Grounds staff jobs to be outsourced to Suffolk council

DOZENS of Derbyshire grounds maintenance staff are next in line to be outsourced to Suffolk County Council in a further bid to save money.

Last month, Derbyshire County Council finalised a transfer of more than 900 caretaking, cleaning and property design staff to a joint company it has formed with Suffolk, 180 miles away.

Vertas Derbyshire Ltd was formed between Derbyshire and Suffolk to take on the caretaking and cleaning staff and Concertus Derbyshire Ltd was formed between the two councils for property design staff.

The reasoning for the transfer was the possibility of financial savings with Derbyshire facing a steep cuts target of £65 million or more by the end of the 2024 financial year.

However, despite pledges to show what financial savings and profits could be earned through the joint venture companies the council has yet to shed any light on the potential benefits.

Now Derbyshire County Council is looking to transfer its 41 garden maintenance staff to Vertas Derbyshire Ltd.

This comes after a report from Ernst Young that Derbyshire’s “facilities delivery” team “does not compete in the market”.

The firm said: “In a highly priceelastic market, and a well-established market for the services, efficiencies and management focus could be achieved through a form of outsourcing.

“The analysis suggests corporate property should look to divest itself of facilities delivery to enable a greater focus on core operations.”

The council’s property division had 1,500 staff, 940 of whom have now been outsourced. This further outsourcing move would reduce the number retained by the council in-house to 519.

The staff would be managing the parks and grounds of schools, churches, sports clubs, leisure centres, care homes and children’s centres.