To consider a report from the Director of Human Resources.

The Resourcing Consultant provided an overview of the report and informed the Committee that the Council had seen a reduction in agency spend from the previous quarter, but it was of the same level as the same quarter in the previous year. The Committee were assured that all spend had been met within existing budgets. 

The majority of spend within Children’s services was for level 3 social workers to pick up complex cases. Those social workers were hired through Reed who were contracted with the Council, although there were other suppliers available if Reed were unable to provide the required staff. There were 77 active assignments within Childrens with the majority of positions being to meet gaps within the service due to maternity leave and long-term sickness.

The Resourcing Consultant informed the Committee that she was working closely with the strategic lead within Children’s services and they were making good progress towards meeting the recruitment needs of the service. Work was ongoing to agree a Greater Manchester pledge, which would help to stabilise the costs of agency staff by setting a price between Councils rather than competing with each other. The Resourcing Consultant also informed the Committee of the Social worker paths available to Council staff through apprenticeships.

Agency spend within the Adults Directorate was all being met through Reed with largest amount of spend being on interim qualified social workers, although this had reduced from the last quarter.  The Adults Directorate were also taking a “grow our own” staffing approach to Adult Social Care with training and qualifications available to staff. The Resourcing Consultant added that market supplements were in place for both adults and children’s social workers to make Trafford’s employment offer more competitive. The Council also had a programme of support in place for newly appointed social workers to help them settle into the role.

The overall spend within the Legal and Governance Directorate had reduced with most of the positions being for qualified solicitors to meet statutory duties. The Resourcing Consultant informed the Committee that the Council was having to compete with the private sector and so they were looking to advertise the additional benefits of working for the Council.

The Committee were informed that Trafford Council had the 5^th highest level of agency spend out of the 11 Councils within GM.  The Resourcing Consultant concluded the overview of the report by asking the Committee to note that the overall spend on consultants had reduced, but there were still four consultants in place within Children’s Services.

Following the overview of the report Councillor Ennis asked how confident officers were that the GM Pledge to be in place by September. The Resourcing Consultant responded that she was pretty confident that an agreement would be reached as GM authorities had an inflated price and were paying more than some areas of London, which needed to be addressed. Trafford Council was paying an average £30 per hour for adult social worker and £35 for Children’s social workers. The Director of HR added that the launch of the pledge had been moved back to October.

Councillor Leicester asked whether workers from Ukraine were able to work within the UK. The Corporate Director of Strategy and Resources responded that some funding remained which the Council could use to help support people from the Ukraine into employment.

Councillor Jones asked whether additional background information could be provided around agency spend. In response the Director of HR offered to meet with Councillor Jones to provide any additional information that was wanted.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That the Director of HR arrange a meeting with Councillor Jones to provide additional information relating to agency spend.