22 Jun 2015

Worcestershire CC appoints Babcock as education services provider

Babcock International Group (Babcock) has been appointed preferred provider on a five-year contract by Worcestershire County Council (WCC) to deliver the county’s education services from 1 October 2015. 

This education services contract will see Babcock work in partnership with WCC to deliver a wide range of education support services to the schools in the region. Babcock has won the contract to improve performance, rationalise costs and improve the overall standard of education services in the region against competitive bids from other education services suppliers.

The appointment was approved by the council on 18th June 2015 with delivery commencing from October 2015. The contract is valued at £38 million over a five- year period, with the potential for a further two-year extension. Over this time Babcock is committed to improving the standard of education attainment and services in all Worcestershire’s schools – and to helping improve the life chances of the 46,000 pupils in its care.

JJ Bowley, Education Services Director at Babcock said, “This is a forward looking approach to the delivery of core education services in the Worcestershire region. Babcock is committed to fulfilling the contract’s aims of raising education standards and investing resources to improve opportunities for young people and children in their care. Babcock and Worcestershire County Council will work in partnership to derive significant savings whilst simultaneously improving services and facilities for local people. This is critical at a time of austerity when reduced funding and the drive for improved outcomes have placed unprecedented pressure on local government.”

Cllr John Campion, Worcestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Families said: ‘We’re pleased that Babcock has been approved by Cabinet to deliver Learning and Achievement services to children and young people in Worcestershire.
We are committed to continuing to drive up our educational standards whilst delivering services at a competitive cost for the tax payer, and I believe that the commissioning of these services will allow us to achieve this.

We are confident that Babcock will be able to develop and improve our service to deliver the right support to enable the educational outcomes of our children and young people to strive.’