Crown Commercial Services launched its Permanent Recruitment 2 framework earlier this year. Health Business recaps what it’s all about

Crown Commercial Services (CCS)’ Permanent Recruitment 2 framework enables all public sector organisations to access recruitment services to hire permanent, fixed-term and internal secondment roles through recruitment agencies. Organisations are able to access general recruitment services to search for and hire candidates for a specific role or job. The framework applies to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
    
The framework will also provide a way to hire clinical roles through the general recruitment service.
    
The new framework replaces the current Permanent Recruitment Solutions framework which is due to expire in November 2022.
    
Recruiters will compete to find a suitable candidate and will only get paid if they successfully fill the role – general recruitment is a non-exclusive contingency model service. The recruitment agencies will help public sector organisations to recruit one or more candidates for clinical and non-clinical roles.
    
Suppliers need not be able to provide on a national basis, but should be able to provide recruitment services in and outside of London and the south east, as well as where civil service and public servants are located throughout the UK – this is not restricted to large cities. The Supplier Capability Matrix provides information on the locations that suppliers are able to provide services for. All suppliers are able to attend virtual meetings.
    
Clinical Roles
The new framework will provide access to individual candidate placements for clinical and non-clinical roles. Services are available in a modular format if required.
    
The framework is not to be used for hiring temporary labour. This should be done through other CCS agreements.
    
The Permanent Recruitment 2 framework is part of the Workforce Alliance portfolio, which provides an additional access route to the framework for the NHS. A partnership between CCS and NHS Procurement in Partnership, the Workforce Alliance brings together a range of procurement and commercial expertise with the intention of benefitting the NHS.
    
The Workforce Alliance claims: “Nobody is better placed to help you meet the challenges of NHS staffing. As a team of health workforce experts, we are motivated by a genuine desire to make the NHS better. You can trust us to act in the best interests of the NHS – always putting patient care first.”
    
The core services of the Permanent Recruitment 2 framework include search services, to allow organisations to find applicants, tools for the evaluation of applicants and the ability to appoint an applicant to the role.
    
Strategy and planning
Non-core services of the Permanent Recruitment 2 framework include services for strategy and planning to help organisations plan for recruitment gaps and help them ensure they have the right people with the right skills. This is essential at the moment, with employers struggling to fill roles and a well-documented digital skills gap.
    
Non-core services of the framework also include services for talent development with the intention of helping organisations develop a talent pool of potential applicants with the needed skillset.
    
Public sector organisations will be able to access all core and non-core services and will have the flexibility to choose which services to add to their call offs.
    
The new agreement will run for two years and has the option to extend for up to two years if necessary.
    
Under the agreement, there is no maximum length for a call off contract, though CCS is recommending that it should not be any longer than four years.

Benefits
CCS has listed a number of potential benefits of the new framework. One such benefit is that hiring managers and departments have the ability to choose who they engage with from the supplier list and how they do this. With 157 suppliers listed, organisations will have a large choice.
    
CCS has also claimed that those hiring will be able to access capable suppliers, leading to increased fill rates. This will also avoid repeated campaign costs.
    
The ability to direct award could save organisations time and money, by avoiding a long and costly recruitment process.
    
Capped maximum costs are intended to protect contracting authorities from market price increases. This is important with the current inflation rate and the cost-of-living crisis.    
    
The framework also boasts no hidden costs as everything is included in the cost of the service. This includes methods of attracting candidates including social media, digital campaigns and job boards. This also includes the cost of travel, subsistence and lodging; document or report reproduction; shipping; desktop or office equipment costs; network or data interchange costs or other telecommunications charges; and costs incurred prior to the commencement of any call-off contract.
    
As suppliers are obliged to work towards civil service diversity and inclusion requirements, contracting authorities should, as a result, be further on the way to achieving their own diversity and inclusion requirements.    
    
Listed suppliers must also develop an employer value proposition (EVP) to ensure candidates want to work for the contracting authority’s organisation. An EVP includes any benefits that the candidate will receive for their work, including pay, learning and development opportunities and the culture of the organisation.
    
The framework also includes discounts for hiring more than one supplier.
Finally, the framework provides a compliant route to candidates for permanent roles via recruitment agencies. The terms and conditions will also stay consistent.
For those looking to hire on a permanent basis, the Permanent Recruitment 2 framework is the place to start.