Erewash council resorting to 'golden hellos' and spending £1 million on temps due to staffing difficulties

Erewash Borough Council’s Ilkeston Town Hall headquarters

A Derbyshire council is experiencing staffing difficulties and resorting to “golden hellos” of £5,000 and spending £1 million a year on temporary agency staff to keep it going. At an Erewash Borough Council meeting this week (Tuesday, February 27), the leading executive group of councillors were told the authority was now in a “regrettable” position over staffing.

This includes the council simultaneously cutting vacant roles but struggling to hire staff and spending £1 million in the past year on agency staff. Saverio Della Rocca, the council’s director of resources, said the authority was experiencing “difficulties” recruiting staff.

He said the authority had removed vacant roles through its budget-saving plans but has since had to rely on agency temporary staffing to fill positions it cannot scrap. Mr Della Rocca said the authority tried to hire an accountant three times without success and “failed” on all three occasions, leaving the council to hire a temporary agency appointment, who he says has cost “three times the rate”.

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He said: “We have tried to bring people in and deal with what we have got but we are squeezed and we have had to bring in more agency staff, particularly in areas like planning. Mr Della Rocca said the council had implemented “golden hellos” of £5,000 – giving an introductory bonus for new recruits – and would look to repeat the same again after seeing some success.

However, he said the council would still need to hire further agency staff to “cover the gaps”. James Dawson, council leader, said that the authority was “not alone” in its staffing issues, claiming the “entire sector was experiencing difficulties recruiting, including in planning”.

A report approved by the council executive saw the extension of a contract with EBCT 282 for agency staff for a further year. This includes staff in both the waste services department and the green space and street scene team with peak periods seeing the council using up to 18 agency staff a day – totalling 36 across both services.

The report details the council spent £981,000 on agency staff in those two departments in 2023. A further report shows the council will save £599,000 this year by reducing the number of staff it employs, with 12 full-time roles scrapped, including vacant neighbourhood warden and anti-social behaviour officer roles.

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