Walsall Council £21 million bill for temps in two years

The authority, which is making cuts across all services, spent £11,010,151 on temporary staff in 2015/16 and £10,348,111 in 2016/17, according to figures.

A total of 420 jobs at the authority are to be axed through compulsory and voluntary redundancies over the next four years as it looks to save £86 million by 2020.

But the authority has said that bringing in people on temporary contracts allows them to ‘respond to seasonal needs’, adding that the most recent figures had seen a drop in spending.

Walsall Council spokesperson Danielle Taylor said: “It allows us to respond to seasonal needs and access specialist staff when needed, without incurring the costs of permanent appointments. The costs for 2016/17 were lower than 2015/16.”

Chief executive of the Taxpayers Alliance, John O’Connell, said: “Those making these decisions need to work hard to bring this total down so that taxpayers know as much of their money as possible is going towards essential front-line services.”

Former council leader Mike Bird, who is head of the Conservative group in the borough, said that he believed the council should be looking to make permanent appointments ‘where possible’ but added that he could understand why some departments relied on temporary staff.

He said: “Social care is a very stressful line of work, a lot of people end up taking time out and so the council need to look at bringing in staff to fill those gaps on a temporary basis.

"It is also a world where you may need specialists to come in from time to time.

“For clean and green it is seasonable work, so it benefits the council not to employ people full time. However, these are big figures and in my opinion the council should be looking to make permanent appointments where possible.”

In contrast, it was revealed in January that all Walsall Council staff will have their pay frozen for the next financial year as the authority looks to save £86 million by 2020.

Employees at the local authority had been in line to receive the one per cent pay rise agreed at national level from April 1.