Workforce Alliance

Crown Commercial Service and NHS Procurement in Partnership are working together to deliver health workforce services under the banner of the Workforce Alliance.

The collaboration is to ensure our customers have easy and quick access to a sustainable workforce and is part of a long-term plan to deliver a whole portfolio of health workforce services.

Among the commercial agreements already jointly launched are the International Recruitment framework which supports not just the NHS, but the wider public sector. It addresses the NHS need to increase international recruitment to fill existing permanent vacancies with dedicated staff and aligns with recommendations set out in the NHS Long Term Plan and the NHS People Plan.

Another agreement, the Flexible Resource Pool – Staff Bank, is also live and provides the ability to build a flexible staff bank for both clinical and non-clinical temporary staff. This framework is the first of its kind to ensure pre-employment assurance is undertaken against NHS Employers Check Standards for all workers employed by an outsourced bank.

More recently, the Non-Clinical Temporary and Fixed Term Staff framework agreement was launched. This replaces the previous Non-Medical Non-Clinical framework and provides access to competitive pricing, with the ability to better use fixed term appointments and statement of work.

The Workforce Alliance board said: “We are delighted to be working together in support of our joint ambition for a sustainable NHS workforce model. The collection of expertise, resources and geographical reach across the Alliance brings a willingness to listen and to work in partnership to benefit our customers across the NHS and public sector.”