Everything you need to know about postage price increases and how CCS can help

What is happening?

Royal Mail price increases will come into effect from 4 April 2022. This will increase the price of first class stamps by 10p (12%) to 95p. Second class stamps will also increase by 2p (3%) to 68p.

Why is this happening?

Royal Mail has outlined a number of factors for this considerable increase, including:

  • uncertainty experienced by the postal services market in recent times, suggesting a 60% reduction in letter volumes since the mid-2000s
  • the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased the financial pressures on postal services
  • the growth in the number of delivery addresses it has to deliver to in order to fulfil its universal service
  • increases in fuel prices
  • changing customer needs, as well as the increase in online deliveries

How does this affect me and how can CCS help?

Public sector organisations are not exempt from the Royal Mail price increases.

We encourage you to consider, adapt and implement new ways of operating your posting practices to mitigate the tariff increase. These could include:

  • streamlining the amount of post you send
  • considering whether your mail output can be sent by second class
  • considering if you can apply a mailmark (a 2D barcode that can be scanned) to your mail output to further reduce the postage costs by making these items machine readable (see lots 1 and 2 of our Postal Goods, Services and Solutions framework)
  • reducing the size of your mail items, so that they fall into a ‘letter’ size rather than a ‘large letter’ (see lot 3)
  • implementing a hybrid approach to your mailing choices: using traditional and digital services (see lot 7)
  • running a further competition for your mail services through our framework to get better value for money
  • considering changing to courier services with added benefits such as delivery tracking and no size restrictions (our Courier and Specialist Movements framework can help you with this)

At CCS we have a team of market experts who can help you to save money and develop your wider postal strategy. We have a range of solutions and services available through our Postal Goods, Services and Solutions framework.

Benefits of using our framework

Our framework provides you with access to a full range of postal goods, solutions and services, from traditional collection and delivery through to security screening, franking machines, mailroom equipment and international mail. There are also a range of inbound and outbound services available to help you to transition from a paper-based mailroom to a digital environment. This includes hybrid mail solutions that incorporate new technologies and innovation. In addition to postal services, the framework offers audits, efficiency reviews and consultancy services to help you develop your complete postal services strategy.

By using the framework, you can expect savings of between 4% and 30% depending on where you are on your customer journey and the services you currently use.

With 36 suppliers on this framework, you have the choice to run a further competition to add greater value for money or direct award to a supplier of your choice. Our customer guidance document on our webpage will give you a step-by-step guide on how to buy through CCS and our team is also here to help.

Find out more

To find out more about our postal framework:

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.

The rising cost of living: how employee benefits can support staff

The rising cost of living could have a significant impact on your employees, our Employee Benefits framework may be able to help.

One of our suppliers, Edenred, offers a digital reward and recognition scheme through our Employee Benefits framework. They recently surveyed 2,000 UK employees and found that 38% would like help from their employer to improve financial wellbeing. Many worry that salaries are not keeping up with the cost of living.

But it is not just finances that worry employees. Employees would also like support with their mental and physical wellbeing.

How can you support your employees?

The survey demonstrates that UK employees would like training on money management. You could provide this with workshops and webinars. You could also review your reward and benefits schemes and consider expanding them, even in a small way.

You may currently offer gym membership, childcare vouchers or a cycle to work scheme. But you could also consider technology and smartphone discounts, or a green car scheme – helping your employees make the long-term transition to lower cost travel.

While these benefits are not the answer to severe financial problems, they may help the mental, physical and financial wellbeing of your staff. These small changes could form a key part of your employee support strategy.

Our Employee Benefits framework includes benefits such as a green car scheme, childcare vouchers and a cycle-to-work scheme. You can access the extensive range of benefits from one central online platform.

You can find out more about these benefits you from the Employee Benefits framework page on our website.

Read the full report on employee trends to find out what support your employees need and action points every business needs to take this year.

Get help buying for schools

‘Get help buying for schools’ is a free and impartial service, delivered directly by the Department for Education (DfE), to help you buy goods and services for your school. 

