Council 'wasting' millions on temps

6:39pm Thursday 26th June 2008

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Lambeth Council has been accused of wasting millions of pounds and offering second-rate services by employing too many temporary staff.

The council was the second highest spending London borough in 2006/07 for temporary staff, shelling out £35.2m on temps' fees, according to figures seen by the Streatham Guardian.

Critics have said such spending on temporary staff is a waste of funds and employing more permanent staff would provide better, more cost effective services to the public.

Ed Blissett, regional secretary for London for trade union GMB, said: "On this scale it is a deliberate scam. This is more than just filling in gaps.

"Too many councils are using cheap temps when they should be recruiting permanent staff who can be properly trained and given the experience that is necessary to provide local services to the public."

A GMB spokesman said such cheap temps - people who were paid poor wages and were unmotivated because they were only doing a job for a few weeks or months - were actually costing Lambeth millions of pounds because agency fees were so high.

She said they often charged more than double the wage paid to the employee.

She added: "We are also very worried about frontline services where vulnerable groups like the elderly might be looked after by someone undertrained or uninterested. Permanent positions provide stability for residents which is vital."

A council spokeswoman said any large organisation based in central London had challenges with recruitment and retention and, like other local authorities, it inevitably needed to draw on agency support.

She said one of the reasons Lambeth's agency staff figures are high is because its records are completely accurate and up to date - unlike other boroughs.

"But we will continue to focus on minimising our use of agency staff and have already made significant reductions over the last three years," she added.

She said permanent social workers, planners and finance staff were particularly in demand.