Haringey Council has announced that the direct delivery of council services by council staff will be the ‘official default choice’ under a new policy agreed last night.

The policy commits the council to a strategic insourcing review of all commissioned services when contracts come up for renewal and the development of a framework and implementation plan for in-house delivery of services over the longer term.

The council argues it will create more jobs within the local authority for local people, broaden the range of skills held by the council workforce, and ensure the council gets the maximum value for taxpayers’ money.

‘My administration has been clear that we want to be delivering the services that our residents need, directly to them, and we want them to be even better than they are now,’ said the council leader Joseph Ejiofor.

‘We are moving to reverse at a local level the almost 40-year national drive towards outsourcing – it won’t be easy. But it is vital that we offer local services for local people, make sure every penny that we spend achieves maximum benefit for the community, and increase quality job opportunities and conditions for residents.

‘In Haringey we have a strong starting point: we have retained in-house many services which have been outsourced elsewhere and have made good progress in bringing more services in-house.

‘Where we do procure, 25% of our contract expenditure already goes to local businesses. The introduction of this policy signals our commitment to build on this work.’