Since 2018 the DfE has been running 2 pilot school buying hubs, one in the North-West and one in the South-West of England. The learning from these pilots over the last 4 years has provided the DfE with valuable insight which has informed the development of the new service.

How can ‘get help buying for schools’ help me?

From 1 February all state funded schools and trusts can access advice and guidance on buying goods and services through a DfE approved framework.

From  summer this year schools will also be able to get advice for any route to market through the service, as well as ongoing support to help run a procurement process themselves. And, if a school or trust needs extra support, the service can undertake the buying process on their behalf, either through a framework or with quotes or bids through an appropriate buying process.

How do I access ‘get help buying for schools?’

Some schools will already be familiar with find a framework, which lists the 52 DfE approved frameworks for schools and explains the benefits of using them.

There are a wide range of goods and services available through DfE approved frameworks, from furniture, ICT and catering. Schools can choose from a variety of GCA (formerly CCS) frameworks including Supply Teachers and Temporary Staff, Education Technology and Office Supplies. Each of the frameworks has been approved for use by schools by the DfE, based on the quality of service and value they provide. Using frameworks also ensures that schools are buying goods and services in a legally compliant way.

Schools can request advice and guidance with buying goods and services by clicking the ‘request advice and guidance’ link at the bottom of each find a framework webpage where you will be asked to complete a few details.  Your request will then be sent through to the ‘get help buying for schools’ procurement team.

Let us bring power to your procurement

For regular updates about how DfE supports schools to make the most of non-staff spend, follow Buying for Schools on LinkedIn or sign up to follow the buying for schools blog.

To discover more about the work we do at GCA to support schools and academies, please visit our website. Or to speak to a member of our expert team, please complete our online form or call us on: 0345 410 2222. 

Changes to our agreements in February

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.

Agreements awarded in February  

Agreements extended in February

Agreements that expired in February 

Agreements due to expire in the next 3 months

Further information

If you need further details about any of these agreements 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.

Strategic financing for a strong future

With tight budgets a fact of life across the public sector, upgrading your organisation’s assets – such as technology, fleet, or building infrastructure – may be low on your list of priorities. 

However, this sort of investment can be essential for the continued delivery of world-class public services. New assets may also help you meet policy objectives, such as reducing your carbon footprint. 

The move to electric vehicles is just one example of the many types of asset upgrade that can benefit your organisation. 

Electric vehicles have fewer components and so there are less repairs. Diesel and petrol are also much more expensive than electric so, by investing in electric vehicles, you save on maintenance, you save on the cost of fuel and you also benefit from improved operational effectiveness with your fleet spending less time off the road. 

Considering the funding options

While it is clear that upgrading your assets can be beneficial, both operationally and from a long-term financial perspective, the challenge, especially in the current climate, is funding these investments. 

Often buying an asset outright may not be viable because of limited budget or it may not be the most cost-effective option. If this is the case, considering other funding options, such as leasing, might be helpful.

This is why we have developed a new commercial solution to help organisations access the right financing options, for a wide range of asset types.

The twin commercial solution: a choice of route to market

Our new solution consists of a framework (RM6146) for accessing specialist leasing advisors and a separate funding platform in the form of a Leasing and Loans Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS). This provides direct access to lenders, offering a range of leasing arrangements and loans. 

The 2 solutions can be used independently or jointly to suit your needs. 

This choice promotes value for money. You can contract directly with lenders when an advisory service is not required, but, if you have a complex project, advice is available under this framework.

Here are just a few of the benefits of our asset finance solutions offer: 

Standardised terms and conditions

One of the challenges when considering finance options, particularly an operating lease, is evaluating proposals for leasing arrangements which are priced against a different set of terms and conditions from each supplier. The terms and conditions can affect the costs over the lifetime of the asset which complicates a pricing evaluation. 

We invested in producing bespoke terms and conditions to be used for all call-off agreements on our DPS. The terms were developed by a CCS appointed asset finance specialist law firm, in conjunction with suppliers in the marketplace and the leasing trade body, to ensure their suitability and fairness.

