NI Civil Service overspends £46m on agency staff

A summary of the 80 page report was presented to the public accounts committee on Thursday

The Northern Ireland Civil Service has overspent by £46m in the recruitment of agency staff.

The figure is contained in a report by the Northern Ireland Audit Office which has been presented to MLAs.

The investigation which examines Civil Service recruitment was described by one of its authors as a "blockbuster".

Rodney Allen from the Audit Office presented a summary of the 80 page report to MLAs on the Public Accounts Committee..

The report states that over a four-year period the bill for agency workers within the civil service was £150m.

Mr Allen said there had been an increase of agency costs by 155%.

The Audit Office report also examined leadership within the Civil Service, the skills base, and the performance of civil servants.

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Rodney Allen said a "root and branch review" was needed.

He said there were long delays in the recruitment process and the leadership of the service needs to be "fundamentally strengthened".

Mr Allen also said he hoped the report would not "sit on the shelf gathering dust".

He told MLAs that there was a "real opportunity" for the next head of the Civil Service and said change will require "real leadership from the whole of the Civil Service".

Rodney Allen appeared before the committee remotely on Thursday

The DUP MLA William Humphrey, who chairs the committee, described the report as "damning and stark".

He said the overspend in agency staffing costs was "absolutely huge".

The Audit Office report published on Thursday revealed that some workers have been on temporary contracts for up to four years.

Staff in nine out of 10 government departments said they were "not satisfied" with the time taken regarding recruitment.

Last week, the Auditor General Kieran Donnelly said the Civil Service is at a "critical crossroads" and struggling to cope with extra pressure on staffing levels.

He said the recruitment system needed to be transformed and revealed there are almost 1,500 vacancies needing to be filled.

Earlier this week it emerged that overall sickness absence had increased by 10% in five years, with staff off work for an average of almost 13 days annually.

The Civil Service is Northern Ireland's third largest employer with a workforce close to 22,000.