AGENCY staff and consultants account for seven per cent of Dorset County Council’s wages bill in the year to June 2018.

The figures represent a significant reduction on the previous year when £10million was spent on agency workers and £2.7 million on consultants – down year on year by 37 per cent, to £6.3million for agency staff and 23 per cent to £2.09 million for consultants.

But a report which went before the county council’s staffing committee last month (Sept) warns that the numbers may rise again as Dorset councils move towards local government reorganisation in April 2019.

Service Director for Organisational Development, Jonathan Mair, says in his report that using temporary staff is sometimes necessary to maintain critical services such as children’s services or adult care.

The highest use of agency workers is in Children’s’ Services, where the council has faced a long-standing recruitment problem. reflecting a national shortage and a reluctance for some workers to come to Dorset because of the relatively high cost of housing.

The highest area of consultant use is within the Adult and Community Services Directorate, however, in terms of headcount, Adult and Community Services has seen a fall of 37 full time equivalent posts in directly employed staff – primarily due to a transfer of functions into central teams.

In the first three months of the financial year the department employed two Heads of Service and one Strategic Commissioning role on an agency basis and 27 Social and Health-care qualified workers in the Locality and Hospital teams as well as 23 Social Workers, 3 Occupational Therapists and one Team Manager to support capacity gaps or project work in Dorchester, Bridport, Purbeck, Wimborne, Weymouth, North Dorset and Hospitals East.

The total spend for consultancy and specialist services for Adult and Community Services has reduced from £296,000 in Quarter 4 to £196,000 in Quarter 1.