OXFORDSHIRE County Council spent £6.468m paying for temporary staff and consultants over nine months, it has said.

That money helped pay for just over 200 agency workers, including social workers, occupational therapists, administrators and drivers until the end of 2017.

The council spent less than it did in the first nine months of the 2017/18 financial year compared to the year before.

In the same time last year, it had spent £9.186m – and spent £11.17m over the last financial year in total.

A report that will be seen by senior councillors in the county council’s cabinet notes that since March 2010 the authority has seen its workforce cut by more than a third.

But in the last three months of 2017 the number of staff working at the council increased for the first time since 2014.

Overall there was an increase of 109 members of staff – the equivalent of 82.8 full time staff.

The hike was, in part, because of a transfer of 23 property staff who had worked from Carillion after the company’s collapse and were brought back into the council’s employment.

Another transfer meant 27 staff were included in the Regional Adoption Service.

Successful recruitment campaigns meant that 21 social workers and 14 library staff were also hired.

The council expects the total number of staff will increase over the next three months as the council transfers the contracts of catering, cleaning and maintenance staff back in house as a result of the demise of Carillion in January.

Steve Munn, the council’s director of human resources, notes in a report: “We recognise that operational services are critical and cannot be left without any cover. Prudent use of agency staff is therefore deployed to ensure continuity of service.”