Rates update

Following on from my rates blog focussing on the crisis in Mid and East Antrim Borough Council I decided to check how council was dealing with staffing issues in a financially constrained environment given that most expenditure is related to staffing costs.

Last year I had asked for comparison figures for the number of staff in 4 different categories in 2015 at the councils creation and on 1st June 2023. Since then I sought the same figures for 1st February 2024. The results are in the table below

 

Employees – Full time.  P/T.   Fixed term.  Agency

01 June 2015     530.     163.      26.                102

01 June 2023.    513.     112.      28.                189

01 Feb 2024.      526.      116.     19.                184

 

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect that an organisation in the midst of a financial crisis would review it’s staffing complement, especially where close to 25% of the staffing complement are agency workers, some having been in the same position for many years with fewer employee rights than their co-workers.

Since the beginning of the council elected representatives have demanded that this issue is addressed, under the previous administration this was resisted vehemently. Councillors must now challenge this administration and its relationship with a number of recruitment agencies especially those which have been in place for many years. One wonders if councillors are being provided with all the information they require to fulfil their roles.