All 380 Aragon staff to be transferred to Peterborough City Council by April 2026
Hundreds of bin men and other workers are in the process of being transferred to Peterborough City Council after the authority decided to in-source various services.
A total of 380 employees at Aragon Direct Services, a trading name of Peterborough Limited which is a private limited company wholly owned by Peterborough City Council, will be transferred as part of the move.
Aragon staff work across the city to manage residential waste collections and the maintenance of parks and public spaces, as well as operating a fleet of vehicles offering transport services to schools.
According to a report written by Charlotte Palmer, service director for environment and climate change at the council, a ‘go live’ date of April 1, 2026 has been communicated with the staff.
Speaking at a council scrutiny committee meeting on November 13, Ms Palmer said: “It’s really critical for that day one implementation going forward to make sure the public don’t feel a difference from this change.
“In all honestly, we don’t want the public to notice anything is different. They should receive the services the same on March 31 as they do on April 1.”
Ms Palmer confirmed that no jobs would be lost as a result of the move and assured that staff were being met with once a month to make sure they understood the change and had no concerns.
Several senior post holders left Peterborough Limited after the council’s decision in March to bring Aragon services in-house, including the director of operations, the managing director, and the director of business and strategy.
As a result, the company appointed an interim chief operating officer to guide Peterborough Limited through the transition and support the ongoing delivery of culture and leisure services.
The company also recently appointed two new board members. This included Mark Sandhu, the council’s current service director for operations, and John Birkenhead, business director at M Group which is the council’s highways partner.
Revised estimates of the overall cost pressures associated with in-sourcing of £1.9 million have been provisionally included in the working drafts of the council’s 2026/27 budget.
The decision to in-source the Aragon services was made by the previous Labour administration under the leadership of Cllr Dennis Jones because they wanted the council to have more say in how the services were provided going forward, and in the management of the staff members delivering the services.
It was also felt that the duplication of company overheads was adding unnecessary additional cost.