These terms and conditions differ from similar routes to market. Their key benefit is the simplified process for putting a lease in place. They also promote fair competition and transparency as suppliers who bid at further competition will be pricing against standard terms and conditions. 

Direct access to a wide range of lenders 

The DPS has been designed to attract a wide range of funders to deliver value for money through healthy and fair competition. We have developed the solution through multiple rounds of market engagement to ensure there is strong appetite for opportunities in the supply market. 

Specialist leasing advice when you need it

It can be  a complex process to determine the most cost-effective option when acquiring a new asset. 

The advisors on our Leasing Advisory Services framework can run options appraisals to identify the best option, while considering the whole life cost of the asset and your objectives. 

Our leasing advisors can also run an end-to-end procurement for you. This is often the preferred option for complex procurements

Cash savings on existing leases

Portfolio Reviews are also offered under this framework. A leasing advisor will review your portfolio of leases and identify where you can restructure lease arrangements and make savings.

This service is provided on a ‘no win no fee’ basis. You will only pay for the advisor’s services if they are able to generate savings for your organisation. 

We’re here to help 

If you have a lease portfolio where you would like to make savings, or you are exploring financing options for new assets, then please:

Helping you solve the public sector debt challenge

In spring 2020, in direct response to the coronavirus, the UK Government unveiled huge packages of support to lessen the impact of the virus on individuals and businesses. 

As these schemes wind down, levels of debt in the United Kingdom are expected to rise. For many public sector organisations, this is set against a backdrop of declining revenues from tax and business rates while the repayment of overpaid benefits and unpaid fines has also stagnated. 

As we begin to build back better, every pound is precious. The public sector must recover what is legitimately owed, generating much-needed income and providing the taxpayer with value for money. But it must be done in a manner that is fair to debtors who may be vulnerable or in hardship.

To help you strike this balance, we offer a range of innovative debt recovery solutions that, since their inception in 2015, have put £2.5 billion back in the public purse. 

Here to help you strike the balance 

At CCS, we recognise that value for money and commercial returns are a critical part of debt recovery.

We make this happen by offering access to a range of proven debt-related solutions, including:

  • managed panels of expert debt collection agencies currently delivering a ROI of £15 recovered for every £1 spent
  • skilled litigators
  • insolvency services
  • direct access to best in-class enforcement agents
  • access to managed enforcement service providers who can take the hassle out of managing procurements and simplifying your supplier management requirements

In the current climate – where every pound and every hour is precious – underpinning recoveries with the use of data and analytics is a proven way to reduce waste and increase ROI. 

To facilitate this, we offer easy access to a full cycle of data solutions to run a range of analysis and segmentation processes. This means you can direct your spend at worthwhile debt portfolios, increase the likelihood of successful collections by targeting those that can afford to pay and support the most vulnerable. 

This is in addition to standard credit checks, affordability assessments, and a range of fraud and error tools. 

Our solutions are also future-proofed, taking into account the many recent innovations in the area including digitisation, open-banking and vulnerability identification.

Fair and affordable recoveries

Not only do our customers see excellent commercial returns, they can use our services with confidence they’re doing the right thing. We abide by fairness principles, we also ensure that our solutions are aligned with central policy, such as delivering on social value. 

We are acutely aware that agreeing to pragmatic debt repayment solutions could help save individuals from crisis or a struggling business and the livelihoods that depend on it.   

For this reason, we work closely with a number of charities, including StepChange Debt Charity and Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, seeking their advice and guidance on current best practice within the debt market. We’re extremely proud that a number of charities have endorsed the solutions we offer.

Let’s see how much you can recover

The market expects the number of citizens and businesses in problem debt to increase, potentially forcing a huge increase in the number of your customers falling into problem debt, and therefore a surge in demand for services and advice. 

Charitable trust saves 8.5% on their water bill

The requirement

CCS was approached by a registered charity that supports older people to live better lives by developing and operating mixed tenure retirement villages across the UK, which foster a sense of community.

