Why is councils’ bill for consultants rocketing?

7:50am Friday 28th September 2012 in Evesham By Tom Edwards

Why is councils’ bill for consultants rocketing? Why is councils’ bill for consultants rocketing?

THE amount councils in Worcestershire spend on outside consultants has rocketed £386,000 in just one year – despite widespread job cuts across the public sector.

The biggest increase has been at Worcestershire County Council, where it has leapt £360,000.

And while the fees paid out by Wychavon District Council have dropped, Worcester City Council’s have doubled.

Critics have labelled the spending “outrageous” and want more staff to be doing more work in-house.

Councillor Peter McDonald, the leader of County Hall’s Labour group, said: “We are cutting jobs everywhere but spending outrageous fees on this. It’s disgraceful – anybody can pick up a phone and get a consultant to do something for them. We pay a lot of people high salaries to deliver on behalf of taxpayers. It beggars belief.”

County Hall’s rise included £50,000 on economic development, £66,000 on concessionary bus fares and £79,000 on commissioning services.

IT advice, the Worcestershire Hub, a staff handbook and adoption inspections were just some of the other areas outside consultants were asked to help on.

Just over £10,000 was spent on getting consultants to ring 1,400 county firms to ask them what they thought the barriers to economic growth were.

The council is trying to make £90 million in savings by 2015.

Council leader Adrian Hardman said: “We are hiring specialists to do very specific pieces of work, often because we no longer retain the right skills in-house. It’s not as simple as just getting a management consultant to do something – we are talking about very specialised projects.”

Coun David Thain, cabinet member for the workforce, said: “Six or seven years ago it was actually higher than it is now – we are a transformational council, and we’ve got to manage that change.”

Worcester City Council spent £73,733 on consultants last year. Areas included the future of Worcester’s crematorium, and a new £13 million swimming pool proposal.

A spokesman said: “Around £35,000 was spent on engaging Greengage Consulting to provide a leadership development programme for 60 managers and team leaders across the council last year.

“This programme followed a significant internal re-organisation of management and was developed to improve the service we provide residents.”

Malvern Hills District Council’s spending rose just £3,800, but the best performer was Wychavon District Council, where it dropped £18,000 in a year.

Wychavon leader Paul Middlebrough said: “We have a fantastic team in-house and a strong management track record.”

Comments(15)

reflector says...
8:50am Fri 28 Sep 12

Lining the pockets of consultants is nearly always poor value for the taxpayer. They charge ridiculous money for their services which often can be provided as well, if not better, by Council staff.

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one94 says...
8:58am Fri 28 Sep 12

It's the same where I work as well. All year us full time employees get grief about budgets being tight, but then 30% of the people in the office are contractors on £400+ per day! Maybe it's just a sign of the times and it's time to become a contractor.

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More Tea Vicar says...
9:05am Fri 28 Sep 12

The statement

//Coun David Thain, cabinet member for the workforce, said: “Six or seven years ago it was actually higher than it is now – we are a transformational council, and we’ve got to manage that change.” //

Is quite revealing.

What he seems to be saying is that even years ago, when Labour were throwing money at the public sector, the Council felt the need to spend vast sums on consultants.

The notion that they are now using consultants to manage retraction seems at best 'misleading'.

And the Council can still find vast sums for the South Worcestershire Destruction Plan, Haines' huge salary....etc.

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jb says...
10:32am Fri 28 Sep 12

Council leader Adrian Hardman said: “We are hiring specialists to do very specific pieces of work, often because we no longer retain the right skills in-house" what a feeble excuse!

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skychip says...
10:35am Fri 28 Sep 12

Why was £10,000 spent on someone phoning all those businesses. Was that good use of money. Do wonder if these Councils know how to make the best use of the money that is given to them by Government.

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DEMRICS says...
10:39am Fri 28 Sep 12

jb wrote:
Council leader Adrian Hardman said: “We are hiring specialists to do very specific pieces of work, often because we no longer retain the right skills in-house" what a feeble excuse!
Which basically means the council are employing staff who neither have the skills, knowledge or competence to do the job properly, so consultants are required to bail them out at an exorbitant costs to the tax payer.

