Employment Impacts

The effect of outsourcing and the procurement and commissioning process on jobs, terms and conditions.

Published on 26th April 2005. Last updated 29th May 2017.

  • Employment Risk Matrix

    There are basically three employment models if outsourcing or transfer is proposed: 1) Secondment in which staff remain employed by the public sector. 2) Transfer to a new employer under the TUPE regulations 3) A ‘choice’ model promoted by some private contractors which is a mix of secondment and transfer.

    The European Services Strategy Unit has devised an Employment Risk Matrix which assesses the degree of changes in four categories of risk: risk of changes to terms and conditions of service; pensions arrangements (not covered by TUPE regulations), risk of changes to staff consultation and representation and risk of problems with secondment agreement.

  • Secondment of Staff for New Tyne Tunnel

    The case for seconding the 95 staff employed on the existing Tyne Tunnel rather than transferring them to the operator of the New Tunnel was set in a detailed report for Newcastle UNISON (see also How to Exclude Support Services from Building Schools for the Future and PFI Projects report in 2005 news section). However, the Passenger Transport Authority decided to transfer staff to the new operator when the tunnel is built.

  • The Employment and Financial Impact of Market Testing in the NHS in Northern Ireland

    This report examines the employment and financial impact of competitive tendering in the NHS in Northern Ireland between 19988 and 1993. The research findings are combined with the findings of the Northern Ireland Equal Opportunities Commission investigation into competitive tendering in health and education services (NIEOC, 1996).

  • What Frontline Staff Say about Strategic Service-Delivery Partnerships

    Strategic Service Delivery Partnerships (SSPs) have been heralded as having the potential to revolutionise service delivery and playing a key role in the government’s modernisation agenda of reform for public services. This report examines these claims, testing them against evidence gathered from frontline staff whose employment had passed into the hands of the private sector in five of the earliest SSPs- involving Blackburn and Darwen Council, Lincolnshire County Council, Liverpool City Council, Middlesbrough Borough Council, and London Borough of Southwark. It finds damning evidence of lower job security and satisfaction, less career development and training opportunities, decreased service quality and the absence of consultation over decisions affecting the workforce.

  • Competition, Cuts and Contractors: Lessons for trade unionists from three flagship London Boroughs, 1992

    Detailed study of outsourcing and commercialisation in Westminster, Wandsworth and Kensington and Chelsea for NALGO, including contracts, costs, job impacts and the effect on services. Identifies the lessons for trade union strategies and wider policy implications (58 pages).