Take action to avoid an employee wellbeing crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the wellbeing of employees on a scale never seen before. From health concerns to money worries, fatigue due to being ‘always on’, juggling working life and caring commitments, and reduced social interaction.

Employee wellbeing has been high on the agenda for HR professionals throughout the pandemic. However assessing the full extent of the problem has been difficult.

A recent Edenred research report based on a survey of 2,000 UK employees has shed some light on the magnitude of challenges businesses now face:

  • 29% of employees said the benefits their employers provide to meet wellbeing needs are inadequate
  • employers saw decreases in pre-pandemic levels of physical wellbeing (34%) and happiness at work (33%)
  • 21% of employees think employer support for financial wellbeing has fallen short, but 51% of businesses said this was an area they were least likely to measure the impact of
  • 25% of employees flagged mental health as their biggest concern in 2021

With restrictions slowly lifting, and the successful rollout of the vaccination programme helping to return the UK to some form of normality, there is light at the end of the tunnel. But unless employers have a clear plan to support their employees’ wellbeing, they may find that their colleagues struggle to return to pre-COVID-19 levels of productivity.

Employee Wellbeing Week (17-21 May)

To help support staff even as lockdown eases, Edenred is running a week-long celebration of all things employee wellbeing to public sector organisations currently using its mylifestyle online platform. Available for free using the Employee Benefits framework, activities will highlight how staff can improve their physical, mental and financial wellbeing simply by engaging with the platform.

What’s happening?

  • yoga sessions with Blessed Yoga
  • high-intensity interval training (HIIT) classes with Revoola
  • food intolerances webinar with YorkTest
  • healthy eating talk with Benenden Health
  • 5 prize draw competitions Including Muscle Food and LRG Fitness
  • a wellbeing special of Boost Magazine
  • themed wellbeing email campaigns highlighting the best wellbeing retailers on the platform
  • wellbeing themed communications toolkit to raise awareness amongst employees

Find out more

If you are a current customer and want to find out more about Employee Wellbeing Week and how to promote it to your staff, please speak to your Edenred account manager.

If you would like more information on the mylifestyle platform, you can visit the framework page.

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.

New Cloud Compute agreement awarded for hyperscale cloud hosting

Cloud Compute lets customers rapidly scale up or down their usage as and when required, with longer call-off options than other cloud agreements and more flexibility over taking on new service offerings during the contract term.

The products offered through the new agreement are defined as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), which can scale rapidly to meet any change in demand.

As part of the tender process, bidders were asked to provide evidence of how they would support customers to achieve social value through their contracts – boosting sustainability and economic inequality.

CCS will continue to work with suppliers on this agreement to understand and reduce the public sector’s carbon emissions footprint through cloud adoption, in line with the Government’s carbon net zero commitments.

A complementary solution

CCS is launching Cloud Compute to complement G-Cloud, which has shorter call-off terms and a wider pool of suppliers able to offer more diverse services.

Cloud Compute focuses on flexible (‘hyperscale’) compute environments, used for the development of new software applications or where large and complex data sets need to be modelled, for example.

Being able to rapidly scale up or down the service offered is crucial, and unavailable through G-Cloud.

The framework will run for four years and is available to the whole public and third sector. Call-off terms are up to three years, with two possible extensions of up to 12 months each.

The following suppliers have been awarded places:

  • Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL
  • Fordway Solutions Ltd
  • Frontier Technology
  • Google Ireland Limited
  • IBM UK Limited
  • Microsoft
  • Oracle Corporation UK Ltd
  • UKCloud Ltd
  • UKFast.net Limited

Find out more

To find out more about Cloud Compute visit the agreement webpage or contact the CCS Service Desk at info@crowncommercial.gov.uk / 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.

Supporting employee physical and mental health and well-being

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that our physical and mental health and well-being is more important than ever. Organisations are adapting to ensure they have the knowledge and services in place to support employees through difficult times, and our new framework has been developed to help you do that.

The impact of the pandemic

The pandemic has changed all our lives in so many ways, and one of the main areas of concern is the detrimental impact on mental health and well-being. The Office of National Statistics reported that more than two-thirds of adults in the UK (69%) reported feeling somewhat or very worried about the effect COVID-19 is having on their life.

