Somerset Council has spent more than £33m on agency staff and consultants over the last two-and-a-half years.
The local authority declared a financial crisis in November 2023 and has since been dependent on "exceptional financial support" from the central government to balance its books for both 2024 and 2025.
In response to inquiries by the Conservative opposition group, the council disclosed that it has spent over £33m on consultants and agency staff since April 2023 – roughly equivalent to the savings made during the initial phase of its transformation programme.
The council said it had achieved "significant savings" since the declaration of the financial emergency and justified much of the agency expenditure due to national shortages in crucial professions such as social workers and planning officers.
Councillor Dawn Denton, shadow portfolio holder for finance, procurement and performance, brought up the issue at the full council meeting in Bridgwater on 25 September.
She said: "There has been a significant and rising use of consultants and agency staff since this administration took control of Somerset Council in May 2022.
"While some contracts are small in scale and may be agreed for an extended period of time, added together they represent millions of pounds of public money.
"Can we ask that this information be made available to all councillors and the public in a transparent and accessible format?".
In the wake of the full council meeting, the authority confirmed expenditure of £33.5m via its Matrix supplier – broken down as £12.5m in 2023/24, £14.2m in 2024/25 and £6.8m to date in 2025/26.
The expenditure emerges as the council's workforce programme – the initial phase of its transformation initiative – resulted in the elimination of the equivalent of 555 posts, leading to nearly 300 compulsory redundancies.
These numbers exclude any "non-Matrix agency or consultancy costs", and additionally do not encompass the £20m the council will be allocating to consultants to propel the second phase of its transformation programme forward.
This subsequent investment aims to bridge the council's anticipated budget shortfall, which without such intervention will reach £101m in 2026/27, heightening the prospect of the council being forced to declare effective insolvency.
Responding to the numbers, Ms Denton (who represents the Frome North division) said: "Somerset Council is cutting services for our residents, increasing council tax and yet writing blank cheques to consultants.
"That is not responsible leadership, does not build trust or balance the books.
"Somerset deserves leadership that invests in its own people, not costly sticking-plaster solutions."
The Conservatives have grown increasingly vocal in their criticism of the ruling Liberal Democrat administration's handling of the financial crisis, with Councillor Sue Osborne observing that a recent report into the council's finances "had more red lights flashing than you'd ever find in a red light district".
The council explained that it frequently had little option but to spend money on agency staff owing to persistent national shortages across a range of critical public sector positions – including planning officers, social workers, occupational therapists and legal experts.
A spokesperson said: "We have made significant savings since the council formed in April 2023, including the recent workforce programme which reduced our pay bill by £33m.
"While going through a whole council restructure, it was always planned to use agency staff as short-term cover in specific roles rather than recruiting permanent staff who could later be at risk of redundancy.
"Now the restructure is complete, we are actively seeking to reduce use of agency staff and convert agency staff to permanent where possible.
"However, there are national shortages of staff in certain specialist roles in areas like legal, planning and social work, so like many councils, we'll continue to use agency staff where needed to ensure we can continue to deliver essential public services."
