A huge bill for agency staff amid severe social worker shortages is adding strain to Sefton Council’s already-stretched finances.
A report presented to a meeting of Sefton’s cabinet at Bootle Town hall revealed the extent of the council’s overspending on agency staff, which has reached £6.5m over the past year.
More than half of that figure is being spent on “managed teams” – which are entire teams of social workers and managers contracted as a whole from agencies to run parts of the council’s social services functions.
