£11m spent by States on consultants in six months

£11m spent by States on consultants in six months

A proposition from Deputy Kirsten Morel was passed in the States earlier this year requiring the Chief Minister to produce a six-monthly spending report on consultants, fixed-term employees and agency staff. The total figure spent by the government was £25.5 million.

The consultancy bill includes work carried out by either a supplier or an individual between January and June 2019.

Some of the highest individual consultancy spends were:

  • £2 million to £2.099 million paid to
    EY for the modernisation and digital transformation programme.
  • £500,000 to £599,999 to TDP Development Ltd for the Team Jersey programme.
  • £250,000 to £299,000 to KPMG for finance function restructure.
  • £175,000 to £200,000 to the interim chief information officer.
  • £150,000 to £174,999 to the interim Children, Young People, Education and Skills director.

Deputy Morel said: ‘This report was more to show people exactly how many consultants there were and if they were being managed properly.

‘A lot of them have not had a post-consultancy analysis, which the Chief Minister does acknowledge in the report.

‘The government hasn’t managed these consultants very well, which I am sure they would admit. They are large figures and there is one for a resourcing specialist that gets £100,000 to £124,000 in the first six months of the year, but we don’t know what they do.

‘This is not about attacking consultants, it is about finding out whether they are managed properly and people being able to see where their money is going.’

Other figures showed that £7,638,424 was spent on fixed-term employees, £3,392,856 on local agency staff, £2,484,101 on UK nursing agency staff and £823,501 on social worker agency staff.

In response, Senator John Le Fondré defended the figures, stating that more support has been needed this year than usual due to the start of plans to modernise and restructure government departments and how they work.

He also revealed that the majority of contracts were soon to be ended, meaning the number of consultants would drop in 2020.

He said: ‘We sometimes need temporary staff to fill gaps in teaching, nursing and social care; to fill longer-term gaps, where permanent recruitment will take time and the work is urgent; or to provide skills the organisation does not currently have.

‘The government has always used consultants, interims and agency staff, so this isn’t new, although during the initial phase of modernisation and restructuring we have needed more support than we will in the future.

‘Contractors often cost significantly more than equivalent permanent employees, because their fees must cover agency fees, employer and employee social security, pension and tax costs, and compensate for work insecurity and the absence of sick pay and holiday pay.’

He added that competing with other organisations for short-term specialists ‘pushes up the market price for contractors’ and that bringing them to the Island ‘generates the extra cost of travel and accommodation’.

‘However, the number of consultants is forecast to fall significantly in 2020,’ the Chief Minister added. ‘Several contracts are either ending or not being extended as they are time limited, as shown in the report.

‘For instance, only 22 of more than 100 contracts in the first two tables are expected to be extended, while 91 are not.’

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