How Westminster City Council saved over £4m in recruitment costs with Matrix

When Corporate Contracts Manager Harbinder Manku joined Westminster City Council, it quickly became clear that the council was not being served well by its incumbent recruitment partner. Off contract spend was high and the recruitment process inefficient as managers had to spend countless hours sifting through a high volume of irrelevant CVs from agencies.

Determined to make a change and following a regulated, intense tender process, Westminster City Council engaged with Matrix, a recruitment technology business that specialises in the procurement of temporary, interim and permanent staffing solutions. Matrix provides a neutral vendor managed service and end-to-end process in one complete platform, allowing clients to take control of their recruitment with full visibility.

Upon assessing the issues encountered by Westminster City Council, Matrix responded with an approach that focused on a tailored managed service model to increase fulfilment, improve orders and placements. In addition, benchmarking exercises allow access to workers at a competitive rate without compromising the high standard of workers that Westminster engage with, which ultimately provides a significant saving on costs.

To do this, Matrix set up Westminster City Council on its end-to-end procurement software cr.net (including its business intelligence tool that gives visual dashboards and the ability to dive into data), which gave them access to its expert supply chain management service and provided a dedicated on-site Account Manager to handle any queries from suppliers and hiring teams. In addition, The Matrix Social Value Team worked with Westminster Adult Education Service and local charities to help give back to the local communities.

“Westminster City Council approached Matrix because they provide the best of both worlds – a systems-driven approach that can drive efficiency, supported by a senior account manager and an onsite support manager who brings a deep understanding of the market to help hiring managers full hard-to-fill roles,” explained Harbinder.

By streamlining the recruitment process through its software and hiring managers, Matrix is able to release roles within Westminster City Council to the pre-approved supply chain within two minutes and limit the amount of CVs agencies can put forward.

“Working together since 2017 we have, through a great supply chain, provided continuity, great workers and social value to Westminster’s community,” said Julian Panter, Business Director, Matrix SCM. “We ensure that only the best candidates are put forward resolving the issue of high volume and irrelevant candidates. The combination of our people, processes and technology means that we are able to help streamline the way organisations like Westminster City Council recruit agency staff and help them reduce spend.”

Since 2017, by partnering with Matrix, Westminster City Council has been able to achieve a 100% fulfilment rate with over £4m (4.6%) total savings. The number of placements created have consistently outperformed the number of orders raised over the past four years.

“Matrix is proactive at supporting Westminster City Council and delivering their requirements throughout the contract in particular; our senior on-site account managers, head of on-site delivery, to the regeneration manager and business director, KPIs and SLAs are being achieved as set out as part of the awarded contract,” added Harbinder. “Matrix has supported Westminster by making sure we have access to good quality interims, leading suppliers in the marketplace and driving social value in our community.”