Council "No Idea" How Much it Spent on Temporary Staff before 2005

6.15.51pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 30th Nov 2006

New research has revealed that Manchester City Council does not know how much it spent on temporary staff before 2005. But figures for 2005/2006 show that the Council spent a staggering £18 million on agency staff last year, over and above the Council's normal salary costs.

Councillor Paul Shannon, Manchester's Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader, stated:

"I am astonished that Manchester City Council did not bother to measure how much it spent on temporary staff before 2005. It's impossible to know if you're getting value for money when you have no idea how much you are spending!"

Despite setting up an in-house temping agency in 2002 called "Manchester Temps", the City Council has been unable to stem the high level of spending on agency staff.

A new contract with one agency staff supplier was meant to start in October 2006, with the aim of cutting £1.2 million each year from the Council's temporary staffing bill. But the new contract, with Manpower Recruitment Agency, has been delayed and will not now be signed until the end of January 2007.

Councillor Shannon concluded:

"What a shambles! The Council need to stop this wasteful spending and get the new contract in operation as soon as possible."

"Too much spending on temporary staff is a sign of bad management. I very much hope that this new deal to provide temporary staff will reduce the Council's spending. £18 million last year is far too much."

End

Notes to Editors:

The influential all-party Council Finance Scrutiny Committee has looked at this issue and the committee minutes show that:

• There is "currently little consistent practice across the Council."

• Councillors on the committee "commented how the current use of agency staff ran contrary to the Council's employment policy and the economic well-being of the people of Manchester."

Two reviews (internal, and external by KPMG) of the Council's use of temporary staff found that:

• "current arrangements are unregulated and inconsistent" and that "differential rates applied for identical jobs;"

• current procurement arrangements "do not comply with proper procurement processes and also enable departments to bypass formal City Council recruitment processes."