Our new framework provides numerous services to help organisations support their employees, including proactive and preventative services and treatments. Throughout the pandemic occupational health suppliers have played a key role –
from offering mental health workshops to publishing fact sheets on how to deal with an array of issues including burnout, health anxiety, domestic abuse, stress and bereavement.

Suppliers are flexible in their delivery methods and offer remote options wherever possible, and where clinical governance allows. Customers will also be able to choose for services to be provided remotely beyond the pandemic.

Enhanced psychological support services, such as structured psychological support, mental health screening and psychological surveillance are a new feature of the framework. These may be of particular interest to bluelight customers or those subject to traumatic events in their roles.

Social value

Social value was evaluated at 10% as part of the procurement process. Suppliers on the framework are fully aware that customers will need to evaluate social value and there are examples available for customers to consider depending on their organisation’s priorities. Examples include diverse, safe and secure supply chains, skills and employment, environmental sustainability, and inclusion and wellbeing. From an inclusion and diversity perspective, suppliers must also ensure their service offerings meet accessibility requirements. If websites, portals or apps are used they must be equally accessible by all. A number of new workplace assessments covering neurodiverse conditions are now also available through the framework.

Helping you buy local

Selecting a regional supplier may also support customers in meeting their specific social value criteria.

Our regional lot means you can now buy from a supplier that is able to provide services locally. Customers that are not geographically widespread can consider all suppliers providing services in their area. We’ve split the UK into the following regions:

  • London
  • South
  • Midlands and East of England
  • Northern England
  • Wales
  • Northern Ireland
  • Scotland

Find out more about the framework and get in touch

To learn more about the new framework please visit the framework page. If you have any questions or would like to speak to a member of our team please fill out this short online form referencing ‘RM6182’ in the comments box.

Alternatively, you can: 

This framework is offered to NHS customers as part of the NHS Workforce Alliance portfolio of health workforce solutions.

Researching after COVID-19: how to get your research plans back on track

In March, the UK government brought in measures to control the spread of COVID-19, with a complete lockdown stopping a large amount of research in its tracks.  The implications of this can be far-reaching, both in terms of the continuity and quality of data for ongoing programmes and for the financial health of the research industry as a whole.

Now, as the restrictions are gradually lifted, it’s a good time to talk about some of the ways in which you might restart your existing research programmes, and how we can all work to support the wider industry navigate its way out of a post-pandemic slump.

Safely resuming research

The lockdown has caused many organisations to pause research projects, particularly where these involved face-to-face research.  The resulting delays to planned research has created uncertainty in the market and will have a continued impact on the continuity of research-related projects.

While the risk of coronavirus is still present, you should consider whether there are alternative methods or modes for your research programme, such as telephone interviews, focus groups via video conference or other online methods, which would still allow you to achieve your objectives. 

For existing agreements, get in touch with your research provider to discuss what’s possible. The Research, Insight and Behavioural Science team within the COVID-19 Communications Hub at Cabinet Office has successfully run a programme of research using online focus groups, and are happy to discuss their learnings – contact them to learn more.

Viewing facilities and other venues used for market and social research were able to re-open from 4 July, making face-to-face qualitative research a possibility again.  Face to face quantitative resumed in mid-May including the Department of Health and Social Care and ONS project which is tracking the rate of infection. 

The Market Research Society (MRS) has published guidance for undertaking safe face-to-face data collection and specific guidance for viewing facilities / research venues and face-to-face mystery shopping.  If face-to-face research is essential for your project, you should seek reassurance from the research agencies you work with that they and their suppliers are following this guidance.

Reviewing your existing research contracts 

You should think about how your research contracts are being managed.  For example, where a supplier has undertaken work on your behalf, and has raised invoices for this work, you should make sure that they are paid in line with the agreed terms to help maintain cash flow and support their ongoing financial stability. 

Consider the payment mechanisms within your research contracts, and whether these are helpful for suppliers who may be struggling with cash flow.  For example if your contract stipulates milestone payments, but work has stalled due to COVID-19, this may have an immediate impact on your supplier’s financial stability. If your supplier has raised concerns with you, consider whether amending your agreement to include alternative payment terms, or changing your payment method to procurement card, might help ensure the supplier’s continued stability. 

