The Challenge
Support the development, build and fulfilment of a tri council IT support shared services, with the goal of successfully delivering a considerable Digital Transformation and Automation/Robotics portfolio.

With multiple complex projects and over 2,500 users across numerous offices, this was a considerable undertaking.

Consultancy Option
Capita provide an IT support team with an overarching project management team off site. Weekly site visits, monthly deliverables and complete ownership of the programme would complete the work over 24 months, although going on to host the shared services platform thereafter.

Recruitment Option
Using the existing IT leadership team, build out and directly manage a shared services department with 35 50 contractors onsite to deliver round the clock, hands on support services for the 24 month programme . This team would then slim down to create BAU IT shared services department, with many of the contractors becoming permanent employees.

Recruitment or Consultancy?
As the host of the Shared Service, Brent Borough Council decided to go for the recruitment option through g2. Due to the considerable difference in cost, they could not see enough extra value in the Capita proposal. The ability to directly manage the contractors throughout, and the added benefit to the users of
having an onsite team made the difference.

By pooling the budget from Lewisham and Southwark Borough Councils, the LGA funding was made to go further and used with
greater control. The existing leadership team also benefited from the experience that they gained from running a programme of
this scale.

The end result saw the successful delivery of the Payroll and IT Support Service Automation programme , but also allowed them to take on further projects, such as a 2,500 user laptop rollout, with a well drilled, slimmed down and familiar team that continued to add value beyond the initial project completion. The vast majority of the existing support team are contractors turned employees, meaning all the knowledge gained from completing the project stayed in house, rather than as a case study for a consultancy.

The Recruitment Challenge
Canterbury City Council (CCC) Housing Services team had just lost several experienced and skilled staff due to a reshuffle, so when the g2 Government Recruitment team picked up the vacancies, it was clear the solution needed to focus on these key issues:

• Experience with a specific IT system (Locata) essential
• Huge backlog of cases causing limited interview slots
•  Increased competition for candidates due to proximity

With other agencies providing inadequate Housing Options Officers (HOO’s) and having candidates drop out at the last minute, it was critical that g2 managed the process meticulously.

The Solution:
After a detailed job specification on the phone, our consultant got to work by:

• Reaching out to it’s personal network, built up over 18 years to get a shortlist of expert Locata HOO’s
• Advertising the role on g2’s huge database and multiple job boards
• Spending the weekend calling candidates to get a short list of 25, expert Locata HOO’s

With such an in-depth search, g2 Recruitment provided 3 candidates that were experts with Locata, fully remote workers and offered the ideal solution.

As experts in the sector, we were able to conduct first stage interviews, presented DBS checked candidates and only proposed people that could start immediately.

The Result
g2 quickly placed 1 HOO based in Scotland, the first remote worker in the Housing Team for CCC. Thanks to our sector knowledge, exhaustive approach and good quality candidate relationships, we were able to gain the commitment of candidates that had previously been approached for the role but had turned it down.

g2 then provided three more HOO’s in the following week which allowed CCC to assess 20 more cases a day and get on top of their backlog. This was achieved through exclusive referrals, further expanding their network and finding previously unknown contractors from all over the country.

The Scotland based HOO had an immediate impact and is still deployed to this day with two others from the initial recruitment drive.

The Recruitment Challenge

Hounslow Council had historically faced persistent challenges in attracting and securing high-quality talent, both for temporary and permanent positions. Their difficulties ranged from limited candidate engagement to long time-to-hire cycles, which ultimately placed pressure on internal teams and slowed project delivery.

The Solution

As a specialist recruitment firm, g2 Recruitment partnered closely with Hounslow Council to understand the root causes of their recruitment frustrations and implement a tailored, proactive strategy to improve results.

Understanding Their Needs and Pain Points

• g2 engaged with key stakeholders to understand which roles were hardest to fill, where skill gaps existed in the market, and how their internal hiring processes operated. This helped clarify the urgency and impact of each vacancy.

Building a Targeted Talent Pipeline

• To address the shortage of suitable applicants, g2 developed a bespoke talent-sourcing strategy that leveraged its network of public-sector professionals, proactively headhunted passive candidates with niche skills, and engaged them through personalised outreach that highlighted the benefits of working with Hounslow.

Streamlining the Hiring Process

• g2 simplified and sped up the hiring process by thoroughly pre-screening candidates to ensure both technical and cultural fit, coordinating interviews efficiently, and managing feedback and expectations on both sides. This reduced time-to-hire and improved the experience for both the council and the applicants.

Enhancing the Employer Brand

The Result

Hounslow Council experienced improved staffing stability and reduced reliance on long-term vacancies.