Agenda item

Report by the Chief Operating Officer

40.1     The Committee considered a report by the Chief Operating Officer which presented the latest information available about the use of agency workers via Comensura. The Interim Assistant Director for Personnel and Training introduced the report and highlighted the key points within the report and the appendices.

40.2     The Committee asked for an update on two issues that were raised in response to last year’s report:

·        The establishment of a relief bank of care workers for Adult Social Care (ASC) to reduce the number of agency staff needed.

·        The suggestion of employing/identifying dedicated staff to work to reduce sickness absence in the ASC department.

40.3     The Interim Assistant Director for Personnel and Training reported that a relief bank had been established in ASC to provide care workers in directly provided services (DPS) where minimum staffing levels exist. The relief bank is working well, with existing part time staff being offered additional hours. This has had a positive impact on the quality of care as it maintains the continuity of care by using staff who are already familiar with service users. It has been difficult to assess the impact this has had on costs, but at a time of increased pay levels, the expenditure on agency workers has remained fairly consistent at around £6.5m - £7m per year.

40.4     A number of pilot schemes have been undertaken in ASC to reduce sickness absence, which have had positive impact on sickness absence levels. There are two examples in appendix 3 of the report. In one pilot scheme the provision of physiotherapy has led to a reduction in musculoskeletal absence, in another the “Five Weeks to Wellbeing” campaign has reduced the occurrence of sickness absence. The main piece of work has been to equip locality teams with robust return to work procedures and to support managers to have the necessary discussions with staff about their sickness absence.

40.5     The Committee discussed a number of aspects of the report and made the following comments.

40.6     The Committee noted that the Business Services Department (BSD) has the highest agency expenditure and asked for a breakdown of the expenditure. The Chief Operating Officer explained that approximately £2 million of the £2.4 million expenditure was spent on corporate change programmes, and was not supporting BSD core services. The agency assignments for corporate change programmes include short term posts (fixed term contracts) and interim managers where specialist skills are required (especially in Information Technology). It is the intention to reduce the number of these short term posts as the various change programmes come to an end.

40.7     Committee asked whether membership of the Orbis Partnership would have an impact on the use of agency workers. The Interim Assistant Director for Personnel and Training responded that the Orbis Partnership may potentially lead to a reduction in the level of agency assignments in these specialist areas as Orbis will provide a bigger staff pool. Alongside this, the ambition of being an employer of choice will hopefully lead to an enhanced ability to attract staff, which will, in turn, help Orbis reduce the number of agency workers needed.

40.8     The Committee requested a further explanation of the agency assignments used for a ‘work peak’ in the Communities, Economy and Transport (CET) department. The Interim Assistant Director for Personnel and Training agreed to update the Committee, but thought it may be linked to lower permanent staffing levels in the lead up to the letting of the new Highways Maintenance contract.

40.9     The Committee noted that the report shows a reduction in sickness absence levels for quarter 1 of 2015/16 and asked if this was likely to continue. The Interim Assistant Director for Personnel and Training explained that there are likely to be seasonal variations in absence levels due to illnesses such as colds and flu. All key staff (such as care workers) are offered flu vaccinations, and may have to avoid contact with vulnerable service users if they believe they are becoming unwell. Therefore, it is expected that sickness absence levels will increase, but it is not currently anticipated that they will be any worse than last year.

40.10   The Committee RESOLVED to note the findings and conclusions presented in the report.