Town Hall to bring caretaker services at 10 schools in-house

The Town Hall is bringing a raft of school cleaner and facilities jobs at 10 schools in-house.

Over 120 jobs, currently part of a £2.5m contract with services giant Kier Group, will shift to schools and the council.

The decision has been taken as part of the council’s inclusive economy strategy, which was launched in riposte to theories based on the so-called trickle-down effect of economic growth and community concerns over local inequality.

It is understood that bringing ICT services back in-house has saved the council £1 million.

Hackney Mayor Philip Glanville (Lab & Co-op), who recently attended protests pushing for cleaning services at the Homerton Hospital to be brought in-house, added that an outsourced facilities management contract for the Hackney Learning Trust building has been renegotiated for all staff to be paid the London Living Wage, currently £10.55 an hour.

Mayor Glanville said: “Schools and the council will have more control over their costs, as reactive maintenance budgets previously covered by the contract are now managed directly by schools.

“They are also directly employing premises staff while over 100 staff will now be on local authority contracts with all of the benefits that come with them.

“Whether through in-sourced services or procured contracts, anchor institutions like Hackney can use our services to benefit the local economy.”