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£3.5m in 12 months ... should Sheffield Council be spending millions on advisors?
Sheffield Town Hall
SHEFFIELD Council spent almost £3.5 million on consultants in just 12 months - including temporary staff on six-figure salaries The Star can reveal today.
Among the appointments has been a director to oversee the council’s Customer First Programme, who was paid £131,000 for the 10 months from last April to this January - equivalent to a £157,000 salary.
The Customer First project includes setting up a single number telephone line for council services, and greater use of IT to improve efficiency.
Meanwhile, Paul Firth was paid £116,000 for nine months between last April and December - equivalent to £154,000 annually - to be interim chief executive of the taxpayer-funded development agency Creative Sheffield. He has now left the post.
The revelations come after the council announced it is to make £84 million of cuts, including axing jobs and reducing services.
Prime Minister David Cameron - who is paid £142,500 a year - earns proportionally less.
West Yorkshire-based training company Exemplas was the council’s most expensive consultant in 2010/11 - paid £153,754 to provide advice on ethnicity, disability and diversity to city businesses.
Other spending included £80,000 on a PR firm to promote an environmental campaign, £72,000 to promote Sheffield as part of England’s failed 2018 World Cup bid, and £74,000 a year on a consultant to advise on rebuilding secondary schools.
Council bosses said spending on some consultants for temporary roles was necessary - but said the authority has now reduced the bill significantly.
In the 12 months from October 2008 to September 2009, the bill was £4.42 million. That was reduced by 21.5 per cent to £3.47 million for October 2009 to September last year.
But Jon Mordecai, Sheffield chairman of trade union Unison, said: “The spending on consultants is not good news for Sheffield.
“The amount being paid for the Customer First Programme director is a huge sum when we are already paying contractor Capita to implement the project.
“With Creative Sheffield, when the old chief executive left, someone should have acted up in his place. It would have been more cost-effective.
“The amount spent on Exemplas is far too high when the council had its own diversity officers, who it is now getting rid of.
“The schools rebuilding officer could have been recruited in-house, and the council has its own media team - so I don’t understand why it needed an external PR firm.”
Sheffield Council said spending on business and management consultants fell 13 per cent between September 2009 and September 2010.
The use of other consultants - mainly for marketing, design and PR - decreased by 32 per cent, it said.
Chief executive John Mothersole said: “Consultants are mostly hired for temporary roles. If you take them onto the staff and then they are not needed at a later date, you then end up with a bloated council workforce.”
But he added: “Consultancy spend has reduced dramatically and it will drop even further.”
He said the amounts paid to Mr Firth and to the Customer First Programme boss included National Insurance and pension contributions, and were not representative of their actual salaries.
Mr Mothersole added the Customer First director’s role had not been included within the contract with Capita because the post was not needed for the duration of the project, so was being funded separately.
Sheffield Council leader Coun Paul Scriven said: “When we came into control in 2008, the amount spent on consultants was spiralling.
“At times there is a need for consultants, but we have reduced spending by 30 per cent since we came to power and we plan to cut the bill by a further £1 million next year.”
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Comments
There are 38 comments to this article
Page 1 of 3
edstyles
Monday, March 7, 2011 at 03:27 PMTypical scare tactics! Being someone who has historical sight of where this money is likely being spent (no I don't work for the Council nor am I a beneficiary of any of the figures mentioned above), I would like to ask everyone who has taken the usual 'typical council' position - how do you think that any council meets the substantial cuts they have had forced on them? http:www.thestar.co.uknewslocalbarnsleypraise_for_city_council_1_3136141 Do they... a) carry on as they are, making the same mistakes and keep spending OUR money inefficiently or b) bring in specialists in service reform, and the like, and actually attempt to spend our money more wisely I opt for the latter and unfortunately sometimes it actually costs money to save a lot more money. I state again, I do not work for the council or any of these people who are getting paid these fees - expertise does cost money unfortunately.
Sickened but not Surprised!
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 11:16 PMConsultants, marketing experts, advisors and the rest of that ilk are nothing more than spivs, flim-flam men and fancy chancers. They do nothing more than roll the dice using YOUR money as collateral. I’ve been in business for 20 years and never come across one of these so called “experts” who didn’t state anything but the bleeding obvious. It’s just a shame that the “hirers” of these confidence tricksters are so blind and blinkered to their methods. The “hirers” haven’t got a clue how to locate the pot of gold so they recruit these jokers who regurgitate a universal “plan” on where to look for it. It’s never "X" marks the spot! Consultants should only ever be paid when and after they have managed to locate the treasure and NEVER before!
Sir Taxedalot
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 11:15 PMConsultants are people who steal your watch and charge you to tell you what time it is. What it boils down to is insecure, feeble management looking for someone else to take responsibility and using our cash to do it.
