance Board said: “We are delighted to be able to deliver this selection of frameworks under the umbrella of Workforce Support. These frameworks reinforce our commitment for a sustainable NHS workforce model, and we believe these agreements will bring real benefits to our customers in the NHS and wider public sector.

Workforce Alliance

Crown Commercial Service and NHS Procurement in Partnership are working together to deliver health workforce services under the banner of the Workforce Alliance.

The collaboration is to ensure our customers have easy and quick access to a sustainable workforce and is part of a long-term plan to deliver a whole portfolio of health workforce services.

Among the commercial agreements already jointly launched are the International Recruitment framework which supports not just the NHS, but the wider public sector. It addresses the NHS need to increase international recruitment to fill existing permanent vacancies with dedicated staff and aligns with recommendations set out in the NHS Long Term Plan and the NHS People Plan.

Another agreement, the Flexible Resource Pool – Staff Bank, is also live and provides the ability to build a flexible staff bank for both clinical and non-clinical temporary staff. This framework is the first of its kind to ensure pre-employment assurance is undertaken against NHS Employers Check Standards for all workers employed by an outsourced bank.

More recently, the Non-Clinical Temporary and Fixed Term Staff framework agreement was launched. This replaces the previous Non-Medical Non-Clinical framework and provides access to competitive pricing, with the ability to better use fixed term appointments and statement of work.

The Workforce Alliance board said: “We are delighted to be working together in support of our joint ambition for a sustainable NHS workforce model. The collection of expertise, resources and geographical reach across the Alliance brings a willingness to listen and to work in partnership to benefit our customers across the NHS and public sector.”

‘Heroes’ marketing campaign nominated for Public Service Communications Excellence Award

We are delighted to announce that our ‘CCS Heroes’ marketing campaign has been shortlisted for this year’s Public Service Communications Excellence awards.

CCS Heroes was launched in 2018 in response to in-depth research about perceptions of the organisation amongst current and potential customers. Based on this insight, the team worked to put a face to the CCS brand to help build engagement and trust with our customers.

Andrew Pemberton, Director of Marketing & Communications at CCS, said:

The campaign included digital advertising, brochures, and newsletters

This innovative campaign put our colleagues and customers front and centre as ‘heroes’, showing how effective and efficient public sector procurement can deliver great outcomes for the taxpayer, and world-class frontline services for citizens the length and breadth of the UK.

The campaign has enjoyed considerable success and I am delighted that the team’s hard work and creativity have been recognised in this way. We look forward to joining public sector communications teams from across the UK on 5 November to hear the final results.

The campaign, the largest ever run by CCS, helped to increase awareness of the organisation to as high as 81% amongst its target audience and is set to generate an estimated £21.7 million of additional savings for our public sector customers in 2019.

At the heart of the campaign was our ambition to position CCS as authentic, easy to use and approachable. But the challenge didn’t end there. CCS has ambitious plans to help deliver big increases in savings for the public sector and we needed to be able to cut through the crowded marketplace and reach more public sector bodies than ever before to achieve it.

How we did it

Working closely with colleagues across CCS and our agency partners, we revamped our campaign microsite, digital ads and event materials as well as updating our key messages and developing a content strategy that was tailored to our targeted audiences.

Delivering our message to the thousands of potential customers across the public and third sector was no mean feat. We used the widest possible range of owned and paid-for marketing and comms channels to maximise our reach and engagement, including monthly sector-based newsletters, emails, blogs, case studies, videos, whitepapers, social media activity, webinars, brochures, digital and press ads. We also worked alongside key partners and other government bodies such as the Department for Education and Government Digital Service to support the marketing activity.

Outcomes

Thanks to the hard work of colleagues across CCS, we were able to achieve a number of significant positive outcomes over the 12 month campaign period:

Increased awareness of CCS and its key products/services amongst our target audience. Our digital adverts were served millions of times across targeted social media platforms and websites, helping to drive 84,000 visits to our campaign website and increasing overall awareness. By the end of the campaign 81% of our target audience across the wider public sector were aware of CCS.
Increased engagement with CCS content and colleagues. We engaged with over 6,500 potential customers through our events programme and achieved excellent levels of engagement with our content across key channels such as LinkedIn, Twitter and email.
Generated significant new business leads and digital registrations. We generated almost 7,000 additional leads and new registrations on our digital tools across the campaign. Based on typical rates of savings and commercial benefits against current market comparators, we estimate that these represent an additional £21.7 million of savings for CCS customers.

The winner of 2019’s Public Service Communications Excellence awards will be announced on 5 November.

CCS managed print case study: Leeds City Council

the hands of a woman pressing a button on a printer

Leeds City Council becoming the best, with less

It is a vision that drives the council, from the quality of services it provides to the way they are delivered. In an era of austerity and cuts to public sector spending, it’s a challenging goal to achieve.

Objective

Tackle inefficiencies and unmanaged costs in print services to help safeguard vital community services.

