Agenda item

Julie Foy, Director of Human Resources was present and outlined the report

During consideration of the report the following main points were made –

·         Agency spend has increased by £67k for the first two quarters, compared to the first two quarters of 2020/21. There has been spend in Public Health on lateral flow testing of £592k. Also the spend for 2020/21 includes the effect of the 2.75% pay award applied to the majority of agency workers, and the transfer of off contract agency workers to the Reed contract

·         The average tenure of agency workers has been rising however this should be reduced through recruiting agency workers to permanent posts

·         Council officers continue to take steps to reduce the number of interim/agency staff, however there has been an overall rise in highly specialised agency staff and workers engaged above £450 per day, due to the additional project managers in IT and Digital Services, the Council’s modernisation programme, FutureWork and senior management cover in Peoples Services. However it is significantly lower than a year ago, and below 1% of the total workforce

·         Noted the breakdown by Department of interims

·         Guidance from Temp to perm has been introduced to support recruitment in departments, and departments are developing Peoples plans which will incorporate strategies for agency reduction, as part of their workforce planning

·         Noted that the contract for a Managed Service Provider for the supply of contingent workers has recently been closed for re-procurement. and bids have been received and evaluation for the contract is taking place during October

·          A Member expressed concern that some agency workers had been in post over 2 years, and only a small number had transferred from temp to perm

·         It was noted that Islington had one of the lowest percentages of agency staff amongst London Boroughs

·         A Member referred to the fact that although the target for agency staff was 10%, there should be an ambition to reduce this number, although it was recognised that agency staff would always need to be employed

·         Members expressed the view that in future reports there need to be details of the definition of contingent workforce employed and the percentage of staff employed for over a year and details of those employed over 2 years

·         Members were informed that whilst the Council were taking measures to reduce agency staff, it had to be recognised for a variety of reasons that these needed to be employed, and that the numbers of interim staff had been reduced

·         In response to a question it was stated that only interim staff were engaged outside the Reed contract

·         In response to a question as to whether overtime was being monitored in departments to ascertain whether these were the same departments as had high agency spend it was stated that departmental monitoring was taking place. Noted that business partners were working with departments to establish strategic staffing decisions in relation to services

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the following be provided in the next report to the Committee

Definitions of areas of contingent workforce

(i)            A tenure breakdown i.e. those employed for over 1 year and those over 2 years

(ii)           The number of agency staff employed by department as a percentage of the workforce

(iii)          A breakdown in bandings (without identifying individuals) of the highest paid interims employed by the Council (i.e. those earning over £450 per day)

(b)  That the report be noted

The Chair thanked Julie Foy for attending