A campaign group has called on a West London council to be ‘fully transparent’ about how much it pays recruiters after data showed it has spent around £16million a year filling temporary roles since 2018. A Freedom of Information (FoI) request found Kensington and Chelsea Council forked out £16.2m in salaries, fees and other employment-related costs for temporary or agency roles during the 2022/23 financial year before dipping to £15.9m during 2023/24.
The council acknowledged the expenditure was causing ‘significant budget pressure’ but said like other public sector organisations, using external providers was necessary to fill hard-to-hire roles, like specialist or technical positions. Data from the FoI also showed spend on temporary roles hovered between £15m and £16m every year despite a significant drop from 2021 onwards in posts sourced by an external contractor.
The council said this was due to a general rise in costs caused by inflation. It also refused to reveal how much its contractor Comensura is paid, saying that information was ‘commercially sensitive’.
But the TaxPayers’ Alliance, a pressure group calling for low tax rates, said Kensington and Chelsea Council needed to be transparent about how much it spends on external recruitment agencies. Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers will be deeply sceptical as to whether this enormous spend on agency staff is delivering value for money for taxpayers.
“And this will only be heightened by the troubling decision to avoid disclosing information on salaries and recruitment fees, despite the clear public interest in this topic. Kensington and Chelsea Council should be fully transparent about these payments, to ensure that residents can judge for themselves whether this is a good use of their money.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) found the council department associated with the highest fees was Resources and Customer Delivery, with vacant roles costing the council £19.5m to fill since 2018. In close second was Housing Revenue at £19.3m. The data shows 6,019 roles were filled between 2018 and 2023 with business support officers being the most common role needing filling, appearing 247 times on the list. That was followed by social workers at 193.
The number of roles filled by Comensura dipped to 894 placements in 2021 from 1,300 in 2020. In 2018, the contractor was used to fill 1,543 roles. Kensington and Chelsea Council said all permanent roles are filled by the in-house team and it’s only recruitment for temporary roles that is outsourced.
The LDRS understands Resources and Customer Delivery is the largest directorate in terms of staffing in the West London council. It also understands temporary posts may be created to backfill roles for a short period, for example during a period of sickness or maternity leave or for a short-term project or need.
It is also understood that business support officers cover many different types of roles across the council and that posts are filled according to business needs. The LDRS was told some staff turnover is to be expected in large organisations like Kensington and Chelsea Council.
A Kensington and Chelsea Council spokesperson said: “We are committed to becoming the best council for our residents and want to make sure we have the right people to best serve our communities. Like other public sector organisations, we are aware that recruitment and retention is a significant budget pressure and we have introduced initiatives to challenge our approach to recruitment and ensure that every penny of public money we invest is spent sensibly.
“We sometimes have to find temporary staff and, as is common practice, use an external provider to help us source qualified officers, especially in hard-to-hire roles which require specialist, technical skills. This approach also gives us access to the widest possible pool of talent when we need it, reduces payroll liabilities and supports our drive to provide quality services that are responsive, efficient and effective.”
Comensura was contacted for comment but did not respond in time for publication.
