In June 2010, members of the former Police Authority agreed a £175m Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) with Steria (now Sopra Steria)
This was to save the organisation £49.8m over the following 10 years. The partnership started on 1st July 2010. On 1st October 2010, 514 Cleveland Police staff transferred, by way of TUPE, to Steria.
After the initial outsourcing agreement, members of the former Police Authority agreed to outsource two more areas to generate further savings. They were the Crime Management Unit and the Emergency and Event Planning & Risk, Resilience and Safety Unit.
As a result of additional outsourcing and other contract changes, the initial contract increased by £8.1m. It rose from £175.2m to £183.3m for the 10-year period.
Reported savings on the initial 10-year contract also increased by £21.1m from £49.8m to £70.9m.
Savings of £70.9m over the 10-year period represented a 27.9% saving against the cost of providing services in house.
Through outsourcing, the organisation was able to reduce the number of Police Officers by 163 full-time equivalents (FTE) in roles, which didn’t need warranted powers
While police officer numbers in Cleveland have reduced significantly over the past five years due to reduced grant funding, this contract has enabled the reduction of officers without any impact on ‘front line’ posts.
The PCC inherited the contract in 2012 as a result of the transfer of rights and liabilities from the former Police Authority.
Changes since contract agreement
Many things have changed since the contract was initially agreed. Therefore all parties agreed that it was important to re-visit it. This was to ensure that it supported revised structures within the force, now and in the future.
The Force has made recommendations to the PCC for adjustments to the contract. The PCC may wish to request that the force reviews the operational and public service impact of the proposed changes when they have been introduced.
Appended to this Decision Record Form is Part 2. This is not currently published on the basis that it contains commercially confidential information.
Information is also subject to consultation with employee representatives. It is exempt from publication by virtue of Article 2(2) Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) Order 2011 as amended.
Decision 2 -2016. Contract review for the Sopra Steria partnership Agreement (application, 34kB)