It is time to put people – users and staff – at the heart of all public services.
When commentators, politicians, the media and others criticise the concept of outsourcing or particular outsourcing contracts and contractors it is important that they distinguish between employer and employee. Public service professionals work in the public, social enterprise, charity and business sectors. Many have either chosen to work for a non-public sector employer or have been transferred to one from the public sector under the TUPE regulations, which protect the rights of staff when they move out of the public sector. There is a case for less outsourcing but if there is to be more of this practice, staff need to be respected and treated well.
In my experience, wherever and by whomever they are employed, public services professionals demonstrate the same public services ethos and commitment to their users and clients. What really matters is whether their employer actively practices excellent approaches to employment and their staff. As the editor of the Guardian Public Leaders Network Jane Dudman has pointed out, when outsourced contracts and contractors fail there are often two groups of losers – service users and staff. Good employment practice leads to better outcomes for service users and communities.
There are some appalling examples of outsourcing being used to reduce staff terms and conditions. This is perhaps most acute today in home care services with too many staff being paid less than the national minimum wage and not being paid for their travel time between client visits. This is absolutely unacceptable and leads to poorer quality provision for the service user. No employer in any sector should allow such conditions – but nor should any public sector commissioner, procurement official or regulator. Providers have a responsibility and duty to reject contracts which would force them to be irresponsible and poor employers.
The reality is that if the public sector pays bargain basement prices it is likely to be purchasing shoddy goods and services. The public sector has a responsibility for all staff delivering public services which it funds and/or regulates. It can secure good terms and conditions for staff through contract terms and a willingness to pay for them.
There is also a strong and urgent case to be made for new regulation in this area. TUPE is an important protection, which should be honoured throughout the life of a contract and after subsequent retendering, but which also needs to be strengthened. In 2011, when the local government code that protects benefits for new workers delivering public services was abolished, the present government took a retrograde step – part of a wider agenda to deregulate services and impose “flexible” labour markets.
It is time to revisit the rights of staff involved in public service outsourcing and contracting. Ideally, reforms would be agreed on a social partnership basis between the trade unions, the public sector – including local government, central government and the NHS – and social, charity and business sector providers.
Such reforms should be a commitment of any new government in 2015 and should include:
• The right of public sector staff to be consulted and engaged in strategic commissioning and procurement processes, and involved in monitoring outsourcing contracts
• A requirement for all outsourcing providers, in all sectors, to have effective staff engagement programmes, to honour TUPE in full• A requirement for all outsourcing providers to adopt the living wage, ensure staff are properly trained and to adopt equalities and talent development programmes, to drive local employment
• A requirement for all outsourcing providers to follow active equality policies, recognise trade unions, have effective whistleblowing policies, engage and involve staff, and fully disclose their policies and performance on all employment and remunderation issues
Public sector clients should ensure that these terms are integrated into their procurement and contracting arrangements and should enforce them contractually and pay for them. They should also provide conduits for whistleblowers and others to have direct access to the senior staff in the public body and, if necessary, politicians.
Most public services are as good the people delivering them. It is vital that we stop any return to the dark days of the worst excesses of compulsory competitive tendering where contracts were won on the basis of who could drive employment terms and wages down the most. This was not clever then. It is most certainly not sustainable in a modern society and, ironically, even less so in times of austerity when motivated and highly productive staff are more essential than ever.