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15
Aug
North Yorkshire Council agency worker pay more than Prime Minister, survey finds
Agency worker pay at North Yorkshire Council works out more than the Prime Minister, according to new research.
The pressure group TaxPayers’ Alliance said the council's agency workers cost on average £179,281 in 2024-25, which is more than Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s salary of £174,038.
The figure is contained in Town Hall Sickness, published yesterday (August 14) by the right-wing pressure group, which campaigns for lower taxes.
The report says sick leave rates in local government are more than double those in the private sector.
Councils, it adds, spent £1.9 billion on agency and temporary staff in 2024-25, equivalent to more than £8.5 million per working day.
One of the report’s key findings says North Yorkshire Council spent £6.8 million on 38 full-time equivalent workers during the year.
It adds: “This works out to £179,281 per full-time equivalent. The average in 2024-25 was £29,133 per agency worker.”
The TaxPayers’ Alliance research is based on freedom of information requests.
The report said:
Rising demand, wage inflation and staff shortages have left many authorities struggling to balance the books. However, while councils attribute these pressures primarily to funding cuts, too little attention has been paid to inefficiencies within their own operations. One such area is staff sickness absence, which remains largely overlooked despite its significant cost.
North Yorkshire Council said:
The council is committed to direct employment and only uses agency workers where there is a short-term emergency requirement, where work cannot be undertaken directly or where recruitment has temporarily failed.
Whilst spending £6.8 million on agency workers is a large sum, the council spends significantly less than most other comparable councils, and agency workers are less than one per cent of its workforce.
Out of the £6.8 million spend, £3.8 million is attributed to assessments or programmes. Therefore, the remaining £3 million covers the hourly payments of the 38 full-time equivalents. Whilst this is an average of £79,000 per agency worker, this includes all third-party agency margins, statutory holiday, tax and expenses.
Asked what 'assessments and programmes' referred to, the council said it was payments for assessments, such as mental health assessments, which were conducted independently of the council.
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