Local press reports suggest that around 1,100 posts across the three police forces of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire could be outsourced along with back office services, which include HR.
Later this month, the three forces plan to publish proposals for private companies to supply HR, finance and IT services to their respective police authorities.
At a meeting on May 30, it was recommended that a full business case for the proposals should be drawn up as a way to combat an estimated £73 million funding shortfall – and it was agreed that, in late June, each of the three police authorities would be asked to formally consider commissioning a case for outsourcing the services.
Bedfordshire Police Authority chiefs are scheduled to meet to discuss the plans in full on June 28, for example.
The forces have already collaborated across a number of departments to cut costs and some press reports suggest that Lincolnshire’s existing security services outsourcing partner, G4S, may be in line for more work. Bedfordshire said that any outsourcing would not happen until April 2013 at the earliest, however.
