Decision details

Decision taken

Cabinet approved that the contract procedure rules be waived and delegate authority to the Executive Director (Finance and Transformation), in consultation with the Executive Member for Finance, to award extensions to the support arrangements with Marsh Ltd up to a total spend value of £125k. 

Reason for decision

The Council’s Insurance and Treasury Lead Officer left the Council in late 2023. It was known this would be a very challenging to recruit to due to the broad range of functions and technical aspects of the role, so the opportunity was taken to review how the role was delivered.

Functions were separated and the role was amended with focus on Insurance and Risk which is more consistent with the markets grouping of functions.  In January 2024, whilst the review was taking place, external support was explored with other councils and the Council’s insurance brokers. There was no capacity with other councils to provide any support and so support was commissioned from the Councils insurance brokers, Marsh Limited. 

This support is focussed on the claims handling aspects of the role, with other work being picked up by other members of the team in the short-term.

The role had been advertised twice, with no success. The role has now been reviewed further and we are working with a recruitment specialist to undertake a specialist recruitment campaign. It is unlikely that the role will be filled prior to the end of the current contract with March Limited.