Talks are being held with city council staff about job cuts after it emerged that bosses spent more than £311,000 on agency workers in just three months.
The local authority has launched the next stage of its ambitious restructure which involves the “proposed reduction” of posts.
New figures released by the council this week shows that across the departments, the spend on agency staff had increased by £311,351 between December and February.
Spending on temporary workers for the roads department increased by £88,035 from £317,000 in December to £398,102 in February.
Council bosses now hope the new model will save the authority about £125million in five years through increasing digital technology and reducing the 8,500 strong staff numbers.
But insiders said that ultimately thousands of posts could be axed – with a voluntary redundancy programme already ongoing for 370 posts.
Although the local authority was keen to stress that there would be no compulsory redundancies.
The local authority has a total of eight employees on more than £100,000 a year on its payroll, including chief executive Angela Scott who earns a salary of £158,377.
Employment lawyer Michael McLaughlin of the firm DWF, whose online profile says he is a specialist in “insourcing and outsourcing”, has been tasked with helping the local authority move forward with the Target Operating Model.
A council spokesman said DWF was appointed “to provide additional capacity and support in the delivery of the new functional structure”.
Talks began with staff yesterday.
Council co-leader Douglas Lumsden said: “Part of what we have been talking about today is to see how our staff can potentially be redeployed into some of these roles done by agency staff, meaning the council is less reliant on agencies.”
However, opposition SNP group operational spokeswoman Jackie Dunbar said: “It’s deeply concerning to see that at a time when we still have no certainty from the administration as to how many jobs will be affected by their Target Operating Model, that more and more is being spent on agency staff.“
Council chief executive Angela Scott said more than £10million needed to be trimmed from the budget this year alone.
She added: “A commitment to no compulsory redundancies underpins the approach being taken and minimising the potential impact on individual members of staff has been a priority throughout, with full support and advice being offered to all employees affected by proposed changes.”
