Nottingham City Council is spending more money on hiring agency staff to work at the authority after a "disappointing" recruitment drive. The council has been spending large sums on consultants and agency staff after highlighting a "serious" shortage of staff last year.
Most recently, more than £1 million of spending was announced on consultants and agency staff to support areas ranging from household waste to adult social care. Spending has now been approved on hiring four agency staff, though the council has not disclosed how much this will cost.
The council says this information is "exempt" as it relates to the "financial and business affairs" of the authority. But in terms of what the four agency staff will be doing, the council says they will be based in its property department.
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In a decision document published at the beginning of July, the authority said: "The council has been out to advert on two occasions for the recruitment of permanent property staff, the outcome of which has largely been disappointing. In this interim period there is a need to continue to engage agency staff to ensure continuity of delivery of essential work programmes."
The four agency staff will be working on the management of Nottingham City Council's commercial portfolio. It comes as the authority recently announced it would be reviewing all assets within its commercial portfolio worth over £1 million.
The review will consider whether the council should keep these assets within its portfolio or not as it continues to try and make savings. A report on this matter is due towards the end of July.
In terms of its recruitment drive, the council says its most recent attempt was in April. With spending on agency staff and consultants continuing, the council says: "Further consideration needs to be given as to how we might improve the prospects of permanent recruitment before we return to the recruitment market.
"We do not have the internal capacity to commission/manage further work in the short term." Other recent spending on external resources has included £100,000 on a solicitor working on the council's review of whether to sell off hundreds of its buildings.
