Sandwell beats other Authorities

I see Sandwell are leading other authorities by miles, this time its spending but its not spending on schools or roads or the elderly, oh no

Its spent £12.5 Million on Agency workers

Yes Agency Workers?

While making their own staff redundant?

What's going on in Sandwell?

I see one Sandwell councillor has said it’s an appalling waste of money and Sandwell should get their house in order.

Sandwell Labour have been blaming Tory Cut’s for the redundancies, How can Sandwell justify that spending while sacking its staff? why not retrain them?

Will someone help me with my maths?

The Government asked Sandwell to save about (£25-30M) per year,                       

Sandwell rushes off and spends £12.5Million on agency staff.   
                                                       
Then starts to make its own staff redundant

Authority agency spend	2009/10	2010-11
Sandwell	£9.6M	£12.5M
Wolverhampton	£4.9M	£5.6M
Dudley	£4.1M	£4.7M
Staffordshire	£4.2M	£2.8M
Walsall	£8.4M	£7.6M
South staffs	£167,454	£216,834
Lichfield	£291,027	£311,190

Sandwell has an estimated pot of £9.7Million to cover redundancy costs (see below)

 A press report on Sandwell based on redundancy costs

Council bosses have set aside £4 million cash pot and have been given permission to borrow a further £5.7m from the Government

 http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2011/01/25/massive-bill-as-axe-falls-on-sandwell-council-jobs/#ixzz1fUZJPHmu

And also take a look at

E&S    3^rd Dec 2011  page 6 Midland Councils spend £35 Million