Agency workers costing councils £1.7bn

UK councils spent £1.7bn employing agency and temporary staff in 2006/07 according to a new report published at the GMB Congress. With UK agency workers now set to qualify for equal treatment after 12 weeks of employment, and an EU Directive going through the European Council today (9 June) pressing for this equality from day one, is this figure set to rise further still?

Brian Strutton, GMB National Secretary for the Public Services Section, speaking at the GMB Congress in Plymouth was concerned by the size of the current figure; “This is more than just filling in gaps. Too many councils are using cheap temps when they should be recruiting permanent staff who can be properly trained and given the experience that is necessary to provide quality local services. GMB Congress will call on Councillors across the land to get a grip on this out of control spending.”

The 12-week scheme was called a disaster for businesses last month when it was announced. The Federation of Small Businesses said that “temporary workers … are already costly”, and that this could result in “many small businesses [who] will stop using temporary employees.”  If this turned out to be the case, and councils followed suit, the 12-week scheme would result in a decrease in council spending.

However, as the equal treatment proposed in the scheme includes pay, there is a possibility the scheme could lead to an overall increase in costs. The CBI, which called the scheme “the least worst option available for British business” said that it was “difficult to say what the outcome would be”, but that it would “watch with interest.”

At the same time as the GMB discusses council spending, Members of the European Council will meet in Brussels to attempt to reach a political agreement on the EU Agency Workers Directive, which will push for agency and temporary workers to get the same rights as permanent employees from day one of employment.

When asked what this extension of rights could mean for employer spending on agency workers, Mike Emmott, Employee Relations Advisor at the CIPD said, “we cannot really say how big the increase would be, but any deal on a directive is going to put up the employer’s costs.” This extension seems unlikely however; “the [12-week] deal which the TUC and CBI agreed to shows that the UK would be very reluctant to sign up to anything that implied rights from day one, so I would guess that [UK support] is unlikely, although the UK is not in a very strong position in terms of allies on this topic.”