Conrad Hall, Newham Council's Corporate Director of Resources, made a decision to procure a contract for Occupational Health and Employee Assistance Programmes for the council and its employees. The decision was made on 29 August 2024 and was published on 5 September 2024. The decision can be implemented from 13 September 2024.

Occupational Health & Employee Assistance Programme

The council considered procuring its Occupational Health and Employee Assistance programme through a framework from one of four providers: ESPO, CCS¹, YPO² and KCS³. Ultimately, the decision was made to proceed with ESPO. This is because:

...the ESPO framework had more suppliers available.

The current provider of the service is PAM Group, and the new contract will begin on 1 May 2025. Newham Council considered not renewing the service at all, but ultimately rejected this because:

...having an Occupational Health & Employee Assistance provider, aids LBN compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and Health and Safety Act 1974.

The new contract will cover Newham Council employees, Newham Schools, and Newvic sixth form college. The council’s published Decisions document notes that the contract is worth £740,249.