An increase in agency staff has cost Greenwich Council an extra £2m in the past year, according to a new report.

The council’s use of short-term staff increased by more than 12 per cent in the past 12 months, bringing the gross spend to £17.9m.

The largest job assignments being filled by agency staff were social care workers, followed by council admin staff.

According to a report heard on Wednesday night, July 25: “Agency workers in local government are essential to meet variations in activity levels, cover vacancies and short-term staff absences and to bring in specific skills for short periods of time.

“In 2016 the previous agency supply arrangement was replaced by an in-house agency supply arrangement.

“This has resulted in greater control over suppliers and the operation of stricter recruitment controls.”

In 2016/17 there was a reduction in agency usage, with spending down by £3.8m, compared to 2015/16

The 2017/18 agency spend of £17.9m is lower than the 2015/16 outlay.

Officers said the reason for the increasing costs was partly down to temporary funding disappearing.

The report explained: “Within Greenwich Council, to tackle this particular ‘hard to fill’ profession, a dedicated HR resource has focused on permanent children’s social work recruitment drives and staff retention, in an effort to reduce reliance on agency social workers.

“However, the funding for this dedicated resource was temporary and since its withdrawal there has been an increase in the usage of agency social workers.”

The reinstatement of the resource has been agreed by children’s services for 2018/19.

The total amount of agency staff employed by the council in the past year, excluding schools, was 297 – accounting for seven per cent of the workforce.

In the same report it was revealed that staff sickness absences cost the taxpayer £4.44m – up slightly on last year’s figure.

Stress, depression, mental health and fatigue remains the largest sickness category, accounting for 18 per cent of days lost.