Concern over £87,000 for US consultants
SEFTON Council has paid out more than £87,000 to US-based consultants over the past 12 months.
The local authority paid £77,251 to Korn Ferry, and another £10,081.63 to Grant Thornton.
Both payments were made by Sefton during the last year.
Korn Ferry and Grant Thornton are both US-based consutancies with offices in the UK.
Sefton has said that the cash was spent as part of its framework for change programme, to improve efficiency in the education and social care sectors.
Sefton has been under huge financial pressure over recent years.
The local authority lost 51% of government funding between 2010 and 2020.
Last year, the Labour-run council faced a funding gap of £233m and was forced to cut more services across the borough.
Last year, Sefton Council agreed a three-year budget plan to save a further £64m, and the local authority was forced to put up council tax by 5.99%.
Former Southport MP John Pugh, who is a now a Liberal Democrat ward councillor in the town, said: “Given the constraints on the council’s budget, it’s hard to see how splashing out big money on an America headhunting consultancy is a priority.”
Leader of Sefton’s Conservatives, Cllr Terry Jones, said: “I have had many concerns over consultancy fees, at a time when finances are stretched.
“I would urge that we seek all other avenues prior to using consultants.
A Southport woman who used to work for Sefton Council said she did not understand the payments.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said: “I lost my job at Sefton Council after many years’ service, and now I hear that expensive consultants have been hired to basically advise the leadership group on cutting services and more jobs.
“There must be about five executive officers all earning over £120,000, and then an army of other officers earning over £70,000, and yet they need consultants when we had the staff and expertise already working for the council.”
A spokesman for Sefton Council said: “We are well aware of the perception of consultancy expenditure, and only use consultants with specialist skills or expertise where it would be uneconomical for us to directly employ individuals.
“This is done for one-off pieces of work, and as such there is no trend to expenditure.”