Council to spend £945k on new tech staff for ‘Hackney’s digital journey’

Hackney Town Hall

Hackney Council is spending up to £945,000 hiring 17 people for its IT team to steer what it calls “the next stage of Hackney’s digital journey”.

Adverts posted online for roles at the council’s information and communications technologies (ICT) wing include a Head of Delivery on an annual salary of between £88,000 and £94,000.

The next top paid recruit would be an Infrastructure Manager, taking home an annual £67,560 to £69,591, with all 17 salaries above £40,000 per year.

If all 17 recruits are paid the top of their salary bracket, the total amount the council will spend on the posts will hit an annual £945,878.

Hackney’s ICT team supports council services from social care to waste collection, and provides online ways to pay rent, buy parking permits, ask for housing repairs, help foster care parents and get residents into work.

The council is also offering 18 apprenticeships in ICT from April as part of its new Digital Leadership Academy.

Hackney Council says providing digital services in-house is cheaper than outsourcing them to private companies, and that the new roles will save the council having to rely on agency workers.

It adds that the salaries are based on the market averages for similar roles in London and will be funded out of the current ICT budget.

A Hackney Council spokesperson said: “Delivering excellent digital services is a core part of us providing residents with the high quality services that they expect and making the council more efficient.

“We are committed to delivering these services in-house, which enables us to deliver a better service at lower cost than outsourced alternatives.”

They went on: “In line with this commitment, we have recently reviewed and reshaped our ICT service to make sure that it’s fit for the next stage of Hackney’s digital journey and we are now recruiting to fill vacancies in our ICT team.

“This will reduce agency staffing and help us to deliver a sustainable service for the future.”

The spokesperson added: “All salaries in our ICT service are assessed against the market and these are based on inner London averages for comparable roles. The money will come from the council’s existing ICT budget.”