Some staff at Norwich City Council are paid £1,000 a day

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted to Norwich City Council on behalf of the Green Party has unveiled the earnings of some of the highest-paid temporary and agency staff. 

Several staff members earn upwards of £800 each day, with one staff member pocketing £944.

Some temporary staff at Norwich City Council are being paid nearly £1,000 a day (Image: Emily-Rose Thompson) The high wages have come under fire from Councillor Liam Calvert, who submitted the FOI and says it is hard to see how those at City Hall can "justify" the huge payments. 

However, a spokesman for Norwich City Council has said they have "no choice" but to "plug the gaps so essential services can continue to be delivered". 

WHO ARE THE TOP EARNERS?

Some of the temporary staff have been employed by Norwich City Council since 2021, with the FOI data collected for contracts awarded between March 2021 and June 2024.

Among the highest earners are the interim director of finance, who takes home £920 each day, an interim deputy S151, who pockets £895, and an interim chief finance officer, who is the highest-paid agency worker at £944 daily. 

A more usual daily wage for that position would be £451 per day.

In fact, the FOI  reveals that many agency workers are paid more than double the going rate, with an interim fire safety manager earning around three-and-a-half times the permanent equivalent.

In September this paper revealed that Norwich City Council has spent £5m on freelance or agency workers over the last year, an increase of around 240pc since 2020.

WHAT DOES THE GREEN PARTY SAY?

Mr Calvert, Green Party councillor for the Wensum ward, has claimed that of the four local authorities based in the city, Norwich City Council is the most reliant on highly paid temporary staff.

Cllr Liam Calvert submitted the FOI on behalf of the Green Party (Image: Cllr Liam Calvert) He said: "Local authorities often have good reasons to employ short-term staff, such as filling vacancies until permanent appointments can be made, or for projects where outside expertise is needed.

"Unfortunately it seems that this Labour-run administration has completely lost its grip on the process at a huge cost to local taxpayers. Rather than looking at what makes some posts hard to fill, it has been throwing money at the problem.

"While many of these officers do excellent work it is hard to see how Norwich City Council can justify paying huge multiples of a standard wage, in some cases, for very long periods.

"The massive cost is not the only issue. By repeatedly filling posts with short-term appointments the council suffers a loss of the continuity and experience needed to properly serve residents.

"Norwich City Council needs to look at how it can attract and retain high-quality staff in a way that doesn’t rely on using taxpayer money to paper over the cracks."

WHAT DOES CITY HALL SAY?

A council representative said: "Since 2020, local councils up and down the country have all reported the identical issue of having real difficulties in recruiting permanent staff with the necessary skills and experience needed, particularly for certain specialist and statutory roles that all councils must have.

City Hall has said that staffing issues are sector-wide (Image: Newsquest) "These are sector-wide issues that have forced many local councils to use agency staff to plug the gaps so essential services can continue to be delivered at a local level. Market forces, which include the going rate for agency fees, are very much driving that.

READ MORE: Spending on City Hall's temporary staff TRIPLES in four years

"We’re focussed on reducing our reliance on agency workers and are filling more roles with permanent staff.

"However, we have had two separate national recruitment campaigns to find a permanent chief finance officer with the right skills for the job, and neither has been successful.

"As this is a statutory role for all local councils, we have had no choice but to employ short-term agency staff.

"This is the reality of the current recruitment landscape for so many local councils but we are seeing signs of things beginning to improve and will continue to do all we can to attract permanent staff."