By Andy McCue, 15 April 2005 13:00
NEWS Swansea council IT staff appear to have finally lost their battle against a £100m outsourcing deal, after plans were approved to permanently transfer the workers to Capgemini.
Over 100 IT staff at Swansea went on an eight-week strike last year over the 'service@swansea' outsourcing plans, with trade union Unison claiming council leaders had failed to consult staff and evaluate an in-house alternative.
That strike was brought to an end last October after an agreement negotiated by arbitration service ACAS, and the council finally signed a ten-year £100m deal with Capgemini in December.
Part of the agreement was that the council and Capgemini would evaluate options for staff to remain in-house or be seconded rather than face a permanent TUPE transfer.
After examining these options, Swansea council's cabinet this week finally approved the initial plan for staff to transfer across to the private sector, despite a last-ditch campaign by Unison.
Councillor Mary Jones, cabinet member for service@swansea, said in a statement that a range of measures have been agreed with Capgemini to ensure protection of employment terms and conditions.
"These measures include the right not to have to work outside Swansea area. We have also been able to respond to their particular concerns regarding pensions, and employees will be able to remain in the local government pension scheme," she said.
Swansea council aims to save up to £72m over the next ten years through the outsourcing deal.
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1. Tony Sygrove
I still fail to see why outsourcing is still such a big deal with the public sector. I was involved in two large outsourcing projects with a very large Metropolitan Council and I was against the proposal from the outset, eventually resulting in resigning from the Council. Today that same council is about to bring those service back in-house, at what cost. The initial cost of the contract was almost tripled by the time the contract was in place, so where was the best value, where were all the promises of a more effective and efficient service. Outsourcing to be effective has to be done for the right reasons, not on a whim and a prayer. Sor's, procurement, project management, change management, SLa,s SLG,s and legal considerations have to be water tight for outsourcing to work. I can almost guarantee that the costs to Swansea will result in a move back to in-house services at the end of this contract, which to say the least is extrodinary that an outsourcing contract be taken out over such a long period of time. My advice is stick with the in-house team and build on a solid partnership with a reparable company. This way you still retain the management and responsibility for the service, but in partnership with a company that can enhance the skills,knowledge and lacking within you in-house team, at probably a third of the cost of outsourcing.