Council spending on agency staff expected to rise by nearly £1m

Most of the borough’s agency staff have been recruited by the environment department. Photograph: Hackney Council

Hackney Council expects to spend nearly £1m more on agency workers before the end of the financial year, it has been revealed.

The borough’s overall financial report (OFP) for January, published ahead of next week’s cabinet meeting, states that rising costs have forced the council to spend £995,000 more on temporary employees than previously forecast.

More than half of this (£531,000) went towards hiring agency staff to cover for permanent employees in the council’s environment teams.

A further £312,000 went towards for the adults, health and integration directorate, mainly for temporary staff to cover for permanent staff members.

However, the report – authored by finance chief Cllr Robert Chapman – notes that the cost of full-time staff in this same department has fallen by £377,000, leaving a surplus of £65,000.

It adds that the council continues to find fixed-term or permanent contracts for agency workers “where possible”.

Hackney’s housing directorate has also relied on additional agency workers, mainly to deal with the high volume of legal disrepair cases from tenants who are suing the council for failing to properly maintain their social homes.

But the report shows the local authority also expects to save around £2,000 overall on its housing revenue account over the next three years, once it has a “managed down” the volume of cases.

The OFP adds that the council has now revised its predicted overspend down by more than £100,000 to £36.86 million since the last report.

In the same time period, the Town Hall has included a further £175,000 in “non-essential’ savings – including a recruitment freeze for both agency and permanent staff.

Cllr Chapman’s report makes clear that the borough remains in a “concerning financial position”, with rising demand for essential services like social care and homelessness presenting a “major challenge to financial our sustainability”.

The cabinet is due to meet to discuss the latest report on Monday 24 March.