The Met is facing a multi-million pound hit to its finances after the failure of a company it hired only months ago to keep its fleet of police vehicles on the road.
Scotland Yard gave the company, called Rivus, six contracts in November to maintain and repair the force’s 5,200 vehicles for a period of up to ten years.
But only months later it has been forced to take over the job itself after the company collapsed into administration.
The turmoil is expected to cost the force many millions of pounds in additional costs and will raise questions about Scotland Yard’s initial decision to hire Rivus, which came only shortly after the company had lost a previous major customer.
The financial blow will also deepen the Met‘s financial woes following a recent warning by Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley that the force needs to make savings of around £400 million by 2026 because of a huge budget shortfall.
One source told the Evening Standard that the failed contract with Rivus illustrated the perils of outsourcing and that the company had been heading for failure for months before it was finally put into administration.
That left the Met at risk of being unable to keep its vehicles on the road, forcing Scotland Yard to take the repair and maintenance tasks inhouse by buying Rivus from the administrators PwC so that it could use the company’s staff to perform the duties.
The force refused to say how much money it would lose as a result of the collapse of Rivus but confirmed that it would be taking over the repair and maintenance of its fleet.
“In the best interest of continuing to deliver a service to Londoners and ensuring frontline officers can access vehicles, the Met have decided to in-source elements of the delivery of the maintenance and repair of our fleet that Rivus were contracted to deliver,” the force said in a statement
“We are working with the administrators of Rivus to ensure a smooth transition.
“This decision will ensure continuity of service, protect staff roles, and keep our fleet on the road.”
When it won the Met contracts last year, Rivus described it as “hugely significant new business” and said that the force’s vehicles were placed “under significantly more stress and strain than the average vehicle on the roads of London and require specialist fleet expertise” to keep them “capable, responsive, and safe”
The new financial blow follows a warning last month by Sir Mark Rowley to the London Policing Board that the need to make hundreds of millions of pounds of savings and an accompanying plunge in officer numbersmeant that his plans to reform the Met in response to a series of scandals and mismanagement would have to be more limited and proceed more slowly.
He added that there would also have to be “significant operational service cuts” unless additional investment was provided.
