More than 1,000 staff at Wakefield Council to be transferred to private company

Wakefield Council is in talks with Carillion, Cofely Workplace and Interserve over an outsourcing deal to help the local authority make millions of pounds in budget cuts.

One of the firms will become the employer of 1,200 council workers under the deal, launched after massive spending cuts were imposed by the government.

A report to the council’s Modern Public Services overview and scrutiny committee said the new arrangement will start in April next year after the firms were shortlisted last November.

The report said: “Details on the various aspects of the project are being finalised and fine tuned in order to prepare for final tenders to be called.

“Whilst until the final bids have been evaluated it isn’t possible to state precisely what the final solution will look like, nor the level of financial savings, it is possible to be confident that the final agreement will be very much a partnership tailored to Wakefield.”

Around a third of Wakefield Council’s budget will have been cut by 2019-20 due to cuts in its funding from central government.

The council will have to make savings of £66m in the next five years.

Building, facilities management, property and asset management, building cleaning, school meals and buildings-related architectural design will be taken over by one of the three companies.

The scrutiny committee report said talks were being held with trade unions representing the council workers.

It said: “Staffing considerations and ensuring fair treatment of the transferring workforce have been at the forefront of the council’s requirements in relation to the Partnership.

“The council will retain control over its assets and decisions relating to those assets.”

Graham Stokes, the council’s cabinet member for modern public services, said: “The scale of savings which we need to make means we have to look at new ways of delivering services in the future, while still being committed to providing quality services and protecting jobs where we can.

“We have identified three companies as prospective partners to work with us to provide our property and building related services, with the intention that this will keep jobs in the district with more security than the council can currently provide.”

Last year The Yorkshire Post reported that Barnsley Council was set to hire a private sector enforcement firm to tackle “low-level antisocial behaviour” such as littering and dog fouling in its town centre.

It proposed a 12-month pilot scheme, saying there would be no cost to the tax-payer as the initiative will be funded by revenue brought in from fines.