Customer Insight

Thurrock Council spend in excess of £9m a year on temporary agency staff, across a wide variety of job categories. The Council’s previous managed service provider was struggling to meet its requirements for agency workers. Matrix SCM were appointed in December 2015, following a further competition exercise.

Prior to engaging with Matrix SCM, the Council often didn’t receive suitable candidates for specialist roles, lacked the detailed Management Information they required and had significant off-contract spend.

The Matrix Solution

Following a straightforward 10 week implementation, the Council went live with the Matrix solution which consists of:

People

• Matrix SCM’s on-site ‘hub’, manned by an on-site Account Manager, who is responsible for the day-to-day management of the contract. This offers the ability for managers to be able to be specific about the quality of candidate they require.

• A Business Manager, who is responsible for the strategic improvement of the contract, whilst ensuring Thurrock are consistently achieving best value for money through re-procurement exercises and supply chain management.  

Technology

• Our end-to-end technology platform, CR.Net – which automates the process of ordering, screening, time sheeting and invoicing agency labour. An easier and quicker system to order temporary staff.

• Comprehensive Managment Information which includes our new Demand Management Module, which provides critical information on the Council’s engagement with local candidates and SME suppliers.

Process

• Our Account Manager carries out pre-employment screening checks on all candidates submitted through CR.Net, prior to commencement of a placement. This ensures the Council only engages with workers that meet all minimum safeguarding and compliance checks.

Key Benefits

• Savings of 1.5% since contract go-live in January 2016
• Thurrock is now achieving a fulfilment rate of 99% across 25 different job categories
• The supply chain has grown by 20%
• Pro-actively reducing historical off-contract spend from incumbent supplier 
• Candidate quality now matches job specifications
• A more simple and efficient end-to-end system for procuring agency workers
• Full visibility over agency spend and local engagement