Crown Commercial Service
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The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) is an executive agency and trading fund of the Cabinet Office of the UK Government. CCS plays an important role helping the UK public sector save money when buying common goods and services. We are the largest public procurement organisation in the UK. We use our commercial expertise to help buyers in central government and across the public and third sectors to purchase everything from locum doctors and laptops to police cars and electricity.
The collective purchasing power of our customers, plus our procurement knowledge, means we can get the best commercial deals in the interests of taxpayers.
INCLUSION STATEMENT
At CCS, we are committed to being an inclusive workplace, where all colleagues feel they can ‘bring their whole selves to work’, is a key ingredient for a positive, supportive culture, and a happy, engaged and productive workforce. It is about creating and expecting a respectful, accepting, kind and open workplace, where everyone is valued for being themselves and what they bring to the organisation; their life experience, their perspective, their insights and their individual skills. It enables colleagues to reach as far as their talents will take them, and ensures that no-one is left behind or left out.
Simon TSE
CEO STATEMENT
I, along with my Executive Team, are committed to ensuring that CCS is a truly inclusive employer, and we will be brave in our ambitions. Our values – to listen, to respect, to collaborate and to trust – continue to underpin everything that we do. We have taken some excellent steps over the last few years towards becoming a more inclusive organisation, but the more we put inclusivity at the heart of what we do every day, the more we realise we can be doing. Being an inclusive employer requires leadership in setting out the expectations for the culture that we live by, and it is for me and my Executive Team to lead the way – but leadership is not just reserved for the people at the top levels of the organisation. Everyone is a leader, especially in regard to inclusivity, and this is demonstrated by our Staff Networks who are committed to improving CCS and making it a great place to work for everyone.
EMPLOYEE PERSPECTIVE
Dr Philip Orumwense CBE
Commercial Director for Technology
Joining the Civil Service in 2005 was a career-defining moment for me as it gave me the opportunity to make my very own contributions to public service delivery. The work we do here at Crown Commercial Service in creating aggregated buying solutions for central government and the wider public sector means that we can support our customers in achieving commercial benefits and delivering the best possible public services. This really excites me as it does many of my colleagues who work right across the public sector.
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In keeping with the values espoused in our Civil Service Leadership Statement and our CCS family values, as leaders, we take responsibility for the effective delivery of the Government’s programme and Ministers’ priorities, living the Civil Service’s values and serving the public. We do this by being inspiring about our work and its future, by being confident in our engagement and by empowering our teams to deliver.
We create opportunities for all to engage with us through an emerging talent pipeline including a blend of apprentices, interns and graduates – with a clear pathway to what a career in technology commercial looks like. Our people are provided with ample learning and development opportunities to enable us all to acquire not only the required technical, professional and leadership skills but also those soft skills that are necessary to make us effective leaders and collaborators. We offer opportunities for our people to get promoted within the Crown Commercial Services and the broader Government Commercial Function and right across the entire Civil Service.
Crown Commercial Service, the Government Commercial Function and indeed the Civil Service is a great place to work. It’s a place that allows “me to be me” and “us to be us”, this means that I can be me and because of this we actively promote diversity, the benefits it brings to the way we work and support we give to our customers. I am from an ethnic minority group; I occupy a very senior role and sit on the Executive Board and there are many others like me across the protected characteristics group spectrum who occupy similar roles right across our organisation. This is a truly exciting place to work and I highly recommend it, especially the opportunity it offers to make a contribution to public service delivery”.
Chris Amos
Senior Product Manager
I joined Crown Commercial Service (CCS) in mid-February 2021 when the Covid-19 lockdown was still in place. As such, I was unable to get to the Norwich office location and had to rely on meeting all new team members and wider CCS stakeholders remotely. This can present its own challenge as I left the military in 2022 following a 24-year career, which included operational tours in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan (4 times).
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The impact of my military career is that I suffer from 40% hearing loss in each ear that requires me to wear hearing aids. Although these are digital technology and help with hearing on virtual meetings, I failed to realise how often I read people’s lips during conversations and if people keep their camera off it can make it harder for me to understand what people are saying, particularly if there is any background noise or a difficult internet connection.
As part of the induction process, CCS makes you aware of all the differing supporting networks that are available in the workplace to offer you support with any day to day issues and a great way to have your voice heard.
I joined the Able Network, which focuses on disability within the workplace and offers frequent meetings and get-togethers where we can swap ideas on how to best approach any issues we might encounter from either a technology or other perspective.
CCS really makes people feel part of the wider team regardless of what team they work in or whatever walk of life they come from. It is great to feel part of an organisation that puts its people first.
