Decision details

Councillor Tahir Rafiq, Cabinet Member for Corporate Affairs and HR, presented the report regarding the future operation of the Bury Aces function, subject to the consultation of affected staff. It was noted that, whist the Bury Aces function had proved effective in supporting Council resourcing in a number of areas, it was not consistent with the Authority’s commitment to stable and high-quality employment because it did not provide a guaranteed minimum number of weekly working hours to individuals. Councillor Rafiq advised that it also posed a number of risks to the Council and, as such the closure of the provision subject to consultation with affected staff was recommended.

Although there was a small financial saving, in response to a Member’s question regarding alternative providers it was noted that this decision reflected the Council’s desire to ensure services were fit for our purposes and values rather than savings. As such the Schools Supply Service was proposed to be retained.

Decision:

Cabinet:

1.    Approved the closure of Bury Aces provision subject to consultation with affected staff;

2.    Established roles and make offers of permeant employment to those individuals currently engaged as Bury Aces casual staff but with accrued employment rights; and

3.    Delegated authority to the Director People & Inclusion and the Cabinet Members for Human Resources and Corporate Affairs to consider responses received from the consultation, produce a final proposal and to determine whether the final version is to be implemented or returned to Cabinet for approval prior to implementation.

Reasons for the decision:

Whist the Bury Aces function has proved effective in supporting Council resourcing in a number of areas, it is not consistent with the Authority’s commitment to stable and high-quality employment in line with the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter. Furthermore, the operation of this function as currently managed poses a number of risks to the Council.

Alternative options considered and rejected:

An alternative provision is already available through the Greater Manchester Agency Contract and the proposal is to cease the current Aces function and move to the utilisation of this service. Where employees have legitimately accrued employment rights then this will be honoured.

Given the lack of a currently viable alternative, the high regard with which the function is held and the current challenging market place, the Schools Supply Service will be retained until at least September 2023, pending a full review of the Council’s HR support to schools.