Agenda item

This report provides the Committee with information on the current contract arrangements, the developments and improvements that have been made since the last report and provides the committee with monitoring information and data analysis of agency staff spend and tenure for the last financial quarter.

Declarations of interest:

None

Witnesses:

Ken Akers, Head of HR/OD

Hannah Dwight, HR Business Services and Programmes Manager

Indiana Pearce, HR Contract Manager

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    A Member of the Committee queried how much the contract with Adecco would cost for the year. The Head of HR/OD explained that the contract was reactive and depended on each directorates need for agency staff. The old contract spend for 2015/16 stood at £12.57M. The service hoped to reduce this cost in 2016/17.

2.    It was queried why ‘Conversion Conversation’ with agency staff failed on some occasions. It was explained that the main reasons these failed was due to pay and flexibility. It was further explained that some agency workers preferred to take longer leave in the summer and hence there was a need for a more flexible contract. It was added that Memorandum of Cooperation’s (MoC) had been helpful in setting price controls but the social worker role was still very price sensitive.  

11.30am Cllr Mark Brett- Warburton arrived at the meeting

3.    It was explained that in April 2017, 19 locum workers in total, seven from Adult Social Care (ASC) and twelve from Children’s, Schools and Families (CSF) had converted to permanent employees.

4.    It was queried whether there was a target in place for the number of agency workers the Council should be employing. The Head of HR/OD stated that constant uncertainty in the workforce meant that it was difficult to quantify a target agency staff number. As the Orbis partnership grew there would be unpredictable levels of demand. It was further stated that staff turnover for the organisation was around 10% and that the number of locum staff in Surrey was lower compared to other organisations such as the NHS.

5.    A Member queried if Brighton and Hove was part of the Adecco agency contract. It was explained that Brighton and Hove were not part of the current agency contract as they had taken the decision to sign another contract before they joined Orbis. It was explained that they were signatories on the (MoC) for social worker locum pay.

6.    It was queried if the turnover in agency workers impacted the quality of care.  It was explained by officers that previously costs had been prioritised in sourcing agency workers which meant the service selected the agency with the lowest rates above maintaining continuity in care provision. It was explained that the service now seeks to maintain a downwards pressure on costs without compromising the quality of care.

7.    Table 5 of the report showed the number of agency workers outside the Adecco contract, of this five business cases had not been approved. Members asked for more details about this. The Head of HR/OD explained that the majority of these had not been approved because the proper process was not being followed by the hiring manager.

8.    The Committee asked for more details around the average costs for locum/bank/permanent social workers in both ASC and CSF. It was agreed for this information to be included in a future update report.

9.    With regards to table 4, total workforce spend for Q1 2017/18, some Members queried the upward trend in total staffing cost in comparison to 2016/17. Officers clarified that they estimated a reduction in agency expenditure for the year. There had been a reduction in staffing spend in the Chief Executive’s Office for Q1 as the Chief Executive had decided to restructure his support office.

10.The Committee agreed for a progress report to be presented to the Committee in 6 months’ time.

11.There was a brief conversation with the Cabinet Member for Property and Business Services around Members IT and the current provision in place. The Cabinet Member explained that a Member survey on IT had been emailed to all Members and Members were encouraged to respond to this. Going forward, password manager and hybrid devices would be rolled out to Members. If Members were still experiencing issues they were told to contact Elliot Sinclair or Kevin Emmons in Democratic Services.

12.The Cabinet Member for Property and Business Services recommended that the Orbis Public Law business plan should be added to the Committees forward work programme for December.

Recommendations:

·         For the Corporate Services Select Committee to receive an update report on agency staffing in 6 months, to include,

o   details around the average costs for locum/bank/permanent social workers in both ASC and CSF

Actions:

None