Sheffield Council to save nearly £30 million on highways contract by reducing penalties for poor performance

It negotiated changes to the 25-year Streets Ahead contract with Amey that mean the contractors will not face as many deductions for failures.

Over the rest of the contract, this is expected to save the council a total £28.9 million which it said it will put into other services such as social care.

The decision was formally approved during a recent council cabinet meeting.

Councillor Mark Jones, cabinet member for transport, said: “I know this last year has been particularly challenging with the Covid backdrop.

“We have had lots of service changes to deal with and while dealing with that complex, ever changing backdrop you have also managed to unpick the contract and make it better for the city – making sure we don’t get any reduction in services while meaning we can direct money not towards our road maintenance but towards looking after the people of this city directly.”

Before, if Amey delivered a poor service it could face multiple deductions for failing to meet multiple performance requirements in one event.

Now, Amey will only face the highest deduction per event of poor performance.

A monthly cap to Amey’s liability for deductions for poor performance is also being introduced.

But as a safeguard the council negotiated an escalation process whereby if the cap is consistently exceeded deductions will increase.

Some of the timescales for completing work have also been extended, giving Amey longer to fix issues such as traffic management and provide records of performance.

Also data recorded by Amey now only needs to be 95 per cent accurate, rather than 99.9 percent accurate.

In a report on the changes, council officers said it will make the contract more sustainable.

They added: “Through reducing the cost to the council of providing highway maintenance, without compromising the output specification the council is making the best use of public money to have the greatest impact for Sheffield.”

In the meeting, Gillian Charters, council officer, said: “There are no changes to the service standards that our customers will see on the ground in Sheffield.”

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