Norwich City Council spending on agency staff triples

New figures show Norwich City Council has spent £5m on freelance or agency workers over the last year, an increase of around 240pc since 2020.

The authority is facing significant financial pressures and previously warned that it needs to make more than £9.5m in savings to plug a future gap in funds over the next five years.

Opposition politicians at the Labour-run council have criticised the "ballooning" spending.

But City Hall says the expenditure is necessary amid struggles to recruit permanent staff. 

WHAT IS THE MONEY BEING SPENT ON? 

Like many local authorities, Norwich City Council has contracts with temporary staffing agencies to provide workers for short-term and temporary vacancies.

Mike Stonard, leader of the council (Image: Newsquest)

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The authority spent around £5.1m on these workers in the 2023/24 financial year in departments such as IT services, development management, housing and environmental protection. 

However, the exact work carried out in each department has not been specified. 

This is a stark increase from around £3.8m in 2022/23, £2.6m in 2021/22 and £1.5m in 2020/21. 

BUDGETING CONCERNS

Members of the council have highlighted the increased spend on temporary staff at recent meetings of the authority. 

Lucy Galvin, leader of the Green group at Norwich City Council, said: "Spending on interim staff has ballooned over the last four years.

"The Labour cabinet has to get this under control as matter of urgency and ensure that the council does not have to pay over the odds for temporary staff.

"Some interim staff are needed at times, but the unchecked growth is costing a fortune, lowering morale among staff, and is not transparent.

"Of all the councils in the country, Norwich's spending on interims is one of the highest. We need to get a grip on it in order to make sure money goes to things that make a difference for the people of the city such as cleaning up our streets or essential housing."

Lucy Galvin, leader of the Green group at Norwich City Council (Image: Submitted) Green councillor Liam Calvert added: "While temporary staff are sometimes necessary to fill a vacancy, some positions have had interim managers for well over a year.

"People will have serious questions about whether this represents value for money and whether they can trust the Labour administration with their council tax."

Norwich City Council said earlier this year that it was facing "huge financial pressures" amid an increased demand for services and a "sustained period of austerity".

CHAOS AT THE COUNCIL

The authority has brought in agency staff to assist in several large, and troublesome, projects, such as the East Norwich Masterplan, under which 3,000 homes and 4,000 jobs are planned to be created at Carrow and neighbouring sites in Trowse.

Former Colman's Mustard factory site Carrow Works (Image: Mike Page)

The future of the scheme remains uncertain after councillors rejected a planning application for the Carrow Works site in March, following a breakdown in communications with developers.

The council paid an agency staff member more than £16,000 for 'programme management' of East Norwich in the same month. 

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The Norwich City Council election count (Image: Denise Bradley) Temporary workers were also brought in ahead of the local council elections in July, which saw the authority end the day where it started - with Labour the largest party but having no overall control.

RECRUITMENT STRUGGLES

Mike Stonard, leader of the council, hit back at criticism during a recent cabinet meeting and said many local authorities were facing the same issues. 

He added: "I absolutely refute that the Labour administration doesn't have a grip on interim costs.

"This is an issue within the market for councils up and down the country. We are not alone in grappling with being able to appoint good quality, substantive staff.

"We are not an outlier and it is disingenuous and unfair to criticise the administration. There is a lot of work being done on this and and we have made significant improvements recently."

A council spokesman said: "Like many other councils across the country, we are struggling to recruit staff on a permanent basis. Some of our job vacancies are having to be advertised multiple times.

"We only use agency staff where we have been unable to recruit permanently, where we have short term projects, or where we need specific skills and expertise to deliver the right services for our residents."