Stockton Council's £15.8m recruitment spend prompts accusation of incompetence from Conservatives

A £15.8m spend on recruitment agencies has prompted accusations of financial incompetence to be levelled at a council.

Stockton Council, which is trying to fill an £8.7m budget gap over the next three years, spent almost £16m using recruitment agencies to fill roles from drivers to directors since 2021, according to a response to a freedom of information (FoI) request from a Conservative councillor. The response says the Labour-led council used 10 recruitment agencies since 2021, to fill 115 roles over a three-and-a-half year period, with over 6,000 invoices from agencies.

The roles which agencies were used to fill were listed in the FoI response. They include bricklayer, plasterer, plumber, surveyor, electrician, social worker, security, solicitor, ground worker, catering assistant, labourer, waste driver, administration assistant, nurse, gateman, occupational therapist, housing officer, team manager, educational psychologist, graphic designer, children's residential support worker, planning officer, and consultants in education and public health.

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The list runs through to service and strategic leads, and the permanent recruitment of an assistant director, directors of four departments and a managing director. It gives a total cost of £15,840,340 between January 2021 and August 2024. Council leader Bob Cook later said that it is important to distinguish that the figure is "largely made up of the cost of paying staff hired from recruitment agencies, rather than actual recruitment consultancy costs."

The data led to a question to the council's leader at a full council meeting. Councillor Niall Innes, Conservative member for Hartburn, who sent the FoI request to the council in October, started by asking how many staff in the authority were employed to deal with internal recruitment.

Council leader and Labour group leader Cllr Bob Cook said no staff had that sole responsibility. He said: "The task of filling internal vacancies is handled collectively by various members of the team."

Cllr Innes went further: "Given that there are internal individuals who have an oversight of those different things, can the leader clarify why, as detailed in a simple freedom of information request provided to the council, since 2021 this council has spent £15.8m on recruitment agencies? Does the leader agree that this is further proof of fiscal incompetence of this Labour-led council under his leadership?"

'The best way of trying to get the best'

Cllr Cook answered: "How much, £15.8m? I'm not sure whether that figure's right but we do obviously spend money on external recruitment when we're looking for the likes of a chief executive or a director of a service, because obviously what we want to do is try and find the best people available.

"And obviously using those outside recruitment agencies, like most councils and most public sector organisations do, it's the best way of trying to get the best for the people of Stockton to work within this council. So therefore using outside agencies is a way of doing it so you get more people that will apply for the vacancies.

"You did ask about internal recruitment and we don't spend any money apart from officers' time that work for the council, and part of their role is to deal with internal recruitment."

The FoI response says 6,070 invoices from agency suppliers would need to be checked to break down the costs further. It says the council has a framework agreement as the "first port of call" for supplying agency staff.

'Rare occasions'

It says: "If the supplier... cannot supply the required worker then the council will endeavour to use other existing framework suppliers to source the worker from. If no other existing framework supplier can supply the worker, then council may on rare occasions, have to contract directly with a recruitment agency who has availability."

Asked who decides which roles are recruited via an agency and who decides on cost, it says it depends on the job role, but staff could be engaged by service managers or directors. One company, Tile Hill, has been used to supply consultants and recruit permanent senior staff, including directors.

The response said 36,843 invoices would need to be checked manually to give and break down the total amount the council had spent on consultants: "When the expertise is not internally available the service manager will appoint a consultant who is able to provide the required advice and guidance in relation to the subject matter." It says service directors had final say on appointing consultants, with a decision record completed for consultancies worth more than £15,000.

Speaking after the council meeting, Cllr Innes said: "It is absolutely shocking that when Stockton's Labour-led council have created a huge blackhole in the authorities finances and demands more borrowing to fill the hole they made, they spend almost £16m on recruitment agencies, and don’t even know they have done it.

'Private piggybank'

"From catering assistant to gateman, Stockton Council have continued to use the taxpayers of our borough as their private piggybank, with huge spending going completely unchecked and unknown by the supposed leaders of this council. Cllr Cook clearly has no idea what is going on in Stockton Council, and it is no wonder there is such a huge budget gap when they are wasting money day after day.

"I was completely shocked when I saw this information. It demonstrates very clearly that Labour and those that support them on Stockton Council are not fit to run this authority. What they are doing is driving up debt and driving our borough into the ground."

Cllr Cook responded: "It is important to distinguish that this figure is largely made up of the cost of paying staff hired from recruitment agencies, rather than actual recruitment consultancy costs. So really, what we are looking at here is people's wages over several years, who are performing essential public services, and not the amount of commission paid to bring in small numbers of key staff.

"Ultimately, we are a vast organisation relying on thousands of staff – and this includes significant numbers of agency and employed staff. We also use recruitment agencies to help us attract and retain the very best officers, who help provide a top-class service for our residents.

"Recruitment agencies also help fill vacancies in service areas local authorities up and down the country struggle to recruit to, such as in children's social care."

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