The challenges

decentralised print system and a variety of devices that was hard to manage
ineffective control of costs due to lack of reliable data
inefficient and wasteful document workflows
fragmented print fleet impacted the environmental targets

The approach

Over the last few years, Leeds City Council has noticed a change in the way that citizens interact and access public services. Helena Phillips, Chief Officer of Shared Services at the council, explains:

People want greater flexibility when using public services. More and more communication is taking place on digital channels, and so the challenge we are faced with is to safeguard and evolve the services we offer within shrinking budgets.

At the same time as citizen expectations are changing, councils across the UK are also looking for ways to work smarter; to drive efficiencies, improve staff productivity and reduce their impact on the environment.

Driven by its “simplify, standardise and share” ethos, the council resolved to review internal processes and seek new ways to tackle inefficiencies. Kirsty McCarthy, Managed Print Services Manager, said:

My team were spending their days dealing with errors and trying to minimise disruption. The priority for us was to implement a smart solution that would save the council money and give us all back our time.

Canon instantly assumed the role of a strategic partner rather than a supplier.

Andrew Byrom, Service & Infrastructure Manager.

The solution

As a registered supplier with the Crown Commercial Service framework, Canon worked closely with the council to develop an organisation-wide printing strategy and solution, using the Multifunctional Devices and Services, Managed Print Services and Print Audit Services framework (RM1599). An ambitious goal was set to completely replace the old print solution in only 6 months.

Team members were completely dedicated and went above and beyond every day – especially during the challenging transition phase. The technology was so good and easy to use, people just embraced it.

Andrew Byrom, Service & Infrastructure Manager.

The results

Expert advice resulted in the creation of a bespoke print solution under one management service to increase efficiency and responsiveness of the workforce, as well as control and limit costs.

PrintSmart made an immediate financial impact, saving the council £400,000 to date. Approximately 30% was saved in the very first year.

the number of print devices was rationalised by 39%
this has resulted in an overall 25% reduction in print volume in the first year alone
saved 12,565,709 A4 sheets of paper, £61,570 in financial savings
electricity levels have been dramatically reduced, financial saving of £12,000

Key achievements

Small improvements have made big differences to workforce productivity, saving time for staff and technical support teams. The ability to scan and fax to email, for example, enables staff to be more responsive. The advanced scanning feature streamlines the process by scanning documents to the Sharepoint document management system. The system now operates with only two print drivers, replacing hundreds previously. This single change alone saved an enormous amount of time, as people can now work more flexibly from office to office without requiring IT to install and support a new driver each time.

Jo Miklo, Head of Business Administration, stated,

I need to access the print system every day and the improvement has been dramatic. Small changes like the visibility of print queues and individual PIN access make sure that documents don’t get lost and save you time when retrieving them. The easy scanning capabilities also allow us to respond more quickly to citizens’ requests.

Meanwhile, the citizens of Leeds are able to enjoy 65 newly-installed and easy-to-use multi-functional devicess in 23 public libraries, which have replaced the unreliable old machines. The comprehensive data drawn from PrintSmart contributes to fulfilling the green agenda within the council’s 2030 vision. With an estimated 1,007,318 kg of greenhouse gases and 18,139 trees saved in the first 12 months, Leeds is well on its way to becoming a lower carbon city. Security has also been enhanced across the system, crucial for teams handling extremely sensitive documents across the council.

A digital council

With Canon’s help, the council aims to continue to change behaviour and reduce its print volume by 5% year on year.

By using the system’s granular data reports, the team will target particular departments where they are seeing expensive printing behaviour and educate employees on ways to reduce paper and colour printing in the office. With accurate information visible right across the council sites, it means the teams can target other areas for improvements, efficiencies and generate further cost savings.

The success of PrintSmart at the council has built a platform for more innovative solutions in the future. It has been recognised internally as an exemplar of how major corporate projects should be implemented. Helena Phillips says:

PrintSmart has taken the pain out of printing for us and turned it into an essential tool for working in the digital age. By rethinking the way that we work, Canon has helped us to better serve the citizens of Leeds.

Further information

If you would like to find out more about any of the CCS managed print solutions and how we can support you please get in touch:

Visit the RM3781 agreement webpage – RM1599 has now been replaced by our 7-lot agreement RM3781

fill in our short contact form
call 0345 410 2222
email the team

Tackling modern slavery – what CCS is doing

UK government statement of commitment

The government’s task force on modern slavery has endorsed a government-wide strategy to tackle this issue. The strategy has identified actions to ensure modern slavery is tackled in government supply chains through public procurement and has committed to publishing its own modern slavery statement in December 2019.

What has CCS been doing?

We have been working closely with the Home Office, Cabinet Office and NCQ to deliver an approach to managing modern slavery risk in public sector supply chains, which will inform the government’s statement.

As part of this activity, we have:

developed a Modern Slavery Assessment Tool (MSAT) to help suppliers identify and manage potential modern slavery risks in their supply chains
identified which contracts are in the sectors and categories where there is greater risk of modern slavery occurring
compiled a list of high and medium risk framework contracts
run a series of training sessions with NQC to familiarise our commercial agreement managers with the MSAT tool

What’s happening next?

