DEMANDS have been made to cut the £5million bill for temporary staff at Dorset County Council.

Figures going to a council staffing committee showed that the cost of agency, consultancy and freelance workers in 2012-13 was £4.99m.

It comes as the council faces up to £19.5 million of savings over the 2013 to 2014 financial year.

Cllr Janet Dover, Lib Dem opposition leader on the council, said: “There is still a large amount of money being spent.

“It is important for everybody that it can be justified and for the shortest amount of time possible.”

She added: “Agency workers and consultants should only be taken on in exceptional circumstances and business cases put forward with specific grounds when full time staff are already employed by the county council.”

The Lib Dems called for an enquiry last year after the Echo revealed the cost of some temporary workers.

They included an IT worker who cost more than £167,000 to hire through an agency – £20,000 more than the then chief executive David Jenkins earned.

The majority of agency workers are in posts that require a generally low level of qualification, according to a report going to the council's staffing committee on Monday June 17.

Ninety per cent of agency workers are employed to meet short term needs – including cover for sickness, holidays and peak demands with cover for long term sickness or maternity leave very low. The report says that there are no major consultancy payments.

The cost of agency staff for 2012 to 2013 was £3.15m and the cost of consultancy and freelance staff was £1.84m.

The council insisted costs are dropping – agency workers cost £3.6million for 2011 to 2012 and consultancy and freelance staff cost £1.92 million – making a total of £5.52million.

Conservative council leader Cllr Spencer Flower said: “As part of our efforts to find massive savings across the entire organisation, we are always looking to reduce the amount we spend on agency and consultancy staff.

“We spent almost £500,000 less on agency staff in 2012/13 compared to 2011/12.

“Dorset County Council has a highly-skilled, dedicated workforce but there will always be times when agency staff are required to cover periods of sickness, vacancies or short-term absence to make sure that the most vulnerable people in our care are looked after.

“Likewise, we need to engage consultants when specialist skills are required only for a short time.”

Agency workers ‘plug gaps’

GMB union Gary Pattison said that agency staff costs were a big problem at County Hall.

He said that some agency staff were plugging gaps after the wave of redundancies over recent years.

Mr Pattison said: “An awful lot of money is going out of the organisation.

“This money could be used in other ways, including delivering hard reliable services.”

He said that long term staff provided stability, were able to grow into their roles and provide commitment rather than the short termism of inexperienced agency staff.

Mr Pattison said: “It is ludicrous when we are getting rid of good and committed staff.”

The council has seen a reduction in 522 full-time posts since June 2010 through a combination of freezing vacancies, voluntary redundancies and compulsory redundancies. A report to the staffing committee shows that this related to a headcount of 867 people.

Of the 522 FTE some 80 were compulsory redundancies, 165 were voluntary while the remainder was for such reasons as retirements, reduction of hours and leavers not being replaced.