Gov spends £30m plugging staff gaps

Wednesday 22 December 2021

The Government spent around £30m on plugging staffing gaps in the first half of this year, blaming struggles due to “the global pandemic and a shortage of specialist skills”.

£13.2m was spent on individuals on short-term and fixed contracts below the top civil service pay grade - around £5m more than the previous six months - while more than £10m was spent on health and social workers from agencies.

£7.3m was spent on 'contingent labour', which was defined as individuals contracted to perform specific roles rather than being directly employed by Government because "operational expertise is not available in-house".

Between January and June 2021, 706 individuals below the top pay grade were on fixed and short-term contracts, compared to 576 between June and December 2020.

The highest spend was in the health service (£4.7m), followed by CYPES (£3.8m) and Justice and Home Affairs (£2.5m).

Pictured: The highest spend on outside labour to plug staffing gaps was in the health service.

Treasury’s spend more than doubled in six months (£520,000), as did that of the Chief Operating Office (£342,000).

Total spending on health and social workers from agencies also substantially increased.  

Health’s agency spend rose by more than a million to £6.9m. Social worker agency expenditure went from £989,000 to £1.3m. 

Across all departments, £2.5m was spent on labour from local agencies - a slight rise from the £2.3m the previous six months. This 

The figures featured in a newly published report showing that £47.2m was spent in total on consultants, interims, fixed-term employees and agency staff. This was a rise of £7m on the previous six months.

Spend on advice, insights and specific projects from consultants came to £15.4m.

Consultancy work on the future hospital came to £7.1m in the first six months of this year. A further £944,942 was spent on providing communications, setting up the project management office, and staffing.

The second largest consultancy spend was on IT projects: £2.6m on the controversial ‘Integrated Technology Solution’, £1.6m on cyber security, and £207,000 on Microsoft Foundations. £2m was spent on individuals delivering those projects in the first half of 2021.

£92,000 was spent on consultants for the future ‘OneGov’ headquarters on the site of Cyril Le Marquand House, while a Project Manager was paid between £50,000 and £75,000 for their work during the period.

Around half-a-million was spent on the ‘Team Jersey’ staff training programme, and between £35,000 and £50,000 was spent on an ‘Engagement Lead’.

Consultancy spend on non-major projects came to a total of £3.2m.

Justifying the high spend on external workers, the report explained that contractors “typically cost significantly more than the equivalent permanent employee of a similar skill set” because agency fees are usually charged on top, the cost of travel and accommodation must be factored in, and demand for niche skills pushes up the market price. 

The report added: “On the other hand, these costs need to be compared with the opportunity cost of not doing the work they are brought in to do – whether care for patients and vulnerable people, educating children, or delivering transformation that will improve services and reduce future costs. 

“In addition, where contracts are of short duration, the roles are not ongoing, and there is no-one in the organisation with the skills to do the work, there is no alternative.”

In April, the Government revealed it was hoping to create a 'Commercial Academy' to plug the skills gaps that are leading it to spend millions on consultants and suppliers each year.

Pictured: It was decided that a feasibility study should be conducted into the idea of a Government-run 'Commercial Academy'.

The academy, which the Government said wouldn't require a new physical premises, would be aimed at building employees’ business and procurement expertise to help avoid such high levels of “external” spend in future.

If successful, they said it could be opened up to the public.