The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities’ Agency Staff Project, implemented in conjunction with Comensura, has received an award from 4ps, local government’s partnerships and project delivery specialist.
AGMA received the accolade for its innovative approach to efficiently managing its agency staffing requirements, and the Award for excellence in Efficiency was made at a national ceremony in London.
Chris Wilson, 4ps’ Executive Director, said: “We were very impressed with AGMA’s Agency Staff Project which is an example of a highly successful project that has made a real contribution in Greater Manchester.”
Comensura’s temporary recruitment solution for AGMA was implemented in 2007 as a three-year collaborative contract including 11 authorities across Greater Manchester. Through the solution, the AGMA’s 4000 Comensura users are able to better manage their temporary workforce, handling an annual managed spend in excess of £30 million, through 200 suppliers. The strengths which AGMA particularly appreciates are Comensura’s ability to offer collaborative reporting, improved visibility of usage and spend, increased control, and contract enforcement. The continuity and consistency across the authorities involved is also a major benefit. In total, implementing Comensura’s temporary staffing solution is expected to save AGMA between 5 and 10% per year.
Lord Peter Smith, leader of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities and Wigan Council added: “Agency staffing is just one area where pooling our resources can deliver efficiencies and savings, making more money available for frontline services. On behalf of my colleagues on the AGMA board, I’d like to say ‘very well done’ to David Winstanley from Bolton Council and everybody else who worked on the project, including their private sector partner Comensura. It’s been a great success.”
