Social Security Scotland - contracts which support recruitment processes: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for the Scottish Government to confirm if any contract has been agreed with any third-party company (or companies) or organisation(s) for work that assists with recruitment processes on behalf of Social Security Scotland, and state:

• the name(s) of any such third-party companies or organisations
• the fee(s) paid or to be paid by Social Security Scotland (or on its behalf by another Governmental body) for any such contracted work, either in the tax year 2019-2020, or for the calendar year 2019, or for the full term of any such agreement (whichever is easier to provide).

Response

Social Security Scotland is a new Executive Agency of the Scottish Government formed in September 2018 and is a new national public service with staff being recruited and working in every local authority area in Scotland.

Social Security Scotland is currently going through a period of significant growth and, by spring 2021, is expected to reach a headcount of at least 1,900 to support delivery of services to clients. Social Security Scotland staff are civil servants aligned to the Scottish Government’s standard processes for recruitment, and comply with the Civil Service Commission’s requirements for recruitment of civil servants.

The Scottish Government has two contracts in place, which Social Security Scotland utilise to support recruitment processes. From April 2019 to 31 December 2019 Social Security Scotland had paid the following:

Contract	Amount Paid from April 2019 – December 2019
TMP Worldwide	£27,548.78
Capita Resourcing Limited	£201,767.61

Capita Resourcing Limited are contracted to provide assistance to the recruitment process. The vast majority of these costs cover the sifting of applications or the design and delivery of assessment centres.

From the dates requested, the cost of sifting has been £72,027 and the cost for the design and delivery of assessment centres has been £129,740.61. This results in a total spend of £201,767.61 during the requested dates.

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