Agenda item

Roger Parkin, Director of Customer and Community Services, introduced a report on temporary Agency Staffing, requested by Members at the previous Employment & Appeals Committee meeting.

Members were informed that the overall spend on Agency workers was just over £10m for the year. This was below the predicted spend for the period, but was an increase of circa £2.5m versus the preceding year. However, this was somewhat misleading as the extra £2.5m reported was spend that was unaccounted for previously. By moving separate off contract workers to the central Matrix contract, this spend was transparent and reportable.

It was confirmed that this transparency allowed the spend to be more closely monitored, and that negotiations for better rates were being undertaken. As part of this renegotiation, Matrix had reduced their margins on each deal. This would not affect the employee’s wage, only the commission that Matrix received. It was agreed that the savings seen so far were small, but it was important to recognise that SBC was now moving in the right direction to reduce the overall spend on Agency staffing.

It was confirmed that Senior Management were working with those Agency worker who had been with Slough for over a year, in an effort to convert them to the Matrix contract and thereby achieving further savings. The Interim Director of Children’s Services was undertaking a campaign to promote the Matrix contract to Care Services, and that meetings with the relevant parties had been organised with a view to bringing them into the contract.

It was recognised that of those Agency workers whose tenure at Slough Borough Council was over one year, some were considered vital staff who covered essential roles, or generated revenue for the Council.

Members were pleased to see that previously raised concerns regarding the number of Agency staff employed by SBC, and the spend therein, were shared by senior management, and that steps were being taken to reduce this moving forward. Members asked a number of questions, including:

There were three agency staff workers contracted to SBC, who had been with the Council for over two years. One of the three had a start date of 2008. After seven years, why was this person not made permanent?

All three of these workers were in the Driving job category, and consisted of 2 x driver/Escort and 1 x Escort Coordinator. Attempts had been made to convert the staff to permanent SBC employees, but the staff considered flexibility to be too important to agree to a permanent contract. It was likely that these staff members would also work with other Local Authorities. Some may be self employed under their own companies.

All newly employed Agency workers would be required to comply with the Matrix contract, so all future spend is trackable and under Matrix rates. Senior mangers now received an alert from Procurement highlighting when a contract is due for renewal. The Manager would then review whether to extend the Agency worker’s contract in line with service and budget requirements. In all instances, the preferred option would be to promote from within existing staff.

Would Agency staff members with a long tenure be eligible for employment rights?

The contract of employment would be with their Agency, rather than SBC, and so SBC would not be required to provide them with employee rights.

Was SBC on track to achieve the target of having 80% of Social Care staff as SBC employees by March 2017?

Currently, 62% of Social Care staff are SBC employees. The target was set following an Ofsted recommendation to reduce the number of Agency staff. SBC is hopeful of achieving this target, and in order to do so have established an Academy in order to recruit graduates and develop talent. There are three planned recruitment campaigns in Children’s Social Care, with one having been completed. It is hoped that there will be six employed staff as a result of the campaigns, which would result in six Agency workers leaving. 

It was requested that further detail on those Agency workers with long tenure be included at the next report to the Employment & Appeals Committee, including detail on why these staff had not been made permanent.

It was confirmed that a copy of the audit of the Matrix Contract, due to start on 16^th June 2015, would be forwarded to all members of the Employment and Appeals Committee.