The charity wanted to have a more streamlined approach and be able to demonstrate better value for money for the charity’s utility spend. They spend a significant amount on utilities each year, so any efforts to reduce costs are crucial for the organisation. 

The solution

The trust was able to benefit from the high level of expertise provided by CCS’s dedicated team of account managers who guided them through the water aggregation process – step by step – and helped them to choose the best solution based on their needs. 

Using aggregation, also known as collective buying, CCS was able to offer the trust highly competitive prices and favourable terms from the framework suppliers. It also enabled the trust to have all utility suppliers under similar contracts.

The result

The winning supplier was able to provide a 8.5% cashable saving. The invoicing process was streamlined and made easier with all invoices coming from one rather than multiple  utility suppliers.

The trust’s Business Efficiency Manager, commented:

Being part of this CCS framework affords us the opportunity to access highly competitive rates for our utilities which is a significant spend for our organisation. As well as the cost benefits it impacts our efficiency with savings in staff time/capacity, due to the procurement support available. We are happy with the service received from CCS and would recommend others consider joining the framework.

The Water, Wastewater and Ancillary Services 2 framework

Over 500 of our customers are already enjoying the benefits that our Water, Wastewater and Ancillary Services 2 framework has to offer. This includes retail savings of up to 10% and access to efficiency savings such as:

  • the cost and administrative resource of running your own procurement – typically about £45,000
  • water services which contribute towards carbon reduction and energy efficiency strategies
  • initiatives such as rainwater harvesting, automated meter reading (AMR), infrastructure installation, water footprint optimisation and leak detection to reduce water consumption
  • up to 14 suppliers, including SMEs, available to compete for your business demonstrating open and fair competition
  • proactive supplier management from a dedicated energy team for the life of the contract

Water, Wastewater and Ancillary Services 2 is split into 3 lots:

  • Lot 1: Water and Waste Water Services – for water supply
  • Lot 2: Ancillary Services – designed to help you better manage water usage
  • Lot 3: One Stop Shop – choose a single supplier for both water supply and consumption management

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.

Effective contract management in procurement

NB: This article was originally published on 17 February 2022. All information was correct at the time of writing, but may not be fully applicable following the introduction of the Procurement Act 2023.

Once you’ve chosen a supplier, effective contract management is a vital step in the process to make sure what’s promised gets delivered.

Contract management is simply too important to be ignored. Without ongoing diligence a contract can ‘leak’ value through issues like missed deadlines, compliance failures and inefficiency. 

It can be easy to blame suppliers for problematic or failed contracts, but if your organisation doesn’t manage performance then you’re relying on good luck that things will go well. 

Effective contract management involves the proactive monitoring of all activities necessary to ensure your goods or services are provided in accordance with your contractual arrangement. 

Here’s our introductory guide to getting it right. For more in-depth advice please refer to the government’s contract management professional standards. 

Contract lifecycle management

Once you’ve chosen a supplier for your requirement, it’s time to think about effective contract management. 

This can be grouped into 3 general areas: mobilisation, service provision, and supplier relationship management. 

Mobilisation 

Mobilisation happens after you’ve selected your supplier, but before the contract goes live. You should set aside appropriate time to gather together all the information you need to run the contract and make sure that the right plans are in place. 

A mobilisation plan can be a useful tool at this stage, particularly for high-value or more complex procurements, and should contain: 

  • a summary of expectations
  • details of all tasks to be completed and timescales
  • roles and responsibilities of both parties
  • arrangements for any contractual “due diligence”, including monitoring performance and any ongoing assurance of supplier capability, such as their financial standing 

People and skills 

Check that all your stakeholders are familiar with and can access the latest live version of the contract. It should be understood by all those who will be involved in its day to day management, including the identification of a designated contract manager. If the contract manager was not part of the sourcing exercise, a handover is essential to ensure continuity.

