Reorganisation makes hiring tricky, council says

Waverley Borough Council originally signed off on the deal in March

A borough councillor has said the impending reorganisation of Surrey local government is making recruiting staff more difficult.

Mark Merryweather told a Waverley Borough Council (WBC) meeting that spend on agency workers was trending downwards until plans to introduce unitary authorities were revealed.

The finance portfolio holder said the council expected to make more "costly interim hires" as joining a council that had "about 18 months left" was "not going to be top of your list".

The government said it had inherited "a council funding crisis, which has directly led to recruitment pressures", and was "making councils more efficient".

According to officials, WBC had a "significant" underspend of £1.4m on permanent staff between April 2024 and March 2025.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service found the council spent £3.75m on short term staff via agency fees that year.

Merryweather said the council had to "resort to temporary and agency staff at higher rates" to fill gaps but had "seen some improvement in the last year".

"But as pressures of local government reorganisation build, we should be realistic about our expectations," he said.

Contractors 'not sustainable'

The council has also confirmed plans to merge some services with Guildford Borough Council, with an expected combined saving of £90,000.

Waverley officials said the restructure would "provide additional resilience to cover sickness absence, annual leave, vacancies or increased workload".

"Both authorities are currently carrying vacancies and contractors are being used to provide additional support, which is not sustainable," according to council documents.

The arrangement is expected to take effect from April.

The government is expected to decide what form new local authorities will take by the end of 2025.

Legislation would then be passed to implement the changes, replacing the current two-tier system of district or borough councils and a county council.

Elections for new shadow unitary councils will be held in May and the new councils will begin operating in 2027.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) spokesperson said: "The government inherited a council funding crisis which has directly led to recruitment pressures.

"We're making councils more efficient so they can deliver the high-quality public services people in Waverly need."