The UK Government has recently issued a few Procurement Policy Notes (PPNs) on payment of suppliers, which may apply to your existing contracts:

  • PPN 02/20 Supplier Relief due to COVID-19 (including Model Interim Payment Terms)
  • PPN 03/20 Use of procurement cards – COVID-19
  • PPN 04/20 Recovery & Transition from COVID-19

We’re here for you

Hopefully this has given you some helpful tips on how to resume and continue your research in a way that supports the overall sustainability of the research market. 

This is new territory for all of us, so please don’t forget that the Research & Insights category experts at Crown Commercial Service are here to help you along the way.  Let’s work together to ensure our research objectives are met in a safe and sustainable manner whilst supporting the market through this challenging period. 

Get in touch with us via email.

Researching after COVID-19: our tips for commissioning new research in a sustainable way

In March, the UK government brought in measures to control the spread of COVID-19, with a complete lockdown stopping a large amount of research in its tracks, particularly where it involved face-to-face research.

The resulting delays to research commissions – from initial discussions with potential providers, right through the procurement process and up to award of contracts – has created uncertainty in the market and will have a continued impact on the continuity of research-related projects. The implications of this can be far-reaching, both in terms of the continuity and quality of data for ongoing programmes, and for the financial health of the research industry as a whole.

The way ahead

Now, as the restrictions are gradually lifted, we want to look forward, and talk about some of the ways in which you might begin to commission new research programmes, in a way that supports the wider industry as it navigates its way out of a post-pandemic slump.

When setting up new research agreements, think about how you might be able to structure the payment mechanisms more sustainably.  Consider if there are ways to reduce the barriers to suppliers bidding for new research commissions – often research projects require the supplier to bear the cost of setting everything up, and carrying out the initial work before raising any invoices.  If the pandemic situation has caused research providers to dip into their cash reserves, they may not be able to fund this – so consider how you could reduce the up-front costs for providers, or perhaps bring in earlier staged payments. 

While central government organisations are usually prohibited from paying in advance of need without Treasury consent, PPN 04/20 has made some provisions for this to secure continuity of supply of critical services in the medium and long term (until the end of October 2020). If you choose to go down this route, you should make sure that appropriate and proportionate due diligence is undertaken to ensure such payments are necessary for continuity of supply of critical services.

When you are developing your procurement documentation for a new requirement, carefully consider the relative weightings you have placed on price and quality elements of your evaluation.  

In a market where a lot of work has paused or stopped, a heavy focus on price rather than quality may push suppliers to offer unsustainable prices in order to fill their order book again.  This creates a risk that the supplier could cut corners to reduce costs, or simply run out of money.  Both of these situations would ultimately impact the quality and outcomes of the research. 

We’re here for you

Hopefully this has given you some helpful tips on how to commission new research in a way that supports the overall sustainability of the research market. 

Remember that the Research & Insights category experts at Crown Commercial Service are here to help you meet your research objectives in a more sustainable way, during a very challenging period for the wider market. 

Get in touch with us via email.

Changes to our frameworks in April

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 April  

Frameworks extended in April

Frameworks that expired in April 

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. 

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.

Crown Hosting provides significant cost savings and sustainability measures for the Ministry of Justice

The requirement

Back in 2015 the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) wanted to achieve greater savings over their previous hosting contracts, and take advantage of advances in technology. They also wanted to meet their green agenda targets by reducing the number of data centres they had following departmental mergers.  

The solution

The ministry decided to move to the Crown Hosting framework as they were impressed with the quality and security of the data centre. They were confident it was the right environment to host their services, and that it would also meet their business continuity, green agenda, data standards and connectivity requirements. The team at the MoJ found it really easy working with CCS’s Crown Hosting experts, and the resulting solution was simple to procure. 

The Crown Hosting framework provides hyperscale data centre colocation facilities, which provide users with significant cost savings, operational efficiency and sustainability measures. It caters for anything from 4kW rack space to 200kW private rooms, and up to top secret security clearance. Additional services include smart hands for escorting or simple tasks, data cabling to enable connectivity, and optical network connectivity between sites.

