Edinburgh Council spent almost £9m on temporary staff and recruitment agencies in just three months

Edinburgh Council has spent nearly £9m paying temporary staff and recruitment agencies in the first three months of this year.

Conservative councillor and group leader Iain Whyte said the council needs to ‘get a grip’ and hire permanent staff, and called the figure ‘enormous’.

And Katrina Baird, of Edinburgh Council’s UNISON branch, said some council services were suffering due to not bringing work in-house.

A spokesperson for Edinburgh Council said it uses agency staff for seasonal needs and short-term recruitment gaps, and that spend is closely monitored to ensure best value.

Figures released under freedom of information law show the council spent £8.94m with 20 companies for temporary staffing and recruitment services between January and March.

The highest recipient, Pertemps Recruitment Partnership Limited, took in £5.7m of the total, while the next highest, ASA International Ltd, took in £1.2m.

Cllr Whyte said the need for some temporary and agency staffing in the council was understandable, but that the figure was ‘enormous’ for such a short period.

He added: “I question the numbers of staff being employed in this way at the last finance committee because the number of permanent employees was up.

“This was supposedly because the council was recruiting to replace temporary and agency roles. Yet the agency numbers were also creeping up.”

About £1.75m of the spend went to firms whose websites advertise themselves as being suppliers for staff in health and care settings.

The remainder went to ones which advertise providing staff for a broad range of roles.

Ms Baird said: “If the council were insourcing all the work instead of outsourcing it, it would make a lot more sense.

“We’d be spending less money on companies that are outwith Edinburgh Council. There’s lots of places [the council] can fill, there are so many vacancies. A lot of these services are suffering.”

Cllr Whyte continued: “The council needs to get a grip on this situation as agency costs can be huge compared to permanent employees even when on a competitively tendered contract.

“With a growing budget blackhole forecast for the next few years, even with predictions of inflation busting Council Tax hikes factored in every year, this seems an obvious place to start when trying to control staff costs which are a huge proportion of Council spend.

“It certainly gives me plenty to question at Finance Committees going forward if the Council is to work towards value for money for the taxpayer.”

A spokesperson for Edinburgh Council said: “The council uses agency staff to ensure that the needs of our citizens and visitors are met.

“We mainly use agency workers for seasonal roles and short-term recruitment gaps, and this has been subject of further focus as part of our proactive workforce planning arrangements.

“Spend is closely monitored to ensure best value, and our contract for agency and fixed-term resources went through a thorough procurement exercise in 2025 to help achieve this.”