Agency staff bill tops £2 million
MERTHYR Tydfil council currently spends more than £2m on agency staff.
This was revealed at the latest full council meeting on Wednesday, June 27, as chief executive Gareth Chapman said the council currently “could not survive” without using agency staff.
The £2.3m was mentioned during a debate on the council’s organisational development and workforce planning.
Councillor David Jones, Labour, asked how many agency staff are employed by the council with a focus on the refuse, recycling, grounds and highway maintenance departments.
Chief executive Gareth Chapman said: “We use agency workers as and when appropriate.
“The aim is to reduce the cost but this is not always possible. What we can’t keep doing is asking people to do two or three people’s jobs.”
Councillor Tony Rogers, Independent, asked what is going to happen with agency workers in the future and if the council would ever be at a point when there won’t be any.
Cllr Andrew Barry said they use agency workers by necessity but they are looking to mitigate it.
He said the cost is “huge” for the council but could not see a point where they would not be using any agency staff.
But Cllr Rogers came back and said there is such a thing as multi-tasking and that it must be a part of the authority and if not then they have failed.
Mr Chapman said that where the council can reduce the use of agency workers it will but that on ocassions they can’t and gave examples of someone being sick or not turning up for work adding that the issue isn’t a new one for the authority.
He said: “We have to do the very best we can with what we’ve got. We can’t survive without agency workers.”
Referring to the organisational development and workforce planning, Cllr Andrew Barry highlighted the 10 years of austerity, the need to find £6.6m of savings this year and the fact that they predict 50% of staff will leave the local authority in the next 10-15 years as the main challenges facing the local authority.
He mentioned various measures they are taking including the introduction of stress surveys and their apprenticeship programme which he says is progressive and “long overdue.”
He said this plan is a “major building block” to achieve the council’s goals and even survive.
Deputy leader of the council Councillor Lisa Mytton, Indepedent, said this was about “succession planning”.
She said she is very passionate about apprenticeships having benefitted from one herself.
“These are fantastic opportunities for young people. We want to grow that economy in Merthyr Tydfil.”
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