The County Council has been considering adding more services to the highways maintenance contract when the current contract with Balfour Beatty expires in July 2018. Services under consideration included:
- Customer engagement and stakeholder relationship management;
- Operations management; and
- Network management (including ITCS).
Up to 85 staff could have been subject to TUPE transfer to a new employer should the services have been included in the new contract.
Having looked in detail at the proposals put forward by bidders, in the main WSCC has concluded that maintaining direct delivery and responsibility was preferable. The areas where outsourcing is now the preferred method of delivery are the tree team and the inspection teams. This is now a much smaller scope than what was previously a possibility.
UNISON will work with the council on the TUPE transfer to protect members’ interests and terms and conditions.The new contract will start in July 2018.