Council must act on key worker housing say Surrey Lib Dems
Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council are calling for the council to urgently address the lack of key worker housing available to its staff, which could save it millions of pounds each year.
In 2015/16, the county council spent £14.9 million on agency staff and have so far spent £7.4 million in this current financial year from 1st April. The council's over reliance on costly agency staff is a result of the difficulty the council has had in recruiting and retaining key staff to work for the organisation. These include social workers, planners and highway engineers. The council currently has 510 vacancies, 378 of which are for social care staff. The lack of affordable housing and the high cost of living in Surrey makes it difficult to attract the skilled staff that the council needs to provide vital services for Surrey residents.
Cllr Ian Beardsmore, Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Sunbury Common & Ashford Common said:
"Liberal Democrats have proposed that the county council provides key worker housing which would provide affordable accommodation for key workers in Surrey. This would reduce the reliance on expensive agency staff to fill vacancies, which is costing the council millions of pounds each year.
"Key worker housing could be provided by the county council using money which has been earmarked for its investment strategy to raise income to help fund services. The means by which key worker housing could be provided would be to change the council's current investment strategy, to invest in key worker housing in Surrey as a priority, as opposed to spending millions of pounds on commercial property outside Surrey. As part of its investment strategy, the Conservative administration has spent £67m (between November 2015 and July 2016) on purchasing commercial buildings outside of Surrey, and currently plans to spend millions more.
"Whilst we clearly recognise that commercial investment has its place, we are calling for the investment strategy to put far more emphasis on providing key worker housing to help recruit and retain staff to work for the county council. As Surrey is so close to London, living costs and property costs are high, which means that recruiting and retaining staff is difficult and the council is forced to hire expensive agency staff to fill vacancies. Key worker housing, targeted at recruiting and retaining vital staff would help fill vacancies, reduce the millions of pounds of spent on agency staff and would provide a rental income stream to the council - a "win win win" solution for the county council, its staff and council tax payers.
"Liberal Democrats have been consistent over the years in calling for investment here in Surrey so that we can attract vital key workers and bring agency costs down, but action has been sorely lacking. Now is the time for the county council to deliver on its previous promises and to start investing in key worker housing for the benefit of Surrey residents".
ENDS
- The wording of the motion Cllr Beardsmore is proposing to Council on 6.12.16 can be found here under Item 8 (ii):
https://mycouncil.surreycc.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=121&MId=4583&Ver=4
- The figures outlining the 2015/16 council spend on agency staff can be found here (p16):
- The figures outlining current spend on agency staff and current vacancy rate can be found here (p16):