We are inviting suppliers that are working under framework contracts in those sectors and categories where there is a greater risk of modern slavery to complete the MSAT assessment.

To reduce the burden on suppliers, government is adopting a ‘tell us once’ approach using the HMG Supplier Registration Service (SID4GOV). Suppliers will not have to provide the information again for other government departments, but will be asked to approve sharing the information with them.

Our commercial agreement managers will be reviewing suppliers’ assessment results and holding follow-up discussions with all of those suppliers returning a high or medium risk score.

They will then work in partnership with them to ensure that they are putting effective risk mitigation plans in place and addressing modern slavery in their supply chains.

We recognise that this is not a one-off exercise. As a result, our commercial agreement managers are also risk assessing their future framework contracts to ensure that modern slavery risk is effectively identified and addressed in CCS’ future procurement pipeline.

The modern slavery assessment is part of a learning process to help government understand how its suppliers are approaching this important issue. The results will not be used as part of any procurement competition.

Get in touch

If you have any queries please get in touch:

fill in our online form and mention ‘Modern Slavery’ in the comments box
call us on 0345 410 2222

Help shape our upcoming Estates Management Services framework

As you may be aware the current Project Management and Full Design Team Services framework (PMFDTS) RM3741 and Estate Professional Services Framework (EPS) RM3816 will expire in May and August 2021 respectively.

While this may seem a while away, Crown Commercial Service are committed to full stakeholder engagement to support the delivery of its future commercial agreements.

Approval has been received to issue OJEU PINs to start the engagement on the development and define the solution of the future frameworks, which are expected to be called Construction Professional Services (CPS) RM6165 and Estate Management Services (EMS) RM6168.

The anticipated go live dates are April and June 2021 respectively.

CPS PIN

EPS PIN

The issue of two PINS gives CCS the opportunity to review market service delivery capabilities, services needed by customers and how we can improve the customer journey for departments using our frameworks.

As part of our joint engagement we will test which services best fit each commercial agreement and the basis of design for joint or separate CPS/EMS frameworks. At this stage we have no preferred options – your input will help us define these.

We would really like you to be involved with market engagement over the coming months so you can help us shape these agreements. To truly ensure they are fit for purpose and align with your strategy requirements and support a best in class route to market, we want your input.

If you would like to be involved, please complete this short survey, which will help us to capture your feedback about how you find the current process and how we can improve it.

If you want to register your interest or have any specific questions please email the buildings pillar team, and keep an eye out for more information in our CCS newsletters and social media platforms.

New security services solutions for the public sector

This framework has been designed in two sub lots to capture the needs of a resource intensive guarding service and the separate need for technical security elements. This includes electronic and physical security, which can be called off separately or bundled depending on your needs.

Security services:

Manned guarding service passes	Patrols (fixed or static guarding)
Control of access and security	Management of visitors and passes
CCTV/Alarm monitoring	Reactive guarding
Emergency response	Alarm Response Centres (ARC)

Technical security:

Design, supply, installation and maintenance of electronic and physical systems	Alarm signalling
Network video recorders (NVR) and digital video recorders (DVR)	Security lighting
Automatic barriers, gates, rising bollards and blockers	Electronic locking systems
IT equipment – operating base for security systems	Perimeter fences (and gates)
Closed circuit television systems (CCTV)	Security screening applications
Automatic access control system (AACS)	Intruder detection systems (IDS)
Security management systems (SMS)	Alarm response centres (ARC)

The solution offers:

access to specialist security suppliers providing compliant assessment of security risk, informing delivery of compliant design of security systems using registered members of various accreditation bodies
access to professionally managed, high quality security and guarding services using approved contractors accredited by the Security Industry Authority (SIA)
flexible and simplified access to specialist security SMEs
social value
time and resource savings in the procurement process
reduced consultancy and legal costs
flexibility for a security risk assessment, design, supply and install – customers choose the route to market either as staged or as a single project

Security services is designed specifically for customers who may not have the in-house ability to produce security risk assessments and rely on suppliers ‘designing’ security systems on their behalf. Our security lot has been designed to focus on customer requirements for design and security risk assessments (aligned with the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) guidance. Also including additional mandated entry point for industry recognised accreditation (SIA) for guarding services.

Benefits include:

Free, fast and simple to use

free to access: no customer fees or charges, all our fees are recovered from the supplier
access to a dedicated and experienced team providing assistance throughout the procurement process and advice from our category experts

Value for Money

maximum standard rates are fixed for the first two years of the framework – they can also be further reduced by suppliers during further competition
management information to help you track spend based on a common set of service codes allowing in depth analysis

Social value and sustainability

suppliers will help you achieve an efficient and sustainable public estate, supporting diversity and inclusion
suppliers can tailor their offer to match your social value priorities

Quality of service delivery

verified supply chain as all suppliers and subcontractors have completed a financial and professional compliance review
robust key performance indicators (KPIs) that you can tailor them to meet your specific requirements including social value
- our standard call-off terms and conditions also allow you to define service credits

Visit the framework page to find out more about security services.

Got a question? Get in touch and one of our experts will be happy to help.