Case study

Sunderland City Council saves £200,000 on insurance services

CCS Insurance Services framework helps council make significant savings on the cost of their insurance premiums.

Business meeting

Sunderland City Council offers hundreds of services to approximately 280,000 local residents and 8 million visitors each year.

The challenge

In 2016, the council began a major procurement exercise for their insurance requirements. The new agreements had to be in place by 1 April 2017 and previously cost approximately £1 million per annum. This was a complex programme that had to cover not only the interests of the council, but other subsidiary companies and associated organisations.

The solution

Using the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Insurance Services II framework (RM3731), the council, with support from their contracted insurance broker, Marsh, reviewed its insurance portfolio and prepared for the upcoming procurement exercise.

An engagement event open to all suppliers on the framework was organised by the council, whereby a series of risk presentations with heads of service and key officers took place. The aim was to provide a thorough understanding of the council’s risk exposure, the controls currently in place and those planned for the immediate future.

The council, along with Marsh, also evaluated the council’s insurance programme to determine the cover and structure required. This included a review and validation of claims history, changes to service delivery (past, present and future), sums insured, limits of indemnity and levels of self-insurance.

Working closely with the council’s procurement function, the insurance team and Marsh carried out a comprehensive further competition with lot 1 suppliers to determine the best fit for the council.

The results

The council secured the same level of insurance with a saving of £200,000 per annum through a long-term agreement using the CCS framework, helping to protect essential citizen services.

Get involved

To find out more about buying insurance services:

Visit the insurance services framework web page

Complete this online form

Call us on 0345 410 2222

Published 11 August 2017