DCSF awards contract for the Schools Recruitment Service
May 2009

The Department is pleased to announce that the contract for delivering the Schools Recruitment Service has been awarded to Tribal. This decision follows a lengthy and rigorous European-wide competitive tendering exercise.

The evaluation of the tenders was undertaken by an independent group, made up of representatives from eight local authorities and a Headteacher, who unanimously agreed that the bid from Tribal was "outstanding" and held off some stiff competition from over 60 leading companies in applicant tracking and schools recruitment.

This innovative service has the backing of Schools Minister Jim Knight MP, who said: "We are delighted to be launching this important service to our schools and local authorities. Our contractor, Tribal, has significant experience in providing services to schools and we look forward to working in partnership with them to enable schools to recruit both teaching and support staff more effectively and efficiently; making savings on time, money and resources."

Tribal has extensive experience in the recruitment market, and believe they have a lot to offer the project.  Peter Martin, Chief Executive of Tribal said: "We are delighted to have been selected to deliver this innovative service to schools and local authorities. We look forward to working in partnership with the DCSF to deliver efficiencies and value for money across the education sector."

The Department and Tribal have already run one successful configuration session with those schools and local authorities that have signed up as early adopters. Two more sessions with early adopters are planned for the end of this month where participants from schools and local authorities will help us to shape the Schools Recruitment Service to meet the needs of the wider educational sector. The service will be launched this September with all those schools and local authorities that have already signed up. Read more about the progress of the service here.