The contract manager must understand the scope of the contract, the pricing mechanism, the service levels/deadlines, monitoring periods and governance processes. They should always apply best practice and legal principles. 

If the contract is long-term or complex and you have the resources, you might need a contract management team. Choose individuals with a range of relevant legal, financial and technical skills. 

Service provision

Relationship management

You may be committed to working with a supplier for some time. The success of your contract relies on good communication between both parties based on mutual respect and trust. Regular review meetings are important to avoid drift.

It’s important to keep the relationship open and constructive, identifying and resolving issues early. Make sure you take the right steps to escalate matters with the supplier if you need to.

For major or long-term contracts it may be worth putting in place a partnership agreement that represents ‘good practice’ principles for all contracts.

Performance management and dispute resolution

Both parties want your relationship to be successful. By managing performance proactively throughout the contract period, at regular intervals, you’ll ensure that this focus is retained and things stay on track. 

Contractual disputes may arise; for instance, from the supply of defective goods or failure to meet deadlines. Contracts are usually only terminated mid-way through in extreme circumstances such as the discovery of fraud. The goal of performance management should always be to try to avoid termination and resolve any dispute by following the correct resolution process.

Change control and risk management

Accept that changes, such as minor variations in scope or amendments to timescales, will happen during the term of your contract and plan for it. Review the contract regularly and allow changes as required, as long as both parties agree to these in writing.  

A flexible approach to your contract, through which you can negotiate continuous improvements, can help you achieve greater ongoing efficiencies.

Risk management includes all the activities required to identify, control and manage risks that might have an impact on the contract being performed effectively. These could include:

  • changes of key personnel
  • factors affecting supplier costs
  • changes to legislation
  • extraordinary events beyond the supplier’s control which disrupt service delivery, such as the Covid-19 pandemic

Make sure you check your organisation’s policies and processes on risk management and incorporate them into your contract management. 

Contract expiry and transition

Your contract should have been written to include clear expectations and strategies for exit and transition. Before your contract ends you should start planning for:

  • a debrief meeting with the supplier, agreeing any final reports you need from them
  • the final payment or the return of any unspent funds 
  • control of client records – how should any sensitive data / records be handled, ensuring that security is maintained and there is full compliance with GDPR 
  • a review of the supplier’s performance and the service agreement
  • the steps you might need to take to ensure a straightforward transition to a new provider or contract

Be aware that if your existing supplier has lost the contract to a competitor there may be a risk of performance decline if you haven’t established a good relationship. Extra vigilance may be required at this point.

Record keeping

Finally, be sure to keep full and accurate records throughout the contract management process to ensure good governance, transparency and accountability – including recording what terms didn’t work well and how this will be improved within the next contract. For further advice on retention of contract records see The National Archive. 

Good record keeping means that you can demonstrate that you’re delivering efficient and effective services to your stakeholders. 

Find out more

Download our latest digital brochure for the latest information on our agreements and how we can help you add power to your procurement.

More: You can now find all of our Procurement Essentials articles – including our guide to framework agreements and why you should use them – on our website. 

New live supplier carbon reduction plan training

In June of 2021, Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 06/21 was released by Cabinet Office, creating more policy supplier interactions, meetings, panel discussions, and internal conversations than any other PPN released before. 

PPN 06/21 asks that suppliers confirm their commitment to achieving net zero by 2050, calling on them to produce a carbon reduction plan (CRP). Any supplier wishing to bid for government contracts over £5 million will need to create and submit their CRP. 

At CCS, we realise how critical it is to comply with the new PPN and have embraced it for our relevant commercial agreements. 

Since September 2021, the PPN has applied to all new agreements within the scope that have gone out to tender. In response, suppliers have already started to produce and publish their CRPs. However, when we drilled into questions from these procurements and feedback from supplier engagements across all CCS agreements, we quickly realised many suppliers had questions about creating a CRP, regardless of size.

Although we helped many suppliers who contacted us directly, we wanted to offer additional support. To this end, we began collecting ideas to develop supplier training that applied to any size supplier.

