Town halls have spent tens of millions of pounds rehiring staff they had made redundant, it was reported last night. Much of the cash has gone on agency social workers but an increasing amount is paid to interim managers and consultants, who can earn £1,000 a day. Some have returned after receiving big redundancy packages. Birmingham City Council headquarters: The local authority topped the list of councils who spent the most on agency and consultancy workers since 2010-2011, with £155million spent since that financial year . An investigation by The Times revealed that dozens of authorities have spent more than £50million on agency and consultancy workers since 2010-11, with five spending more than £100million. The total figure spent on such workers over that period is £5billion. The peak was in 2013-14 when more than £1.2 billion was spent. Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of Taxpayers Alliance, said: ‘This [£5billion] is a scandalous figure and one that needs to be justified. 'Scandalous': Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of Taxpayers Alliance, said the councils must stop the revolving door of rehiring redundant workers . ‘There have been all sorts of promises about bringing the cost of administering down. Taxpayers will be particularly concerned at the number of former employees re-employed on more expensive contracts. The lucrative revolving door needs to rapidly come to a halt.’ A freedom of information requested by The Times revealed that the biggest councils, the counties and London boroughs were among the worst offenders. Birmingham City Council topped the list, spending £155 million since 2010-11, followed by Essex County Council on £133.5million and Kent County Council on £127million. Seventeen London boroughs also spent between £50million and £125million on agency and consultancy staff. Louise Tibbert, president of the Public Sector People Management Association and head of HR at Hertfordshire county council, said that social workers often went back to councils where they had worked before, but this was also the case for higher-paid staff. She said: ‘Many go to the private sector for better pay in legal, finance and HR or general management roles. There is a big chance that local government will pay the same for them to come back as consultants.’ Over the past five years councils have had their budgets slashed by more than £20billion and lost more than 400,000 jobs. Some councils have been forced to close or reduce a range of services including road maintenance, street cleaning and home care for elderly after having their central funding slashed by almost 40 per cent since 2010. Tony Travers, local government expert at the London School of Economics, said that too many jobs were cut too quickly in search for early big savings and councils had found that they could not provide their services without bringing the staff back.
Freedom of Information requests revealed how much was spent .
Five councils have spent more than £100m, dozens more than £50m .
Birmingham City Council topped the list of the biggest spenders .
Town halls have spent tens of millions of pounds rehiring staff they had made redundant, it was reported last night. Much of the cash has gone on agency social workers but an increasing amount is paid to interim managers and consultants, who can earn £1,000 a day. Some have returned after receiving big redundancy packages. Birmingham City Council headquarters: The local authority topped the list of councils who spent the most on agency and consultancy workers since 2010-2011, with £155million spent since that financial year . An investigation by The Times revealed that dozens of authorities have spent more than £50million on agency and consultancy workers since 2010-11, with five spending more than £100million. The total figure spent on such workers over that period is £5billion. The peak was in 2013-14 when more than £1.2 billion was spent. Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of Taxpayers Alliance, said: ‘This [£5billion] is a scandalous figure and one that needs to be justified. 'Scandalous': Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of Taxpayers Alliance, said the councils must stop the revolving door of rehiring redundant workers . ‘There have been all sorts of promises about bringing the cost of administering down. Taxpayers will be particularly concerned at the number of former employees re-employed on more expensive contracts. The lucrative revolving door needs to rapidly come to a halt.’ A freedom of information requested by The Times revealed that the biggest councils, the counties and London boroughs were among the worst offenders. Birmingham City Council topped the list, spending £155 million since 2010-11, followed by Essex County Council on £133.5million and Kent County Council on £127million. Seventeen London boroughs also spent between £50million and £125million on agency and consultancy staff. Louise Tibbert, president of the Public Sector People Management Association and head of HR at Hertfordshire county council, said that social workers often went back to councils where they had worked before, but this was also the case for higher-paid staff. She said: ‘Many go to the private sector for better pay in legal, finance and HR or general management roles. There is a big chance that local government will pay the same for them to come back as consultants.’ Over the past five years councils have had their budgets slashed by more than £20billion and lost more than 400,000 jobs. Some councils have been forced to close or reduce a range of services including road maintenance, street cleaning and home care for elderly after having their central funding slashed by almost 40 per cent since 2010. Tony Travers, local government expert at the London School of Economics, said that too many jobs were cut too quickly in search for early big savings and councils had found that they could not provide their services without bringing the staff back.
dozens of authorities have spent more than that the biggest councils, the counties and Birmingham City Council topped the list, spending