Issue - meetings

The Chief Operating Officer to  present a report which seeks permission to re-procure an Occupational Health and Day One Absence Management Service for the Council, key in ensuring employees are able to fulfil their duties safely with their health and wellbeing supported.

Resolved:  (i)      That approval be given to procure an occupational health and day one provision effective from May 2023.

                   (ii)      That authority be delegated to the Chief Operating Officer to select the appropriate procurement route and award the contract to the successful bidder.

                   (iii)     That the future procurement of a contract of this nature be considered as ‘routine’, on the basis that it is a re-procurement of existing arrangements.

Reason:     To ensure that managers continue to be provided with the tools to facilitate proactive absence management and that professional occupational health advice is available at the earliest opportunity, with the supplier able to work with the Council to develop solutions to keep employees with health issues at work and safe.

The Head of HR and OD presented a report which sought permission to re-procure an Occupational Health and Day One Absence Management Service for the Council.  Details of the current provision were set out in Annex 1 to the report.

The One Day Absence contract with Medigold had been extended for a year in June 2021, but due to the effects of the pandemic it had not been possible to assess the system and its effects on absence levels. A review of the in-house HR system had concluded that it did not have the capability to create a recording process comparable to Medigold’s.  Approval was therefore sought to re-procure a day one absence system jointly with the occupational health contract to take advantage of a joined up service.

Four options were presented, as detailed in paragraphs 23-26 of the report and summarised below:

Option 1 – procure a day one absence and occupational health contract effective from 23 May 2023 via an approved framework, as recommended.

Option 2 – procure a contract for occupational health provision only and return to the original ITrent model for absence.  This would lack independence and require additional resources.

Option 3 – spot purchase occupational advice on an ad-hoc basis.  This would be more costly and not produce a proactive co-ordinated response.

Option 4 – procure separate contracts for day one absence and occupational health.  This would not realise the ambition of improving connections between the two.

Resolved:  (i)      That approval be given to procure an occupational health and day one provision effective from May 2023 (Option 1).

                   (ii)      That authority be delegated to the Chief Operating Officer to select the appropriate procurement route and award the contract to the successful bidder.

                   (iii)     That the future procurement of a contract of this nature be considered as ‘routine’, on the basis that it is a re-procurement of existing arrangements.

Reason:     To ensure that managers continue to be provided with the tools to facilitate proactive absence management and that professional occupational health advice is available at the earliest opportunity, with the supplier able to work with the Council to develop solutions to keep employees with health issues at work and safe.