Sickened but not Surprised!
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 10:57 PMConsultants, marketing experts, advisors and the rest of that ilk are nothing more than spivs, flim-flam men and fancy chancers. They do nothing more than roll the dice using YOUR money as collateral. I’ve been in business for 20 years and never come across one of these so called “experts” who didn’t state anything but the bleeding obvious. It’s just a shame that the “hirers” of these confidence tricksters are so blind and blinkered to their methods. The “hirers” haven’t got a clue how to locate the pot of gold so they recruit these jokers who regurgitate a universal “plan” on where to look for it. It’s never "X" marks the spot! Consultants should only ever be paid when and after they have managed to locate the treasure and NEVER before!
Wednesday4eva
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 08:44 PMIt amazes me that Labour still get the blame. Now I'm not saying hey were pure but this is a Lib Dem led council, and we know how they can bend the truth. I just wonde how our roads would look if this money had been spent on reairing tem. It's one thing welcoming third world country people here but do we have to have a road system that makes them fee at home. The sooner Scriven is out of a job the better, and he can take Mothersole with him. Leeches the pair of them.
samspam
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 08:32 PMOf course they should: and the money should come out of the pockets of the moron that employed them. JOBS FOR THE BOYS ... corruption by any other name.
oldcodger
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 07:14 PMAll I can say is that the Councilors and their staff are completely inept or there's a lot of corruption. How can an organisation claim to be competent when they have to pay the figures quoted. My advice is to throw the lot of them out and start all over again. Zapp has the right idea, get to the meetings and make the councilors answer questions and keep at them until you get the answers.
stevee
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 07:05 PMI used to work for the council in the 80's & 90's and because of the nature of the work there is constant change. Whenever there was a project needed they sould create a team through internal secondments - problem was because they knew the job inside out the managers often didn't get teh answers they wanted and considered to project members biased - hence the conusltants who have a brief and are paid to give favourable findings. There are plenty of good staff working for the council who are capable of doing the same work these consultants do
Rodgers
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 06:24 PMZapp. I would love to do as you say. Some years ago I did just that. I was victimised by certain councillors , I was made out to be a trouble causer and was labeled a serial complainer by a councillor. I also had my window smashed followed by a phone call to stay away from any of the meetings I used to attent regular. O.K. Yes I like to create an arguement and love playing the devils advocate, But debate followed by a vote can work and is the most democratic way, But I once voted against a a rediculous scheme and won over those concerned. I was made to suffer. I have never been to a meeting since.
Boomdocker
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 06:05 PMWhy is anyone surprised at the level of the cost of funding consultants. They and many more are required to "prop up" this inefficient, inept ruling party on the council. Wake up Sheffield, it is time for a change.
oldermum
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 05:06 PMIt's a sad indictment on Sheffield City Council that they don't have the expertise in-house that they need. To spend so much money on consultants at a time of economic crisis is appalling. What's more appalling however is that they are still employing consultants on the Customer First project. We're now over 1 year on since the concept was approved by cabinet and so far there has been no progress. So not only is it shameful it's also a complete waste . Money down the drain. Why not value and train your existing staff up to do these jobs instead of sacking them?
viper51
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 04:43 PMTypically in business if an organisation becomes reliant upon consultants whereby they are spending millions of pounds, it is a sure sign that the Management are not doing their jobs correctly or they are incapable of such. There is no better example of this than with the Sheffield steel industry (Outokumpu)..and more recently EDF Energy, West Burton and Cottam power stations..
Zap
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 04:19 PMRodgers - I hear what you are saying and actually agree - but unless people attend these 'meetings' and force honesty and integrity on the councillors and their officers, we can only expect more of the same. The answer is to get in their faces, make it awkward for them to peddle their lies and challenge them where you feel able to do the right thing and remind them when they mess up time and time again. Boycotting these meetings doesn't work, thats what they want - we need to mobilise and get into their faces and force the issue - its not too late - it never was and don't believe them when they say their hands are tied they are not.
Sir Taxedalot
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 04:05 PMWaste, waste and more waste. Years of Labour misrule mean that the people at the top of public services are totally unaccountable. They consider themselves Gods.They can't be sacked and they won't quit. They are untouchable. Spineless politicians just let them spend what they want and expect us to foot the bill. Perhaps it's time for a council tax strike in protest.
youcan
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 02:19 PMWhy O Why are we surprised,we have a CE who boldly states that he has not taken a pay rise for 2 years and that he is reducing his salary by 5% !!, so local council employees are not affected then??? By my reckoning that is at least 20 low paid workers who would keep their jobs if we sacked him,even more without any huge pay off that seem common place for these over paid scroungers who continually blame others for their blundering performance.
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