Mon, 26 Jan 2015 | Sarah MarquetA recruitment initiative that initially harnessed the buying power of three London borough councils to save money has now been rolled out to 171 local authorities nationwide and will go live in April.

Led by Sutton (London) Council and Dean Shoesmith, head of HR at Sutton and Merton Councils, the strategic procurement initiative, known as the London Boroughs Recruitment Partnership, started in 2006 with three councils, then expanded to eight, then 30.

The original contracts, let in 2011, were for the provision of recruitment services for both permanent and interims. They expire on 31 March this year. Prompted by interest from outside of London, Shoesmith told Recruiter the opportunity to participate in the initiative was offered to local authorities across the country.

The result was almost half of all local authorities — 171 — expressing interest in joining.
 
The new partnership has been estimated to save £3-4m a year across the members.

The new contracts were awarded on 16 December and take effect in April, lasting up to four years. They cover four key areas:

• Strategic HR — to enable the authorities to get the support they need to make large-scale change. Awarded to Penna.

• Executive search & selection, both permanent and interim. Awarded to Penna, GatenbySanderson, Hays Executive, Allen Lane, Solace Enterprises and Green Park Interim & Executive Search.

• A new area Shoesmith calls “talent wave” — a portal where jobseekers can build profiles and hiring managers can advertise jobs and then the two can connect. This ensures worker mobility in being redeployed and transferred to other local authorities when job cuts loom, therefore helping avoid redundancies and/or people falling into unemployment. Awarded to GatenbySanderson.

• Recruitment advertising — a new approach that effectively replaces advertising agencies through the use of software. Awarded to Papirfly, a Norwegian company.