Labour council to spend up to £1.7m on 16 IT temps

Haringey’s Labour-run council is due to spend nearly £2m on 16 temporary IT staff (Full Time Equivalent). The figures were disclosed in a report discussed at a Haringey Cabinet meeting on 20th October at the Civic Centre in Wood Green.

The temporary staff are due to deliver a technology project for the council over a period of 12 to 18 months.

The Lib Dem opposition in Haringey have estimated that if 16 staff were employed on the budgeted figures the cost of each staff member would be £106,250.

At the Cabinet meeting the Lib Dem Leader of the Opposition Cllr Gail Engert, challenged the Labour cabinet and questioned the massive spending on only a small number of temporary staff. During the meeting it emerged the temporary agency staff could be on day rates of around £375 a day and that the council often pays consultants £500 or £600 a day.

Cllr Gail Engert, Haringey Lib Dem Leader of the Opposition, comments:

“People in Haringey pay the fifth highest council tax in London and they rightly expect that money to be spent on essential services not temps.

“It is shocking that Labour are prepared to waste £1.7m on staffing for an IT project whilst closing day centres for older people and children’s centres.”

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