A task force has been set up to monitor the council’s spending on temporary staff, despite being on course to spend less on non-permanent staff.

Surrey County Council is set to reduce its spending on temporary staff just months after a damning report highlighted an agency staff bill that soared by £2.5million last year, officers reported.

Surrey Comet:

The council has also taken steps to decide on a definitive approach to handling temporary staff and managing their usage and cost, after an “appalling” failure to do so was highlighted in July.

But Eber Kington, the councillor chairing a task force created to monitor the issue, believes the update reflects “two steps forward, one step back”.

Cllr Kington (pictured below) had described Surrey County Council's failure to create a guidance policy as an "appalling" failure.

Surrey Comet:

He highlighted the fact that the proportion of temporary staff (5 per cent) employed by the council is now higher than it was since an internal audit in September 2014 (4.4 per cent) highlighted the need to cut the council’s agency bill.

Surrey Comet:

He also pointed out that temporary staff iaccounted for 33.9 per cent of the council's budget for its business services department.

Surrey Comet:

A county council spokesman said the reduction in the amount spent on temporary workers was part of attempts to “drive down costs”.

A document presented at a meeting of the Council Overview Board on Wednesday, December 14 showed the council was on course to reduce its spending on temporary staff by more than £1million in the next financial year.

The council spent £6,627,658 on temporary staff in the first two quarters of 2016/17 – about £686,728 less than it spent over the same period a year earlier.

A draft policy and guidance document for using agency staff from contracted recruiters Adecco was also presented at Wednesday’s meeting. It would need to be approved by representatives of agencies before it is formally agreed.

The draft policy read: “Managers are responsible for ensuring that temporary or short term resourcing needs are met in a cost effective and efficient manner.

“Managers must be mindful of all cost implications, in particular, when using agency workers or consultants.

“There must be a clear business case based on the urgency of service needs, potential scarcity of skills and the impact insufficient staffing would place on the service prior to engaging a temporary worker.”

It continued: “Agency workers should mainly be used as a short term solution to provide cover for unplanned or emergency staffing shortages.

“Such shortages may include sickness absences, unexpected increases in workload, or covering a vacancy while you go through a formal recruitment process.”

Councillor Eber Kington, who will be chairing the task force to monitor the council’s spending on temporary and agency staff, said: “It’s two steps forward, and one step back.

“They may have got the finances to go down, in terms of cost, but the actual percentage has gone up.

“That is why we are looking into this.”

Surrey Comet:
Surrey County Hall. Pic credit: Jon Sharman

A county council spokesman said: "Although temporary workers are important for any organisation and a valued part of our workforce, we are aiming to recruit and retain more permanent staff to reduce our reliance on agency workers while maintaining our core services.

“This helps drive down costs at a time when we are facing huge financial pressures.

“We have already managed to save more than £3 million by bringing all agency arrangements into a single contract while our spending on temporary workers is set to drop by almost 10 per cent since last year."

From July: Councillor criticises Surrey County Council's £13 million agency staff bill and lack of guiding policy

The council’s spending on agency staff soared from £11,236,472 to £13,717,838 between 2014/15 and 2015/16, despite an internal audit in September 2014 highlighting the need to cut its agency bill.

In July, a county council spokesman said the rise in agency spending was largely due to £2million of funding set aside to recruit more permanent social workers.

Got a story? Get in touch at craig.richard@london.newsquest.co.uk