Local Authority

ODPM (now CLG) funded the initial launch of Slivers-of-Time Working. The marketplaces are now paid for by a small transaction charge within each booking. Pioneering authorities such as LBH&F, Leeds and 5 combined Cambridgeshire Councils have led the way in instigating launches for their areas.

David ClarkCentral government aside, Slivers-of-Time Working has been promoted by the TUC, National Audit Office, Local Government Association,  IDE&A, SOLACE , SIGOMA, Association for Public Sector Excellence, Social Care Institute for Excellence, New Economics Foundation and the Conservative Party.

 

What does a Council need to do to launch Slivers-of-Time Working?

1) Assign work.

At least £100,000 of your contingent work requirement needs to go through the new marketplace in its first year. This gets everything off the ground. It allows a first pool of Slivers-of-Time Workers to prove themselves and creates a genuinely useful facility for other local employers.

Much of the work that’s best done through the market may fall outside your temping budget. For example: do you distribute newspapers/leaflets to residents? If so you probably have a publicity budget paid to ad hoc contractors who will bring in their own people. It could well be cheaper for that work to be done by your residents who need to work very flexibly for multiple employers.

Read more about Council Tasks that need Slivers-of-Time Workers.

 2) Put an agency in place.

A local agency needs to be in place to vet participants before they enter the market. There are four ways of doing this:

  • Leeds logoPut out a tender for an agency to offer Slivers-of-Time to your departments, and other employers if they wish. Leeds City Council did this.
  • City of LondonInvite your current agency or Managed Service Provider to offer Slivers-of-Time Workers alongside the regular temping bookings. City of London did this.
  • Kent logoUse the Council’s internal agency to offer the new service. (Kent County Council have done this with their Kent Top Temps operation.)
  • Cambs councils logosWork in partnership with an external public sector Employment Business. (The 5 Cambridge Councils launching Slivers-of-Time Working opted for this with Anglia Ruskin Employment Services..)

3) Assign a Project Manager.

This person will need to be assigned for the first 12 months of the project for a minimum of two days a week. Their tasks are:

  • setting up the agency relationship and invoicing routines
  • identifying internal managers who need an ultra-flexible pool of staff
  • helping those managers to start buying
  • continuing detection work about areas of the council that could operate more effectively using Slivers-of-Time Workers
  • For an enthused officer, this can be a career-making assignment.
Kirklees leaflet
MB Kirklees: leaflet for local employers

4) Publicise the new facility

Slivers-of-Time launches are newsworthy. Local TV, radio and newspapers have highlighted the problems of people who need very fluid working because of their (often harrowing) life circumstances. The Council can then show how it is starting to solve the problem by more intelligent use of its own spend. You can see some of this reporting in our media coverage section.

Councils can also harness their networks of local employers and employment projects to get the word out.

Support for your launch

Starting a market