G4S and Lincolnshire Police join forces in historic partnership
Wednesday, 22 February, 2012
Landmark £200m deal with Lincolnshire Police Authority will see widest ever outsourcing provision for UK police force
• New state-of-the art police station to be built
• New shared services facility to be police centre of excellence
• Lincolnshire force to benefit from savings of £28m
• Framework agreement with other forces to provide additional income for Lincolnshire
G4S, the UK's leading security company, and one of the main providers of outsourcing services to the Government and public bodies, has today signed an historic agreement with Lincolnshire Police Authority which will be the widest ranging outsourcing contract for any police force in the UK.
From 1 April 2012 and for at least the next ten years, G4S Policing Support Services will be Lincolnshire's strategic partner delivering a range of administrative and operational services -formerly delivered by a combination of civilian employees and police officers - including HR, IT, fleet management, custody services and firearms licencing.
G4S was chosen from an original shortlist of 160 companies to deliver the Lincolnshire Police Business Transformation project, which aimed to generate £20m savings in running costs. G4S estimates that savings will top £28m, particularly as the contract can be extended for a further five years.
A major proportion of these anticipated savings will come from at least one new, high-tech police station - to be designed and built by G4S - which will be located in the area. The station, based on a revolutionary 'hub-and-spoke' design, will contain 30 custody cells, with the option to add more in response to major events or anticipated peaks in arrests. The station will also house up to 120 operational police staff. Its eco-friendly, energy-efficient design will drastically cut existing running costs, generating savings of around £5m over the next 10 years.
As the first UK Police Authority to embark on a programme of this scale, Lincolnshire benefits from exclusive opportunities to generate additional income for its policing:
• A framework agreement signed with ten similar sized UK police authorities will allow it a share in any savings each force is able to generate from adopting the Business Transformation Project model.
• A new shared services centre to be based in Lincolnshire, will allow other Police Authorities to procure services from just the one source.
Lincolnshire will effectively be able to 'sell' on these services, such as HR, payroll and finance - currently provided separately for each police force - not only providing more efficient services for the other authorities through economies of scale, but enjoying a share in the profit, thereby generating more funds for its own police. In this way spending on outsourcing across UK policing could total £2billion over the next decade.
Kim Challis, Group Managing Director, G4S Government and Outsourcing Services, said:
"G4S is excited to be partnering with Lincolnshire Police in delivering this landmark programme, which is the first of its kind in the UK. Lincolnshire is leading the way in responding to the challenges of today's economic environment and this transformation project will mean many of the services provided by the Police will now be delivered externally by specialists who can deliver greater savings and improve efficiency.
"We are particularly delighted to have the opportunity to implement many new innovations, such as our purpose-built 'Bridewell' custody suites - the first of which will be completed within a year. This new police station will be the first, tangible demonstration of the benefits this partnership will bring to Lincolnshire. But others, such as the planned Shared Services Centre, will place Lincolnshire at the heart of Britain's policing future, generating vital additional income as well as creating new jobs.
"This is an exciting time for Lincolnshire and we are proud to be part of it."
Lincolnshire Police Authority Chairman Barry Young said:
"We knew we had set ourselves an ambitious programme, to be completed in a short timescale. From the outset, though, we were encouraged by the interest shown by companies with an international reputation. We are delighted that G4S will be joining us as a strategic partner.
"G4S shares our values and our ambition to maintain and improve services. It has the skills and the experience to help make a real difference to the way in which Lincolnshire is policed. By taking over a range of support functions, G4S will contribute to the Force's aim of being able to put 97 per cent of its warranted officers in frontline roles by April.
"Crucially, the new strategic partnership will also deliver significant infrastructure investment that will offset the budget reductions called for by the Government. I believe we are leading the way. We have demonstrated that it is possible to negotiate a complex agreement in a relatively short period of time that will provide benefits well into the future."
