The Law Centres Network (LCN) is taking the government to court for awarding the national discrimination helpline contract to global security company G4S.
LCN’s judicial review application asks the high court to quash the G4S contract and order the government to run a new, revised tender.
G4S is due to take over the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS), which runs the free helpline, on 30 September when the current contract expires. The EASS is currently run by a company called Sitel in partnership with Disability Rights UK and several smaller organisations.
LCN argues that the government did not properly assess the shortcomings of the helpline with stakeholders, and failed to consider how to reform it with the independent equalities watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission. It argues the government failed to properly consider G4S’s equality and human rights record in the many other public services it has delivered. It claims G4S also faces a conflict of interest in providing a service that its own employees might want to consult.
A recent report by the Equality Act and Disability Select Committee recommended that the Equality and Human Rights Commission manage the helpline service.
Daniel Carey, solicitor with Deighton Pierce Glynn, acting for LCN, said: “This case concerns the legal duty on the government to assess the equalities impact of procurement decisions.
“One would expect a high degree of compliance where the Government Equalities Office was the decision maker and the service being procured was an equalities advice line. We have written to the government and G4S on LCN’s behalf and a response is anxiously awaited.”
More than 55,000 people have signed an online petition, initiated by consumer watchdog SomeOfUs.org, against awarding the contract to G4S.
Sondhya Gupta, senior campaigner with SomeOfUs.org, said: “Its staff were found to have unlawfully killed Jimmy Mubenga who was being deported to Angola. The government has recently had to step in and take control of a young offenders’ unit [Medway Secure Training Centre in Kent], after G4S staff were accused of assaulting children there. And the company has been caught overcharging taxpayers by millions [for electronic tagging]. This decision is a kick in the teeth to everyone who faces disability, race or sex discrimination.”
A Government spokesperson said: “The Equality Advisory and Support Service is an important source of free advice and support for people facing discrimination or human rights issues.
“To ensure the service can continue and is run as effectively and efficiently as possible, we ran an open and competitive tender process to identify who is best to take it forward. Following this, G4S has been successful and it will be running the service for three years from October 2016.”
A G4S spokesperson said six other companies completed the framework process to be able to tender, including Capita, Serco, Sitel and Agilisys.
Neil Malpas, the G4S Managing Director responsible for the service, said: “We would welcome and support any review of the tendering process for the EASS helpline, which in our view was conducted very openly, professionally and competitively.
"We were awarded the contract on the strength of our work handling other complex call centres including the Department of Work and Pensions' (DWP) child maintenance options service. We have supported that helpline for separating parents over the past three years and feedback from callers and the DWP has been positive.”
