Agenda item

Kevin Gordon, Assistant Director (AD), Professional Services, outlined an update report, providing details of numbers, costs and length of tenure of temporary staff by Directorate.  The report summarised the rationale and decision making processes that underpinned the current use of temporary staff.

The Committee was advised that Cabinet had recently approved a further restriction on agency/temporary staff as part of the savings drive for the medium term financial strategy. The decision challenged the use of agency staff on a full time basis requiring a full business case to support any appointments over 30 hours per week.

It was highlighted that it was important to be able to deploy staff resources flexibly to meet service peaks and that in some areas of the Council, for example Children’s Social Care, national recruitment shortages required the use of temporary staff to manage risks in this area.

The AD advised that overall the number of temporary staff used in the Council had fallen significantly since central monitoring commenced in July 2011, from a total of 199 to 170, being a reduction of 15%.

The Committee noted average employment costs across Directorates and the length of staff tenure in these areas.  It was highlighted that in most cases temporary staff would be used for a limited period and members should expect to see an overall reduction in the length of time agency staff were in place in future.  Members noted the current position regarding the engagement of temporary staff within each Directorate.

In the ensuing debate Members raised a number of comments and questions around the use of temporary workers.  A Member asked how many temporary staff described themselves as self employed and it was agreed that this information would be provided in the next report.

A Member also commented that the temporary staff bill appeared to be £13m and was therefore not in control. The Director of Resources confirmed that it was nowhere near £13m and details would be provided in the next report.

A Member asked how many of the 170 temporary staff would fit into the category of ‘staff where it was difficult to recruit by any other means’. It was agreed that this information would be provided in the next report.  In response to a Member concern that some staff had been in post for 200 weeks, Jane Wood, Director of Community and Wellbeing advised that this did happen on occasion where it was impossible to directly recruit suitably qualified staff, for example in the area of mental health. It was also sometimes necessary to recruit in this way where the post was covered by time limited Government funding.

A Member requested that information on ‘Sessional Workers’ be included in the next report on Temporary Workers.

Resolved -  That the report be noted and that a further report be presented to the next meeting of the Committee.