Cumberland Council spent over £15m on agency staff

CUMBERLAND Council spent more than £15 million on agency staff last year but the authority is taking steps to try and reduce that figure.
The issue was raised during Tuesday's (April 29) meeting of the council, at the Civic Centre in Carlisle councillor Chris Wills (Upperby, Lib Dems) asked a question of one of the members of the executive.
Cllr Wills asked: 'In 2024 Cumberland Council spent over £15 million on employing agency staff.
'Whilst much of this money was spent on ensuring essential services, expenditure of over one million pounds a month on agency staff is unsustainable for a local authority.
'Please can cllr Cannon, the portfolio holder for financial planning and assets, explain the plan for significantly reducing this level of spend?'
Councillor Barbara Cannon (St Michaels, Labour) said it had been discussed within the authority 'for quite some time' and the use of agency staff sometimes covered roles which were traditionally hard to recruit.
She said they used a range of measures including targeted media adverts as well as Google search adverts to recruit more staff.
Cllr Cannon said that a number of newly qualified social workers had started at the council and agency use was also linked with sickness absence.
She said there were regular meetings with HR staff and there were return to work interviews to try to ensure absences did not recur. She added: 'The aim is to minimise reliance on agency staff.'

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