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More Tea Vicar says...
11:09am Fri 28 Sep 12

jb wrote:
Council leader Adrian Hardman said: “We are hiring specialists to do very specific pieces of work, often because we no longer retain the right skills in-house" what a feeble excuse!
And it is in contradiction of David Thain's statement that they were spending more in the past, before the cuts.

As Thain admits, they were spending more when they had the staff, before the cutbacks they are blaming for the 'need' for consultants.

The council needs to explain itself a bit better - though to do so they'll probably hire a consultant.

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CJH says...
11:42am Fri 28 Sep 12

"Why is councils’ bill for consultants rocketing?" Easy. The directorate can't direct. The management can't (or aren't allowed to) manage. And you don't need to be a consultant to know that. Consultants don't fix things - they are self perpetuating. If they fix it, they're not needed anymore, therefore doing themselves out of a job. How stupid do the council have to be not to realise that? If they feel they do need a consultant - make it a payments by result basis with a time constraint. I think they'll find the problem is sorted quicker and more efficiently once the consultants risk not getting a fee.

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More Tea Vicar says...
12:25pm Fri 28 Sep 12

Robin Walker is normally pretty vocal. Why isn't he having a say on this issue?

I would have thought local Conservative politicians would be up in arms over what looks like industrial scale waste.

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CJH says...
12:36pm Fri 28 Sep 12

More Tea Vicar wrote:
Robin Walker is normally pretty vocal. Why isn't he having a say on this issue? I would have thought local Conservative politicians would be up in arms over what looks like industrial scale waste.
He's waiting for his consultant to tell him what to say...

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Vox populi says...
12:52pm Fri 28 Sep 12

Hmmm here we go again council bash massive.

All companies use consultants. You can use them for short term contracts, they don't get sick pay, pensions or cost to recruit etc. There are many benefits.
Not defending it but it can be cheaper in the long run.

Ironic how most people complaining here are usually whinging about the poor performance of council staff and how useless they are at their jobs! Don't like consultants either then?!? Maybe they should get their CVs out and become consultants on such "high" wages….

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WilkoJ says...
1:13pm Fri 28 Sep 12

Vox populi wrote:
Hmmm here we go again council bash massive.

All companies use consultants. You can use them for short term contracts, they don't get sick pay, pensions or cost to recruit etc. There are many benefits.
Not defending it but it can be cheaper in the long run.

Ironic how most people complaining here are usually whinging about the poor performance of council staff and how useless they are at their jobs! Don't like consultants either then?!? Maybe they should get their CVs out and become consultants on such "high" wages….
If council staff were competent, skilful, knowledgeable, caring and generally good at their job, then we wouldn't need to complain about council staff. But the reality is that they're anything but competent, skilful, knowledgeable, caring and generally good at their job, and not a patch on the private sector. This Whittington roundabout farce summarises nicely why council staff are pathetic and incompetent.

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jb says...
1:51pm Fri 28 Sep 12

Vox populi I make comments due to my personal experience of the County Council services which I have had dealings with. I have found them to be incompetent, have poor knowledge of services they should be helping me with, weak in management capability and worst of all untrustworthy. I have no experience in dealing with consultants, my annoyance stems from the amount the councils pay them and considering the continuing problems that exist within the councils have they really shown value for money? What proof do we ever see that consultants have done any good when they're hired?

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More Tea Vicar says...
2:47pm Fri 28 Sep 12

Vox populi wrote:
Hmmm here we go again council bash massive.

All companies use consultants. You can use them for short term contracts, they don't get sick pay, pensions or cost to recruit etc. There are many benefits.
Not defending it but it can be cheaper in the long run.

Ironic how most people complaining here are usually whinging about the poor performance of council staff and how useless they are at their jobs! Don't like consultants either then?!? Maybe they should get their CVs out and become consultants on such "high" wages….
No, maybe the highly paid council management ought to be able to do their jobs.

'All' companies do not use consultants. some do, sometimes.

Mr Thain attempts to boast, or defend the current situation, by saying that less money is being spent now than before the cutbacks.

He is in effect admitting that the council wasn't up to the job when it had more resource, and still isn't up to it now.

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DEMRICS says...
4:57pm Fri 28 Sep 12

I bet when it comes to working out their massive salaries, pensions and other benefits, council workers don't require consultants.

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