Wrexham Council makes 700 staff redundant - but employs 99 agency workers at a cost of £2.2m

Wrexham Council is employing 99 agency workers despite having made nearly 700 staff redundant in the past four years, research by Plaid Cymru locally has revealed.

The Freedom of Information request (see below) also showed that the longest of those temporary workers' contracts was three years and 364 days.

The cost of employing staff through agencies in the past financial year alone was £2.2 million - with just 30% going to agencies based in Wrexham.

Marc Jones, Plaid Cymru's Wrexham chairperson, said:

"Wrexham Council has spent millions on paying redundancy money - £6.7 million in the past four years alone for 700 staff - and then takes on nearly 100 people through agencies.
"There may be a good reason why they should do that in exceptional cases and as a temporary measure but having people on 'temporary' contracts for four years is very odd, to say the least.

"It's also disappointing to see that, yet again, Wrexham Council wants to spend our public money on agencies based in London, Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds with just one Wrexham-based agency in the top 20. One agency - Eden Brown Synergy - with branches in London, Manchester and Leeds picked up £540,000 in total - more than £10,000 a week.
"By contrast, GAP Personnel - the only agency on this list with its HQ based in Wrexham - received just £6,000 of council agency work in the entire year.
"Many of these agencies specialise in social work and social care, yet Wrexham Council closed Nant Silyn care home stating there was no demand.

"I think people facing more and more council cuts are entitled to ask what we're getting for our money from these agency workers that we couldn't get from council employees. We're also entitled to know whether Wrexham Council is looking to expand its use of agency workers and further reduce direct staffing."

Details of the FOI response:

Wrexham County Borough Council

Response/Digest FOI:  6590

Department: Corporate & Customer Services (Human Resources)

HR does hold the information requested.

Re the 694 redundancies/job losses between April 2012 and April 2016 at WCBC:

The reference to 694 redundancies  / job losses has been derived by subtracting the number of staff employed by Wrexham County Borough Council in 2012 (6,503) from the number of staff employed in 2016 (5,809). This information is included on page 17 of the Difficult Decisions consultation document 2017 /18. These figures include posts that remain vacant as a consequence of not only redundancy but natural wastage during this period.

1. How much was paid out in lump sums to these workers?

The number of voluntary and compulsory redundancies during this period was 522. The lump sums paid to them totalled £6,715,133

2. How many were part-time and full-time?

376 full-time 146 part-time

Of the current staff:

1. How many are directly employed by WCBC? (please break down into education and non-education)

Wrexham Council employs 5447 members of staff (Headcount). The table below shows the number of employees in each category as requested, however if an employee has an additional post/s in more than one category then they will be counted for the number of times they appear therefore the total below may not correspond with the unique employee headcount above.

WCBC	Nov-16
Education Department	408
Schools	2820
Non-Education	2460

2. How many are employed via agencies on temporary contracts to provide council services?

Wrexham Council currently has 99 active agency worker placements as of 19th December 2016.

3. In what departments are they employed?

Department	Total Placements
Adult Social Care	10
Children Social Care	26
Corporate & Customer Services	5
Environment & Planning	41
Housing & Economy	17
Grand Total	99

4. What is the longest temporary contract a member of staff (either direct or via an agency) has been on?

The longest temporary contract directly employed by Wrexham Council is 3 years and 364 days. The longest engagement via an employment agency for Wrexham Council is 2 years and 7 months.

     5. Please list the employment agencies used and the amount of money paid to each one in the last financial year.

Supplier	Sum of Client Net
Coyle Personnel Plc - Harrow	£149.89
Kenyon Block Consultants - Enfield	£1,357.51
Building Careers UK Ltd - North West	£1,439.32
Danluker Limited T/A Supply Care - Woodford	£2,246.24
Crownwell Recruitment Kent Ltd, T/A Best Recruitment Network - Crownwell Recruitment Kent Ltd, T/A Best Recruitment Network	£2,603.73
STR Group Ltd - Portsmouth	£2,617.70
4Public Sector Ltd - London	£3,036.93
Just One Recruitment & Training Ltd - Liverpool	£3,043.17
Entrust Social Care Limited - Entrust Social Care	£3,166.18
Deekay Technical Recruitment Limited - Manchester	£3,845.40
Nation Recruit Ltd - Prestatyn	£4,350.52
Zen Personnel - Boardman House	£4,470.80
Triumph Consultants Ltd - Beckenham	£5,147.27
Care4Health Ltd (Previously Medical Management T/A Universal Locums) – Hallow	£5,649.77
Gap Personnel Holdings Ltd - Wrexham	£6,313.83
Ackerman Pierce Ltd - Ackerman Pierce Ltd	£7,681.53
Service Care Solutions Ltd - Preston	£11,838.94
Elite Nationwide Recruiters Limited - London Office	£11,947.46
Essential Employment Ltd - Blackburn	£14,954.88
Search Consultancy Ltd - Manchester	£15,746.67
Randstad Care (Formally Beresford Blake Thomas) - Manchester	£16,896.04
Reed Specialist Recruitment Ltd - Manchester	£17,427.76
Independent Living Options - Wrexham	£17,536.76
Executive Resource Group - Birmingham	£18,341.98
Eden Brown Synergy - Leeds	£18,374.02
Caritas Recruitment - Caritas Recruitment - Qualified	£20,323.01
Recroot – Suffolk	£24,054.58
Total Assist Care Limited - London	£29,292.33
Caritas Recruitment - London	£32,244.39
One Call Your Call Ltd - Station House	£37,054.56
LSG recruitment Limited T/A Social Personnel - Social Personnel	£37,547.60
HBHC Synergy Limited - Leeds	£38,337.77
Barker Ross Health & Social Care TA Cardea - Cardea Resourcing Limited	£42,761.98
Recruitment Team Nine Ltd - Potters Bar	£43,565.05
Client Directs Limited - CDL	£44,648.01
Sanctuary Personnel Ltd - Sanctuary Personnel Ltd	£45,161.15
Reed Specialist Recruitment Ltd - Liverpool	£59,746.03
Tempest Resourcing Limited - London	£62,510.08
Liquid Personnel Ltd - Manchester	£67,996.70
Reed Employment - Liverpool	£94,918.40
HCL Social Care t/a Bluecare - London	£170,282.53
Eden Brown Synergy - London	£257,129.09
Eden Brown Synergy - Manchester	£263,601.91
Clockwork Organisation t/a Travail Employment Group - Wrexham	£643,602.89
Grand Total	£2,214,962.36