Union’s anger at KCC’S spending on experts Council’s £8million bill for consultants ‘a shocking waste’

cwebb@thekmgroup.co.uk

A trade union has blasted Kent County Council for splashing out £8 million on consultants.

Unison says the authority hiring in external experts was a “shocking waste of taxpayers’ money”.

Chair of the Kent branch of the union, Shane Mochrie-cox, said: “While we note that this is a reduction in last year’s funding and this is welcomed, we still despair that in the last full financial year a total of £8m was spent on consultants.

“This is still near the equivalent total budget for a district council and is, we feel, in many cases a shocking waste of taxpayers’ money.

“If we have a service need for specialists for a short period of time on a one-off basis then I am sure a business case leading to a tendering exercise would be appropriate for a fee that is reasonable for the time spent.”

Mr Mochrie-cox and his team have also raised concerns about money being spent on the highest pay grade while benefits for lower paid staff are being cut.

Unison has calculated that 335 posts cost the council £26.58m last year.

This is the equivalent of about 550 social workers, 1,500 cooks, 1,100 early help unit workers, 1,600 business support staff, 1,300 community wardens or 900 highways engineers.

He added: “A rough estimate of costs states that this is about £450,000 worth of management again before you get to the frontline and engagement with the public.

“Therefore we argue for a rationalisation of the senior management structure before any more frontline job cuts or restructures are made.

“You cannot have staff on the frontline achieving while managers get more; again this is surely a case of managers ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’.”

It came ahead of the county council finalising its budget for the next financial year last Thursday.

At the meeting, councillors decided to raise council tax by almost 5%.

This will mean average bills for homes in Band D rise from £1,237.68 to £1,299.42 from April.

The 5% increase is made up of just under 3% for all services - the maximum allowed without the need to hold a referendum - and a 2% rise specifically to support spending on social care.

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