This comes as it was revealed that the Civil Service spent £135,326,352 on agency staff in the 2024/25 financial year.
A Stormont department has said that their use of agency staff is “cost-effective and necessary” after one MLA described the increase in their reliance as “unsustainable”.
The figures, which were released by the Department of Finance in response to a written Assembly question by SDLP’s Daniel McCrossan, revealed a jump of almost 2000 agency staff within the Civil Service between 2023 and 2025.
The figures showed that as of 31 March 2023, there were 2,975 agency staff working across the departments. This jumped to 4,939 by 31 March 2025.
The majority of agency staff were employed by the Department for Communities, with 3,729, which has increased from 1,971 in 2023.
This comes after a separate question from DUP MLA Stephen Dunne revealed that the Civil Service spent £135,326,352 on agency staff in the 2024/25 financial year.
A spokesperson for the Department for Communities said: “The increased use of agency workers in recent years is due to a number of factors, including high levels of turnover, particularly at AO level, insufficient supply from recent recruitment competitions and the requirement to resource benefit delivery teams at pace on behalf of the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP).
“The use of agency staff is a cost-effective and necessary way to manage DWP-contracted benefits work and, on occasion, to deliver some time-bound work to meet particular business needs, where there is a lack of staff supply.”
SDLP West Tyrone MLA Daniel McCrossan said: “An increase in almost 2,000 agency staff in just two years by Executive departments is totally unsustainable. The Department for Communities, in particular, is massively reliant on agency staff with an 89% increase in just two years. Justice and DAERA have also seen significant jumps, raising serious questions for those Ministers about how they run their departments.
“This over-reliance on agency staff will come at significant cost to the Executive’s budget at a time when they are under significant pressure. It shows a total lack of workforce planning and a failure to properly recruit for the roles that need filled to keep this place running.
“I would urge Executive Ministers to move away from using costly agency staff and launch a recruitment drive that provides certainty for both staff and services. This is no way to run any government.”
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