16 Wirral Council invoices for temp senior managers (IT & SEN), other temps and catering

16 Wirral Council invoices for temp senior managers (IT & SEN), other temps and catering

16 Wirral Council invoices for temp senior managers (IT & SEN), other temps and catering

                                                       

Below are sixteen invoices (among many) that I requested from Wirral Council during the short inspection period when local government electors can inspect and receive copies of contracts and invoices for the last financial year. Each thumbnail image links to a higher resolution copy of each invoice.

I made a trip on Friday afternoon to pick up copies and thought I would start with ones that relate to the recent story in the Wirral Globe Wirral Council freelance staff and consultants are costing taxpayers millions which follows on from my blog post in March Why has Wirral Council spent £6,003,273.07 on temporary staff over the past 10 months?. All except one of the invoices below are for agency staff.

Eleven of the sixteen invoices (various numbers below) are from Odgers Interim who describe themselves on their website as “a leading UK interim management recruitment firm”. These are for the services of an Interim Head of IT (the previous Head of IT took redundancy in March 2013 as the Head of IT post was deleted in a senior management restructure) and an Interim Strategic SEN Lead (the previous SEN Lead Paul Ashcroft left Wirral Council in December 2013, just before it was made public that Lyndale School could close).

The Interim Head of IT (bear in mind the Head of IT post was deleted in the 2012 management restructure to produce “savings”) provided by Odgers Interim cost Wirral Council a daily rate of £695+VAT/day according to the monthly invoices.

Phil Ward (SEN Lead) who chaired the Lyndale School consultation meetings
Phil Ward (SEN Lead) who chaired the Lyndale School consultation meetings

The Interim Strategic SEN Lead Phil Ward (see the photo) was also provided by Odgers Interim. He cost Wirral Council (surprisingly) more than the Interim Head of IT. Odgers Interim were charging Wirral Council £775+VAT/day for his services.

Four of the rest of the invoices (numbers 497-500) are also for agency staff. Invoices 497 to 499 are from Badenoch & Clark. Unfortunately I only have been given the first page of these two page invoices (presumably the second missing pages are timesheets). Each of the Badenoch & Clark ones are marked “STRICTLY PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL” . I presume that the rates (£348.10, £345 and £348.10) are daily rates, so these invoices are just for short-term cover mainly for a week, but the last invoice is for three and a half days.

There is also a CIPFA (invoice numbered 500) (Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy) invoice for 19 days of interim cover at £710 a day for an “associate” (total including VAT £16,188).

Finally invoice 889 is for £1,303.25 + VAT (total £1,563.90) is from Carringtons Catering Limited for the catering at the public meeting on the 2nd June 2014 at the Floral Pavilion. This was the meeting last year at which Cllr Steve Foulkes was made Mayor.

Having these long-term temporary arrangements has to be more expensive to Wirral Council than recruiting new people. I do realise that in the Wirral Globe article that Joe Blott explains that they’re had trouble recruiting to the SEN post. It also makes you wonder why in the first place in 2012 that the Head of IT post was deleted and whether the “savings” of that 2012 management restructure (slightly offset by the three new strategic directors posts) were achievable?

Wirral Council invoice 67 Odgers Interim March 2014 Interim Head of IT 19 days @ £695 + VAT £15846 thumbnail
Wirral Council invoice 67 Odgers Interim March 2014 Interim Head of IT 19 days @ £695 + VAT £15846 thumbnail

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Why has Wirral Council spent £6,003,273.07 on temporary staff over the past 10 months?

Why has Wirral Council spent £6,003,273.07 on temporary staff over the past 10 months?

Why has Wirral Council spent £6,003,273.07 on temporary staff over the past 10 months?

                                              

I found out today that Wirral Council had won the “Most Improved” Council award.

However here are some eye-watering amounts that Wirral Council have spent on agency staff over the last year (the amounts in pounds are the fourth column):

April 2014

BADENOCH & CLARK 1473113 17/04/2014 2070 FINANCE F1100 Agency Staff
BADENOCH & CLARK 1473113 17/04/2014 2070 FINANCE F1100 Agency Staff
CIPFA 1474841 25/04/2014 15336 FINANCE F1100 Agency Staff
ERNST & YOUNG LLP 1469917 04/04/2014 58373.28 FINANCE F1100 Agency Staff
ERNST & YOUNG LLP 1469917 04/04/2014 112930.01 FINANCE F1100 Agency Staff
ERNST & YOUNG LLP 1473456 22/04/2014 62620.8 FINANCE F1100 Agency Staff
MATRIX SCM LTD 1473927 02/04/2014 129963.24 LAW HR ASSET MANAGEMENT A1100 Agency Staff
MATRIX SCM LTD 1470824 09/04/2014 127753.86 LAW HR ASSET MANAGEMENT A1100 Agency Staff
MATRIX SCM LTD 1468960 16/04/2014 128347.01 LAW HR ASSET MANAGEMENT A1100 Agency Staff
MATRIX SCM LTD 1473927 23/04/2014 124671.84 LAW HR ASSET MANAGEMENT A1100 Agency Staff
MATRIX SCM LTD 1471847 30/04/2014 110204.7 LAW HR ASSET MANAGEMENT A1100 Agency Staff
ODGERS INTERIM 1471492 10/04/2014 15846 FINANCE F1100 Agency Staff
ODGERS INTERIM 1474583 23/04/2014 19530 CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE E1000 Agency Staff
PERMANENT FUTURES LIMITED 1473210 22/04/2014 3300 EDUCATION – SCHOOLS E5520 Agency Staff
PERMANENT FUTURES LIMITED 1474959 11/04/2014 9900 EDUCATION – SCHOOLS E5520 Agency Staff
PERMANENT FUTURES LIMITED 1473212 22/04/2014 2640 EDUCATION – SCHOOLS E5520 Agency Staff

Continue reading “Why has Wirral Council spent £6,003,273.07 on temporary staff over the past 10 months?”