Council criticised over £2m bill for consultants

A £2m bill for consultants has led council bosses to be accused of failing to "keep the Stoke pound in Stoke", opposition leaders say.

Labour bosses at Stoke-on-Trent City Council have totted up the costs after coming to power in local elections in May 2023.

However, in response to the Conservative opposition leaders' accusations, they have insisted they had spent less on external consultants than the Tories had done when they were in power.

Alastair Watson, cabinet member for finance, also told a full council meeting last Thursday that the number of consultants hired by the council had actually fallen since Labour came to power.

The authority has spent £2.39m on consultants between June 2023 and October 2024, Watson confirmed, with 28 companies hired to carry out 62 pieces of work.

This compared with the then Tory council spending about £5m on consultants in 2022/23, he added.

"In 2022/23, [the Conservatives] had three times the number of consultants, who I'm sure came from all over the place," Watson said.

However, opposition leader Daniel Jellyman felt two projects in Stoke and Packmoor costing £50,000 could have been managed by local businesses.

In response, Watson said specialist consultants were hired for specific projects "where the city council lacks the necessary expertise" and the requirement was only for a fixed period of time.

Jellyman called on the council to publish further details on its consultant use, including the location of each firm, saying this would allow people to see if the promise to keep the Stoke pound in Stoke was being enacted.

Watson stressed the overall reduction in spend on consultants meant less money was going to companies outside Stoke-on-Trent.

The total spend since June 2023, included £2.19m of capital spending - including externally funded work - while £203,852 came from the council's general fund.

The housing, regeneration and operations directorate was the one with the single biggest expenditure on consultants, accounting for £948,574 of the total spend.

The public health directorate spent £753,548, with the resources directorate spending £664,020.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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