Recruitment Services

1. Introduction Oxford City Council (OCC) has ambitious plans to accelerate the delivery of affordable and council-owned housing, improve public services, and lead the way in sustainability and inclusion. We are proud to serve a diverse community and work collaboratively to reduce inequality, improve wellbeing, and respond proactively to the challenges facing our city. We are a values-led organisation, committed to: • Delivering service excellence • Acting with accountability • Fostering innovation and inclusion • Communicating with honesty and respect As part of our ongoing transformation and future workforce planning, we are reviewing our approach to recruitment agency partnerships and would like to invite providers to engage with us at this early stage. You can find out more about our work and strategic priorities at: Oxford City Council Website 2. Strategic Context Oxford City Council's Strategy 2024-2028 outlines five key priorities: 1. Good, affordable homes 2. A strong, fair economy 3. Thriving communities 4. Zero carbon Oxford 5. A well-run council Key planned activities include: • Accelerating the development of affordable housing • Tackling health inequalities and supporting young people into employment • Improving the condition and management of 8,000+ council-owned homes • Continuing to deliver core statutory services such as waste collection, housing, licensing, planning, and regulatory services Our People Strategy underpins these ambitions, focusing on building a high-performing, inclusive, and agile workforce. It also addresses challenges such as: • Mental health and wellbeing • Cost-of-living pressures • Technological advancement and changing legislation • Financial constraints and a competitive talent market Vision: To be a high-performing, agile, and inclusive organisation delivering value for Oxford's citizens. Mission: To secure the Council's future success by attracting, developing, and retaining a talented, diverse, and committed workforce. 3. Procurement Overview: What We Are Looking For As part of our upcoming procurement exercise in 2025, we are seeking to refresh and reshape our recruitment agency framework to better reflect the needs of the organisation and the modern labour market. The council's annual agency spend is 2.5 million pounds per year. In accordance with public procurement regulations we will be launching a new tender for recruitment agency services. Current Framework Overview Our current recruitment framework consists of two lots: • Lot 1: Professional and Business Support • Lot 2: Housing, Property and Regulatory Services Work is currently distributed across four agencies, primarily supporting temporary staffing needs. Future Vision Going forward, we propose a more tailored and specialist structure, with individual lots aligned by job function rather than service area. This is aimed at: • Enabling greater flexibility • Encouraging supplier specialisation • Supporting hard-to-fill and business-critical roles Proposed Lots • ICT & Digital • Legal Services • Planning and Regeneration • Finance • Regulatory Services & Housing • Professional and Business Support • Property & Surveying We are particularly interested in engaging with specialist agencies that have deep sector knowledge in areas such as surveying, legal, and housing services. Proposed Framework The proposed lots may be structured either as a fixed four-year framework or as an open framework. We are keen to hear suppliers' views on these options before finalising the approach, and this will be a key topic of discussion during the Industry Day. 4. Key Objectives for the New Framework • Increase access to diverse and qualified candidates • Reduce time-to-hire and recruitment delays • Address skills shortages in key technical and professional roles • Improve market responsiveness for permanent hard-to-fill vacancies