A staffing agency is suing the NHS after it was denied a place on a major procurement framework.
Hull-based recruitment firm NL Group has claimed at the High Court that it was unlawfully denied a place on the updated “national framework for the provision of clinical and healthcare staffing”.
This is the successor to one of five approved framework agreements for recruiting clinical staff that NHS England has said trusts are required to procure agency staff through.
NL Group is listed on the current version, which expires in April.
The tendering process to gain a place on the new version was run through 2023 by the London Procurement Partnership, one of four NHS procurement hubs.
LPP ran the procurement on behalf of the NHS Workforce Alliance, a collaboration of the procurement hubs and Cabinet Office agency the Crown Commercial Service.
The company was told in December that its score was too low to be awarded a place on the framework. It began legal proceedings in January 2024 against Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust, which hosts LPP and is therefore the “awarding authority” for the framework.
Source: HSJ
Date: 28 February