A LOCAL councillor has called on Thurrock Council look at cropping its cohort of senior staff after highlighting the millions it is spending each year on interim officers – people who will only be at the council for a couple of years – or in some cases just a few months.

Cllr Neil Speight, spokesperson for the Non-Political Alliance of Independent Councillors, who represents Stanford-le-Hope West, quizzed Corporate Services portfolio holder Cllr Sara Muldowney at a recent full council meeting.

He said he was concerned about the increasing number of short term appointments and the cost of them, with some officers earning upwards of £850 a day, with agency fees on top of that.

A breakdown of figures purely on the cost of interim officers showed a significant increase over the fast four years, rising from 38 placements in 20-21 at a total salary cost of almost £2 million to 80 placements made six months into the current financial year at a cost of more than £3.8 million to date.

2021-22 – 38 Placements – Spend of £1,844,526.11

2022-23 – 54 Placements – Spend of £2,486,102.14

2023-24 – 82 Placements – Spend of £5,525,117.15

2024-25 (Apr to Sept 2024) – 80 Placements – Spend of £3,805,417.80

Those figures, adding up to a total of £13,661,162, don't include costs paid to staff recruitment companies and agencies. Cllr Speight estimates the cost could be around £20 million.

Cllr Speight also highlights the number of highly paid officers across an authority that has comprehensively failed in carrying out most of its functions over recent years, resulting in financial collapse and government intervention. 

The last reported figures show that in the financial year 2022 to 2023 there were at least 13 senior staff members earning more than £100,000 a year and on un April 2023, 40 others were earning more than £75K a year and in addition, more than 200 were earning more than £50K a year.

Speaking at the meeting Cllr Speight said he believed it was not in the council's best interest to have so many temporary staff who were 'here today, gone tomorrow' and who could not be held accountable for what they achieved – or didn't.

He asked Cllr Muldowney to give an assurance she would be getting those numbers down, and she responded by saying: "It's one of my priorities, a reduction of agency spend,

"Because of the situation we have been in and because of the recruitment market, it's been increasingly difficult to keep down the spend.

"We have been in intervention. We do need the right staff at this point in time."

Cllr Neil Speight in contemplative mood over council senior staff spending

Cllr Speight responded by saying: "You said we need the right staff at this time, I applaud that. But I believe the council needs the right staff every day - 365 days a year and going on."

"I do welcome what you have said but can you give me the assurance that those numbers will be coming down in the years to come, both numbers of officers and amount of money."

Cllr Muldowney concluded: "I do agree we always need the right staff. My point was that of the position we are in with intervention at the moment and the recruitment market.

"There is a small pool of talent we are fishing in, we to want to get the right people in place on a permanent basis going forwards. It's certainly my intention to bring those costs down , and I will be working with my new assistant director of HR to achieve that."