Council services in the London borough of Hackney worth nearly £12m every year will be reclaimed from private companies as part of a new strategy to deliver public services in-house rather than outsourcing them.

A meeting of Hackney council’s cabinet on Monday approved the plan to transfer more than 360 cleaning, maintenance and parking enforcement staff to council employment by March next year.

The model agreed by the local authority sets out the process by which all outsourced contracts will be reviewed according to quality, performance, value for money, and staff terms and conditions to explore whether they can be insourced.

‘The whole country has seen over the last year what can happen when contracts are outsourced to the private sector by default – without the right checks and balances to ensure taxpayers are getting a high-quality and cost-effective service they can rely on,’ said deputy mayor Cllr Rebecca Rennison, cabinet member for finance, Housing Needs and Supply.

‘Residents want to see their council services run by local, committed public servants that understand their community and can respond quickly in a crisis – not unaccountable private companies.

‘That’s always been our policy, but, delivering on our 2018 manifesto commitment, we now want to turbocharge insourcing as we rebuild a fairer local economy and recover from coronavirus, spending our money in the borough wherever possible and employing more local people.’