Agenda item

AGENCY SPEND Q2

To receive a report from the Corporate Director of People.

Minutes:

The Strategic HR Lead Policy, Reward and Intelligence went through the report that had been circulated with the agenda. There had been an increase in the amount of money spent on agency staff since the last quarter however, when compared to the same quarter in the previous year all areas were down apart from children’s services.

 

The Council had historically had issues when it came to the recruitment of social workers for children and young people. Trafford were currently looking at the Council’s offer and how it could be made more attractive to potential staff. This included the Council running a recruitment campaign in early 2020. The new Corporate Director of Children’s services were due to start in January 2020 and it was hoped that they would add their expertise to the issue. The Chair noted that this was a national issue as there were less and less qualified social workers available to draw from. A Committee Member stated that while it was a national issue they felt it was important to find areas of good/best practice to ensure that the Council were doing all they could to maximise employment.

 

Another Committee Member asked what employee’s age demographic was and whether there were going to be a lot of retirements. The Strategic HR Lead Policy, Reward and Intelligence told the Committee Member that they did not have that data to hand but that it could be provided to the Committee.

 

The Opposition Spokesperson noted that while it was good for the Council to train their own staff up to these positions this was only true if they did not leave once they were qualified. The Strategic HR Lead Policy, Reward and Intelligence responded that this was why it was important for the Council to have a good offer in place for social workers to ensure that they wanted to stay and work at the Council.

 

The Opposition Spokesperson added that there had previously been agreements between Councils and agencies which set a limit on price of agency staff and they asked if that agreement was still in place. The Chair responded that many of the councils in the North West were no longer adhering to the agreement due to the severe lack of social workers. The Chair pointed out that the Council’s package had to be more than just a financial offer, as there were a number of considerations, such as case load, which had a much greater impact on job satisfaction.

 

The Chair asked for clarification on point 2.2.3 of the report in relation to the staff bank and the flexibility being offered to the staff that joined the bank. The Strategic HR Lead Policy, Reward and Intelligence responded that the bank was new and she did not have enough knowledge of it to answer the Councillors question in full but they were aware that the bank was performing well and that there had been good feedback from staff. The Chair requested that more information be brought to the next Committee meeting about the bank.

 

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That staff demographic information be sent to Committee members.

3)    That more information on the staff bank be brought to the next meeting of the Committee.

 

Supporting documents: