Havering Council has achieved a significant reduction in its spending on agency staff, with a 22.7% decrease in expenditure for the last three months of 2025 compared to the same period in the previous year. The council is aiming to reduce its overall agency worker spend, which could save approximately £3 million per year on recruitment costs and fees if it hits the London average of 11.8%.

The Overview & Scrutiny Board heard that the primary reason for engaging agency staff remains project or additional work, accounting for 66.99% of new engagements. Cover for long-term sickness absence was a minimal driver.

Bar chart showing the percentage of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) sick days by various sickness reasons, with Musculo-skeletal issues being the highest at 19.22%.
FTE Sick Days by Sickness ReasonSource: Overview & Scrutiny Board papers, 17 March 2026

Despite the overall reduction, the board noted an increase in senior agency workers earning over £75,000 and those with more than two years' tenure. Discussions are underway to explore converting these roles to permanent positions and investigating alternative employment models.

Graphs showing the number of Adecco agency workers earning more than £75k and those engaged for more than two years, with data spanning from 2018/19 to December 2025.
Adecco Agency Workers DataSource: Overview & Scrutiny Board papers, 17 March 2026

In some circumstances, it can be cheaper to engage agency workers at lower pay grades than to convert them to permanent positions due to the council's public sector pension contributions. Additionally, some roles may be hard to fill due to factors like salary, location, or job description. The council is exploring options such as a statement of works model and potentially setting up an in-house agency similar to Haringey's model.

The council is working with its Master Service Provider, Adecco, to streamline processes and reduce reliance on off-framework agency workers. Adecco was appointed through a Pan-London Collaboration, chosen for its competitive rates achieved through an e-auction, which were cheaper than previous arrangements. Adecco manages a supply chain of approximately 320 agencies for hard-to-fill or niche roles, and the council pays Adecco a low single-digit percentage as a management fee.

The current percentage of agency workers is 14.3% (460 workers), and the target is to reduce this to 12% or under within 12 months. This target is being measured against a baseline that saw a reduction from 15.4% in March 2025.

A chart showing the percentage of Adecco agency workers in the total workforce over a 12-month period, with a RAG rating indicating the current percentage of 14.3% against a target of ≤12% and a London average of 11.8%.
Adecco Agency Workers - 12 Month OverviewSource: Overview & Scrutiny Board papers, 17 March 2026

Further details on HR metrics can be found in the Report - HR Metrics. Information regarding agency staff is available in the Report - Agency staff.