Agency staff overspend more than £15m

Dudley Council’s latest financial report says the authority is forecast to overspend by £16.8m on agency staff this year.

The report, which was presented to the council’s Cabinet at a meeting on November 5, also says there will be a £15.3m underspend in the general budget due to staff vacancies.

The overall budget is predicted to balance but spending so much on temporary staff while the Conservative-run council has vacancies for permanent employees is a worry for Labour group leader, Cllr Shaukat Ali.

Cllr Ali said: “It is good to hear there is a balanced general fund position however the report does say there are substantial staffing pressures, from our perspective there is a lack of detail around interim and staffing costs.”

The report also says the council earmarked up to £9.5m to cover the costs of redundancies in the current year as the authority implements a new operating model.

Cllr Ali said: “Something just doesn’t sound right, we have a load of money set aside for redundancy and at the same time we are spending massive amounts on agency staff.

“All of this will be having an impact on frontline services.”

Simon Allsop, Dudley’s interim director of finance, told Cllr Ali there were ‘significant vacancies’ but some were part of the restructure and the council was working to move some agency staff into permanent jobs.

Mr Allsop added: “We are still delivering savings, those are mitigated through vacancies which isn’t ideal but the restructure that is taking place should go a long way towards addressing the use of agency staff and the vacancies you refer to.”

Reform UK’s Cllr Dr Rob Clinton was also concerned about vacancies and the £2.4m expected cost for redundancies in the Adult Social Care department.

Cllr Clinton said: “Are these jobs gone or are they just being farmed out to agency workers?

“If that is the case the council will be losing the skill base so – no local knowledge, no retained knowledge and experience.

“Agency staff come and go so what value is the council placing on experience?”

Dudley council chief executive, Balvinder Heran, said: “The redundancy package has been put aside as a contingency as needed.

“The redesign has identified a more professional workforce that looks around case management and focus-trained people so it is not about replacing them with lower skilled people, it is about a new operating model which is more collaborative.”

By Martyn Smith | Local Democracy Reporting Service