Good news and bad news. The good news is Birmingham City Council has been warned of the huge cost of employing temporary staff almost permanently.
The bad news is that the warning was issued 22 years ago by former councillor Mike Olley, when the cost to the local taxpayer came to a then-worrying £19.3 million.
Today, the cost of temporary staff can conservatively be put at £10 million.
Every month.
The 2003 report highlighted lack of financial control, management failure, lack of ‘quality control’ over the people recruited and pointed out the private sector didn’t immediately call a temping agency every time a vacancy needed filling short-term. ‘There is a clear recognition of the need to challenge unnecessary cost,’ the report said.
What do we find today? In the first five months of this year, the council paid Hays Specialist Recruitment £41 million, Extra Personnel £5 million and £6 million on agency teachers. £51 million in five months or £10 million a month.
In 2003, Coun Olley said: ‘Whilst the motivations and level of accountability are different in the public sector, this does not mean that we should not seek to operate to the same level of efficiency as the private sector. Certainly in a climate where we as a Council need to find £31m in 2003/4 and £42m in 2004/5, we are in no position to discount how economies with agency staff might contribute to this.’
£31 million and £42 million? Ha! Chickenfeed.
A spokesperson from Hays, said: ‘Hays has worked with Birmingham City Council operating as their managed service provider since 2017. We supply a broad range of temporary workers across roles including finance, admin, social care, project management HR and technology.’
Obviously most of the cash the council pays Hays and others goes in wages and tax but it seems reasonable to assume 10 per cent is profit. In its 2024 annual report, Hays reported a profit of £105 million on a £1.1 billion turnover.