The results

6 years on they are still happy with Crown Hosting, as it continues to provide by far the best value and service compared to other options. They are also pleased to have benefited from an impressive 87.5% reduction in their framework fee charges. This is because as take up of Crown Hosting by other government departments and arm’s length bodies has grown over the years every customer has reaped the rewards – the more customers that use the framework, the better value it has become for all. 

The fact that Crown Hosting is a joint venture has been very beneficial to the MoJ. The deep understanding of central government’s needs and the proactive management of the framework has been proven in the 100% service reliability, and through the regular customer consultation and support. For example, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic customers have received monthly reports detailing site access requirements for engineers to ensure safety and business continuity. The ‘Safe Hands’ service means customers can be confident that routine tasks, such as powering up servers and plugging in equipment, are carried out without risk to their own staff, and no unnecessary journeys are made.

The ministry’s green agenda has also been met, and they continue to measure carbon footprint savings as Crown Hosting enables them to track energy consumption.

Roy Godfrey, Service Owner for Technology Services at the Ministry of Justice said:

We have been successfully using the Crown Hosting framework for many years to supply technology services for over 60,000 users with fixed, portable and mobile devices. We are operating this hosting environment as a natural stepping stone toward exploiting the public cloud in the delivery of our future services.

Let us bring power to your procurement

The Crown Hosting Data Centres and Crown Commercial Service joint venture was agreed after a comprehensive tender process to identify best value against a number of critical government criteria including energy efficiency, resilience, security, sustainability and both contractual and deployment flexibility. To find out more:

You will also 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.

The office of the future – how CCS can help you adapt to office space changes

The past year has seen an increase in home working and a change in how office space will be used in the future. 

The Government Business Magazine references findings from the 2021 Market Outlook Survey that organisations have already taken steps to introduce hybrid models of working and that 58% of organisations are reducing their office space. This means that employees could be spending most of their working week at home and leaving the office space as a place to meet for collaboration, employee training or in person meetings.

So what does this mean for office space?

Suppliers under lot 3 and 4 on our Logistics and Warehousing framework have told us they have seen the following changes:

  • consolidation of site locations
  • removing desks to make room for an open plan space, in one example reducing 1,000 desks to 140
  • more breakout/communal areas
  • using booking systems in order to use what desks are being left in the office
  • office space becoming a hub to meet for collaborations

How can we support you?

Our Logistics and Warehousing framework launched in October 2020 and is already helping the public sector with office relocations, removals and recycling. If you are about to redesign your office space to make room for people to safely collaborate in person, consolidate offices or remove furniture and equipment, then we are here to help you.

Why choose a framework?

  1. Compliant, cost effective and quick procurements underpinned by the Public Sector Contract (PSC)
  2. Pre-evaluated framework suppliers that includes regional and national SMEs together with larger global companies
  3. Offers a wide range of innovative products and services as well as tailored solutions
  4. Tried and tested methods for organisations to reach out to the market in order to determine the best solutions
  5. Our category teams can offer support and guidance around market capabilities, effective pricing structures and standardised contract terms

Social value matters

We place social value at the heart of our agreements and this first ever Logistics and Warehousing framework has suppliers carrying out the following:

  • turning redundant office furniture into filler for packaging
  • donating office furniture and equipment for charitable/good cause use
  • recycle items that are at the end of their working life
  • relocating redundant office equipment and furniture to employees homes, ensuring that items are not repurchased to enable employees to work from home
  • supporting local food banks by providing labour, transport and storage services free of charge

Next steps

To find out more information about the services offered under the framework, please visit our Logistics and Warehousing web page.

Alternatively, if you would like to speak to a category expert at CCS, please complete our short contact form and we will be in touch. You can also email us at info@crowncommercial.gov.uk or call us at 0345 410 2222.

Woodard Independent Schools save on print expenditure, reducing the costs by 35%

The requirement

Prior to engaging Kyocera, each school managed their print needs without a collective strategy and were procuring the print solutions themselves or dealing with independent resellers. This approach meant that collectively Woodard Schools had limited oversight on what was being spent on printing and no visibility of how print devices were being used.

