More than £1m must be spent to fund temporary support following an "exodus" of staff at Nottingham City Council. The cash will be used to bandage wounds in the Labour-run council's finance department, but it is understood the staffing issues run deeper throughout various other sectors too.
Council documents reveal the authority has approved the additional gross cost of £1,186,000 to bridge the "skills, knowledge and capacity gaps" in its finances sector. The "serious" shortage of staff and expertise plagues a number of council operations.
At present the authority says it is unable to "provide competent financial advice and support" in relation to the "oversight and control of its wholly-owned companies and companies in which it has a stake". This is a "significant weakness" the council says, and temporary support is urgently required.
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There are also staffing challenges within financial management in the adult and social care sector, while the council's six-strong team critical to the performance of the management of business rates, council tax and benefits services has been hit with "increasing levels of sickness", including two members on long-term sick leave.
Audits of the council's accounts from years gone by have been taking place as part of actions towards financial stability. This is particularly important given it is being scrutinised by a Government-appointed improvement board following the collapse of Robin Hood Energy, and further because the council just recently narrowly avoided serious and costly commissioner intervention.
The council documents state it may take between 12-24 months to catch up fully on its audited accounts, which has been described as "significant work", and so additional expertise is required to catch up on this backlog of work.
Asked about such a significant cost to the council Andrew Rule, one of two Conservative councillors in the authority who represents Clifton West, said: "It is a case of being damned if you do and damned if you don't. If we do not do this we will not meet the improvement criteria that we have got."
The city council has already spent large sums on external consultants, some of whom charge more than £1,000 per day, as part of efforts to become financially stable. The council argues the lack of expertise comes "as a result of previous budget cuts that are now causing service failure."
The £1.186m will also seek to address issues surrounding the lack of capacity to drive improvements in financial policy, accounting procedures and process. These are, the council says, "required to maintain robust financial management arrangements across the organisation."
"In addition a dedicated team is needed to deliver the necessary work on the past year's outstanding accounting accounts and audits," the council added.
Two temporary roles have been approved to lead finance improvements, directly supporting the interim director for finance, for a period of six months. While serious, councillor Rule says the problematic staffing levels at the city council are not, however, unique.
A Google search of staffing levels at councils across the country will immediately bring up countless similar stories to that of the one in Nottingham. "We've had such an exodus of staff from the back office," councillor Rule added. "Clearly we have got to address the gap because of the financial challenges we've got.
"It is needed to ensure we have the appropriate level of financial scrutiny to guard against any further unwise political decisions like Robin Hood Energy and systematic bad practices like the HRA.
"What I am told when I meet with certain senior officers I know we are challenged in the legal department, and the property department is struggling. I am aware we have got several long-standing staff in the services team departing.
"I think it is serious. But it is also a sector-wide issue with local governance as a whole not being able to keep pace with the private sector wages. While the pension may be favourable now, it is not going to help with the wages of today.
"The average wages at the council are £40,000 to £45,000 compared to £100,000 to £150,000 for the same job in London. No councils can compete. I was in a meeting of East Midlands councils and this was not just a theme across unitary councils like Nottingham but also boroughs and county councils."
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