COUNCIL £15M TEMP STAFF SPAFF

IN a shocky horror development that has stunned the world of Carlisle, some actual journalism has been found on the News & Shrug.

One of its rare young talents has diligently combed through about three thousand Excel documents to painstakingly tot up how much Crumberland Council splashed on ‘agency’ staff last year.

Sneaky buggers at the Council like to bury these answers in reams of documentation, but our persistent Lois Lane found ’em.

The temporary staff spending by Crumberland Council was £15 million!

That includes the Council handing over £7 million to an employment agency in distant Bedfordshire.

(Some companies out there exploit the fact that Local Authorities have to legally provide some services and know they’ve got them over a barrel when it comes to dictating RIDICULOUS going rates.)

(It’s also been known for some Council employees to quit the Town Hall payroll and sign-up for an agency because the kerching’s are kerchingya.)

It happens ALL the time in the NHS.

Be in no doubt. Whatever cash was spent on temporary staff in Crumberland, neighbouring Council Wokemoreland & Farcical will be shelling out much the same. Probably to the same company.

In Crumberland, the spending on temporary staff did not just go on filling critical job roles either, such as carers or teachers.

Agency staff were hauled in to graft away in high-falutin Council departments such as the Assistant Chief Exec’s office or brainbox projects like the Capital Programme, and Business Transformation.

The best way the Council could transform its business is to have an open and transparent public discussion about how it STOPS this perennial waste of taxpayers’ cash.

Regrettably, the Labour-daft Council doesn’t seem in any mind to turn off the money tap if a statement from a Council “spokesperson” is anything to go by.

The ridiculous spending identified by the newspaper was IGNORED and instead, the Council spokesperson gave it the usual la-di-dah that we’ve come to expect from our disconnected Local Authorities.

Judge for yourself. Read the News & Scar piece here.

Result:

Council Spin 0

News & Scar 1

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