Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

InsolvencyEconomics, government & businessPublic sectorOutsourcing

Corbyn vows to end public sector outsourcing

by Adam McCulloch 19 Jan 2018
by Adam McCulloch 19 Jan 2018 PA/PA Wire/PA Images
PA/PA Wire/PA Images

Jeremy Corbyn yesterday vowed to end public sector outsourcing in the wake of the collapse of support services giant Carillion.

The fall of the company, which employed 20,000 people in the UK, has led Labour to announce that, under its rule, the public sector would be the default choice for providing government services.

Outsourcing and the public sector

Employment law manual: agency workers

Carillion workers face uncertain future

Employment law manual: Insolvency of employer

The Labour leader seized on prime minister Theresa May’s statement that the Government was a “customer” not the “manager” of Carillion, telling the House of Commons, “I’m sorry but if these are public contracts we should be the manager and not have a middleman like Carillion creaming off the profits.”

The policy would see a Labour Government applying strict conditions to local authorities and Whitehall departments that would dramatically cut the use of private-sector contractors.

Corbyn told the Guardian, using the funding of Virgin’s East Coast mainline franchise as an example, that the UK Government was not able to get the best deals from outsourcing firms, which could outbid each other by reducing their workers’ terms and conditions. He said the UK had been “too often held over a barrel by these people”.

A future Labour government, he revealed, would only allow local authorities and Whitehall departments to outsource a service if it was seen to be failing, and there would be a statutory requirement to submit an in-house bid that was “well-resourced with senior staff and workforce representatives”.

Meanwhile, at a meeting chaired on Thursday (18 January) by Government business secretary Greg Clark aiming to set up a taskforce to support small firms affected by Carillion’s collapse, leading banks such as Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland pledged £125m of funding for businesses facing financial problems. Up to 30,000 small firms are thought to be owed money by Carillion.

Afterwards, Mike Cherry, from the Federation of Small Businesses, said the amount pledged was unlikely to be enough to sufficiently recompense most contractors. “It is only going to be a sticking plaster to help those who are viable to continue in business and recover in time,” he told the BBC.

Also yesterday, Nationwide became the first of Carillion’s major private customers to employ staff left without a job due to the support giant’s failure. About 250 Carillion employees were working for the building society in catering and cleaning services, in addition to 1,500 staff engaged by separate third-party suppliers to work on Nationwide contracts with Carillion.

The mutual has stated that the directly employed workers will be added to its payroll from Monday and it would hire the third-party companies directly (rather than through Carillion).

Elsewhere, work at major projects outsourced to Carillion, such as the construction of the Royal Liverpool Hospital and the Midland Metropolitan Hospital in Birmingham, has largely halted.

 

Adam McCulloch
Adam McCulloch

Adam McCulloch is a freelance writer and production editor who has worked in sectors including travel (The Guardian), aviation (Flight International), agriculture (Farmers' Weekly), music (Jazzwise), theatre (The Stage) and social work (Community Care). He also works for a national newspaper and is the author of KentWalksNearLondon

previous post
Parents reveal struggle to balance work and home life
next post
The emerging role of digital in employee health & wellbeing strategies

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Law protecting frontline workers against violence takes effect

28 Jun 2022

Inflation in May 2022 at 40-year high, as...

22 Jun 2022

‘Summer of discontent’ ahead as more unions ballot...

15 Jun 2022

Whistleblowing nurse awarded £462k for unfair dismissal

15 Jun 2022

Setback for civil servants’ union in bid to...

10 Jun 2022

Future of work under Labour: Justin Madders talks...

9 Jun 2022

NHS leadership review highlights ‘inadequacy’ in training and...

8 Jun 2022

Civil Service Fast Stream graduate scheme paused

31 May 2022

Corporate reporting and audit regime will reduce risk...

31 May 2022

Davos 2022: ‘Invest in social jobs to save...

27 May 2022
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+