Lincolnshire leads multi-force outsourcing initiative

Lincolnshire Police Authority (LPA) is leading an outsourcing initiative on behalf of 11 forces to outsource elements of their back and middle offices in a deal that could be worth up to £2 billion over ten years.

The authority is expecting to receive bids for the privatisation of 62 areas of the force’s work across all of its back and middle office, with the exception of professional standards.

The authority has also received tentative interest from another ten forces to be involved in the procurement. The value of the tender is estimated between £200 million and £2 billion.

Private companies could in the near future take responsibility for the running of a number of services with firearms training, ICT, HR, training and development, payroll, finance, facilities management, fleet, command and control, criminal justice administration, fixed penalty ticketing, custody provision and communications among the main areas being considered.

Assistant chief officer for Lincolnshire Police, Peter Steed, said outsourcing some of its services could mean huge savings for the force.

“We are looking to explore with the market whether they are interested in providing a range of services and what opportunities that would provide for us. That’s looking at things such as performance, transformation and future IT investments.

This is a real opportunity for companies to invest in policing and it’s up to us to try and capitalise on that. We think we’re on the verge of doing something pretty unique in terms of service delivery.”

Mr Steed said there could be an impact on police staff with a potential loss of 30-40 per cent on current numbers, but the outsourcing route is not new and pointed to Cleveland Police’s recent outsourcing contract with Steria in which most police staff transferred to the private company with job security for the life of the contract.

The plans were first put to the authority by the force on March 25 after research was conducted into where savings could be made.

The ten other police authorities which can opt in or out of procurement arrangements and have indicated early interest in the outsourcing plans include: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Gwent, Hertfordshire, Lecicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire and Wiltshire.

Barry Young, chairman of LPA, said: “The authority is clear that it will take every opportunity to explore how doing things differently might help us to maintain or even improve policing services for the people of Lincolnshire. Working with the private sector is one of a number of ways in which we may be able to derive benefits that will last well into the future.”