Slough Borough Council is rated as the tenth most efficient local authority in the country. Such a significant accolade has been achieved through our prudent and effective management of Council resources, of which staffing is a key component.

We have recently been required to employ external consultants to fill some senior positions on a temporary basis, such as the Strategic Director for Human Resources, whilst we recruited permanent replacements. This will have contributed towards an increase in our expenditure on consultants. However, it should be said that our overall expenditure on staffing costs has not risen

The council employs temporary staff to fill specialist or hard-to-fill vacancies across key services, such as adult social care. Going forward, Slough Borough Council is committed to recruiting and retaining the best staff permanently, so as to reduce our need to employ external personnel. We do not wish to return to the years of unnecessary bureaucracy and waste under previous Labour administrations.