Tuesday 3 April 2012

Home Office lines up A4e for major new contract

That's the headline of a story broken by the Exaro site.  They say: "Ministers have made the firm [A4e] ......... the preferred bidder to take over the sensitive Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) helpline to advise people of their rights in discrimination cases."  A4e is preferred over the CAB, Vertex and Sitel.  It's a government decision to privatise the helpline, because it was costing £2.1m a year.  There will inevitably be staff lay-offs.  A4e is saying simply that nothing has been concluded yet.
What made A4e's bid so attractive, one wonders.  Perhaps there was the fact that they already run the Money Advice helpline.  Perhaps they were the cheapest.  But it was always going to happen.  Despite the calls for suspension of contracts and the ongoing audit of contracts (Wales, by the way, has already completed an audit and found nothing wrong), there is no legal way at the moment to deny A4e contracts just because they are A4e. 

16 comments:

  1. Okay so a4e have still to be found guilty of fraud. However do they not have a duty of care to the taxpayer and could there not be a civil case of Negligence. Just a thought.

    As for the probable new contract, no surprise really. Plenty too no doubt to come for this, in my opinion, rubbish company. Sad.

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  2. I'm just wondering if The Taxpayers Alliance has been putting pressure on the government re a4e and others. If not, maybe they should.

    http://www.taxpayersalliance.com

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    1. Simone, the TPA is funded by wealthy Tories.

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  3. Intresting. Lets hope there is no client data loss on this contract.

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  4. They will get the contract for now. but wait and see the harder they come the harder they fall.

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  5. We see Greyling (spelling deliberate) justifying not suspending A4e's current crop of contracts by claiming they are innocent until proven guilty. He also justifies his position by saying the fraud allegations stem from previous New / Flex New Deal programs. Let's take a hard swallow and be generous for a minute or three and agree with this. Should A4e be found guilty of systemic fraud, ministers, albeit this time from the Home Office CANNOT claim ignorance! Allegations against A4e will have turned turn hard fact.

    People will be quite rightly asking why a company mired in fraud allegations STILL received lucrative contract after lucrative contract from various govt departments. People are asking this right now of course.

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  6. I know a lot of people are slating A4e but everyone forgets, there are good, bad and rubbish in any company and government, in any community. Look at the government now, paying to see a PM.

    Please remember there are people with families working at A4e and a lot of good people who work there who truly believe in improving peoples lives.

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    Replies
    1. The Teflon Don3 April 2012 at 13:41

      And they have been badly let down by their senior management.

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    2. To Anon Apr 3, 2012,

      Yep, you're quite right, there IS good and bad in every business. However, with A4e (and other similar providers) there is no choice. Clients have to sit and take what they're given.

      If I don't like Tesco for whatever, I can use Morrison's, Waitrose or my local Costcutters. If I don't like Microsoft, I can use a Linux distro. If I don't like Apple, I can use LG or Samsung. If I don't like Nissan, I can use Ford or Toyota. Similarly, If I don't wish to vote Tory, I can vote Labour, Green, Lib Dem or not vote at all! It's called choice, something that is sadly lacking in the WP and its predecessors.

      " Look at the government now, paying to see a PM." Yes. The very same PM who made your former chairwoman and still largest shareholder the govts troubled families champion.

      As Teflon Don says, you are looking in the wrong place if you wish to blame someone for A4e's current predicament. Perhaps you should try looking much, much closer to home!

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    3. Just one question, If these good staff know of bad practices isnt it their duty to let the management know and if nothing is done to go higher. As i have said is ok for hundreds of thousands of people and lots of companies to be treated badly, to have fraud committed in their name. A4e is not fit for purpose.

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    4. But it's the management that encourage bad practice. At the end of the day a4e is a business. And that's how it's run. They have to make a profit And hit unrealistic targets and they make sure they do it by hook or by crook.

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  7. The audit in Wales has been completed and no systematic fraud has been found it mentioned in the post - the rest will follow suit

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    1. So non-systemic fraud is fine then is it ? acceptable ?
      This is a sham, the fraud is systemic from the very top....audit included.

      How else are they able to continue to be given contracts? The outcome is already decided, just the fine print needs to be ironed out before the public see it.

      FRAUD is FRAUD.

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    2. Any proof of this Weslsh audit? Any link available?

      Besides, the recent arrests for fraud did not happen in Wales.

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    3. http://wales.gov.uk/about/cabinet/cabinetstatements/2012/a4e1/;jsessionid=j8rnP13KXQ0s6yrzwFGXyJTxHW5v2Jbvy2GMfQLhPvR7myyJM04T!-461118994?lang=en

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  8. I am at an absolute loss to understand how this company can even be considered for a new government contract.

    A4E is already failing to meet the objectives of the contracts it already has. It is now proposed to simply hand over yet more millions of taxpayers money to this same company, despite all evidence that it has little, if any, ability to execute the tasks required by the contracts it already has!

    As A4E continues to achieve less and less, the government has more and more faith that the company will preform a miracle and start meeting its targets.

    Faith, and miracles are the province of followers of new-age cults which are lead by sinister self-proclaimed prophets, and should not be the basis on which governments award public contracts worth millions of pounds to private companies.

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