Dr Susan Piest became the Head of Paid Service of Folkestone & Hythe District Council on the 1 April 2018, and later on the Chief Executive. During her six year tenure, the Council have spent more than £1m on Temporary Staff on no less than four occasions, as shown below.
Since April 2023, the Council have according to their payment to suppliers data, spent just over £1m on temporary staff. HR Go (Kent) Ltd have received 22% of the total sum spent to Dec 2023, making them the largest provider of Temporary Staff to Folkestone & Hythe District Council.
Dr Priest and head of HR, Andrina Smith, have both made it clear our Council have found it difficult to attract the right caliber of candidate and retaining them.
The Council late last year announced a voluntary redundancy scheme to save costs as they were facing a significant budget deficit. Since then a good number of experienced staff have volunteered. The costs for these redundancies will not be known until the 2023/24 accounts are published.
Local Government has historically faced high staff turnover rates, often leading to a reliance on temporary agency staff. In March 2021 it was recorded that 45.3% of those who worked in Local Government worked on a temporary or casual contract. Only 26.2% of staff were employed on a permanent contract. This is reflected in 78% of Councils reporting recruitment and retention difficulties.
It will we believe become the norm for Temporary Staff costs at Folkestone & Hythe DC to breach the £1 million pound mark each year, due to inflationary costs and other financial issues. How this can be considered “value for money” or even best value, we do not know.
Perhaps the Head of HR at Folkestone & Hythe District Council , Andrina Smith (pictured) might be able to explain.
The Shepway Vox Team
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