Jeremy Allardyce, Procurement Manager at Woodard Schools, explained: “We didn’t have a joined-up approach to our printing and as a result, we had far too many devices across the estate, many of which weren’t up to the task. Following a print survey of each school to understand the devices and volumes they were producing and their current costs, I quickly realised there was a great deal of opportunity for consistency across the board, which would control costs and reduce waste.”

The legacy print device fleets operated on many different service contracts which meant that each school’s print estate comprised a mixture of different devices.  This approach neglected the economies of scale that a more joined-up approach could provide. Woodard Schools sought to consolidate its print suppliers in the hope of cutting its print expenditure, but also build in new functionality into its print estate to cut down on waste and reduce its carbon footprint. This also presented an opportunity to improve the user experience for students and staff.

The solution 

Woodard Schools placed a tender which invited suppliers on our Multifunctional Devices and Records Management agreement (RM3781) to bid for the opportunity to manage the service for them.

After a very competitive selection process, Woodard Schools selected Kyocera to overhaul its estate on the strength of its knowledge of the education sector, device quality and competitive pricing structure.

A fully-networked print fleet was rolled out across the majority of schools. They were able to reduce the total number of devices from 389 to 217 by replacing many of the desktop printers with strategically positioned multi functional printers around each school. To ensure the print estate catered for each school’s needs, Kyocera worked with them to develop and roll out a bespoke solution that would meet their requirements.

The print provider met Woodard Schools’ requirement for greater visibility, control and functionality by installing print management software on all of the devices. This will enable them to set targets for reduction thus helping to further reduce costs and improve the carbon footprint. An auto-toner ordering system has also been installed, helping them to reduce the amount of money tied up in consumables, while ensuring it is never caught short.

The use of card readers to retrieve their jobs was deployed, with unclaimed prints being removed from the print log after 24 hours, resulting in a considerable reduction in waste. It also enabled Woodard Schools to default print jobs to black and white and double-sided. Importantly, Kyocera’s offering went beyond implementing a new print estate, providing in-depth training to ensure staff and pupils could use their new printers to the best effect.

The results 

A significant reduction in print expenditure, reducing print costs by 35%. This has been achieved by the rationalisation of the estate and by the removal of unnecessary devices that were costly to maintain.

The schools where Kyocera has implemented the solution expect to see a total reduction in prints by 4 million pages each year, significantly improving the group’s carbon footprint.

Woodard Schools’ Procurement Manager Jeremy Allardyce, expects the solution to deliver further savings over time, commenting: “Kyocera’s solution has proved very cost-effective – introducing a controlled print offering into the schools, whilst maintaining a consistent standard and money factored product as part of the arrangement. The most valuable aspect has been the visibility provided in regard to who is printing what, and this will enable schools to make informed decisions on the financial management of print and will allow us to set targets for further reductions in the future”.

For further information

If you would like to find out more about this agreement visit the webpage and how we can support you please get in touch by emailing us at info@crowncommercial.gov.uk or call us at 0345 410 2222.

Voucher Schemes framework is the first of its kind

Our new Voucher Schemes framework (RM6255) gives you access to voucher-based solutions to meet a wide range of citizen needs. It is the first of its kind.

The fully managed service includes the design, implementation and management of schemes tailored to your specific needs. That could be grocery or non-grocery vouchers for people in need, including the dispersal of the COVID winter grant, or rewards for survey completions. Suppliers will work with you to put a scheme in place that meets the particular needs of you and your recipients. 

As standard, vouchers are issued as e-vouchers and are ‘closed loop’, commonly known as gift cards. Physical vouchers, along with any other special requirements you have, can be requested in your further competition. 

Why choose the framework?

By putting in place a scheme through the framework, you will benefit from:

  • fast and compliant route to market with a direct award option – a simple scheme can be set up in 2 to 3 weeks
  • discounts on the voucher face value based on the size and value of your scheme
  • no minimum scheme value needed to use the framework
  • fast, secure voucher distribution 
  • vouchers are valid for a time-period specified by you
  • unused or lost vouchers will be replaced or refunded
  • free helpline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year

If you would like to offer vouchers for employee benefit, reward or recognition please take a look at our Employee Benefits framework (RM6133).

Your buying decisions have the power to make life better for citizens 

Visit the framework page on our website to find out more about the framework and how to get started.

You can also get in touch if you have any questions:

You will also 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.