New supplier CRP training addresses concerns and challenges

In December, we ran our first interactive supplier CRP training event, which was an immediate sell-out. The initial training session offered suppliers an engaging and interactive forum where participants can ask questions specific to their CRP needs. Its success and popularity spurred us to schedule additional sessions that run weekly on Thursdays at 11 am.

Book now to attend a live CRP training session

The CRP training sessions’ primary objective is to help break down the process of creating a CRP, looking at the critical components required using a pragmatic approach that keeps suppliers informed. 

“Everything that I needed covering was covered. Andrew [Smith] took the time to respond to everyone’s individual questions.”

The weekly live sessions are filling up quickly. Please register to attend to receive assistance and clarity in creating your CRP. Although the training sessions are not mandatory, they offer you a high-level overview of creating a CRP. 

Our supplier training events are attended by a good mix of small to medium (SME) to large organisations, with a 50/50 split. The demographic demonstrates that numerous questions exist across the board. As long as the training is needed, we will keep the sessions running to help as many suppliers as possible.

Suppliers can book an event by following this link.

Supplier CRP questions answered

Suppliers are not limited to one event. If anyone needs more help, they can book into another session, asking additional questions as they move through the CRP development process. By design, the training enables suppliers to engage with the presenter. In this way, every session is an interactive discussion, not a lecture. Questions can be asked at any time, not just at the end. 

We use the same format to maintain consistency in responding to the many questions during each session, ensuring no one misses out. The live sessions will continue to run until June. After that, if session demand continues to be high, we will consider extending them beyond.

What suppliers say about our CRP training 

Suppliers are rallying around the training, providing feedback and excellent ratings. Here’s what they are saying:

Let’s not forget that this isn’t just another PPN that needs to be followed; it’s an opportunity for all of us to work towards the same goal of achieving net zero by 2050. Book into one of our CRP supplier training sessions now.

Machine translation helps ACRO Criminal Records Office save £6,000 in 3 months

In this case study we explain how our Language Services framework helped ACRO Criminal Records Office put in place a machine translation solution that has improved efficiency and saved £6,000 in 3 months.

The requirement

ACRO Criminal Records Office is a national police unit working to keep communities safe. Managing the UK Central Authority for the Exchange of Criminal Records, ACRO exchanges conviction information with EU member states. Many of these documents can be used as evidence in court – at times in extremely serious cases. 

They need criminal conviction information translated so they can map the offence(s) to the equivalent in English law. Some reports can be more than 100 pages and contain important details that need to be efficiently and accurately extracted. 

An incorrect translation could result in a case being thrown out of court. This means ACRO needed a translation solution that would help them improve efficiency and reduce costs, without impacting on quality. 

The solution: machine translation

Using our Language Services framework, ACRO appointed the language service provider, thebigword, to implement a WordSynk translation solution as it met their requirements to improve efficiency, accuracy and quality. 

In addition, they are using thebigword’s Voyager technology which enables reports to be scanned and the relevant pages identified. This ensures that only the necessary pages are sent to thebigword for translation, narrowing down the scope of the project, speeding up the delivery time and reducing costs.

The results

Since October 2020, ACRO has submitted 1,796 projects (999,480 words) and realised savings of around £6,000. About 65% of projects submitted are now being processed using the machine translation service, and the number of pages needing translation is down by 64%.

Lisa Stevens, Senior Manager – International at ACRO, commented: 

The solutions provided by thebigword are extremely welcome. They allow us to use our time efficiently and, importantly, we have been able to redirect the money we have saved on translation costs to our community safety and public protection services.

We take our responsibility towards criminal records information services seriously. 

We have quality control measures in place for our processes, including translation, and we work closely with thebigword to ensure the solutions work to deliver an effective and mutually beneficial service.

Add power to your procurement with CCS

To find out more about the innovative solutions available through our Language Services framework:

Visit our framework web page

Call us on 0345 410 2222

Email info@crowncommercial.gov.uk

Fill in our online form

You can 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.