Worthing's £2million consultants spend

Through the Freedom of Information Act, the Herald requested a breakdown of Worthing Council’s spending on third-party consultants in the last four tax years.

The list of spending provided to the Herald shows the council’s extensive use of consultants – professional companies paid to give advice or expertise – on different projects, ranging from the new swimming pool and regeneration of Worthing town centre to the replacement of boilers in the Aquarena, Connaught Theatre and Worthing Musem, and more than £100,000 spent on the retrieval of a back-dated VAT claim worth £2 million.

The £702,319 spent last year on consultants is also more than £500,000 higher than the figure for consultancy listed on the Spolightonspend website, which has a breakdown of Worthing Borough Council’s spending from the last tax year.

Paul Yallop, leader of Worthing Borough Council, said this was because the website, which is not run by the council, categorised its spending differently to the council.

Much of the money – last year and over the last four years – was spent on consultancy for capital expenditure projects, such as the new swimming pool, which in the last four years cost £454,700, and the regeneration of Worthing town centre, which in that time cost £257,600.

Consultants were also employed by the borough council on various occasions to boost efficiency and reduce spending, with £40,443 spent on a “lean improvement exercise” and £23,948 spent on a “PMP leisure efficiency review” last year alone.

The news comes weeks after the council was told to slash its running costs by Worthing residents, who were asked to act as chancellor and vote for the areas of public spending they thought should be cut.

But Mr Yallop defended the decision to pay for consultants and said the council used them only when it led to money being saved.

He said: “All of the expenditures for consultants listed save money – that’s why we do them.

“The money has been well spent and has helped reduce costs. Other councils do the same.

“You have to look at the money in the context of a £15 millon salary bill.

“We can’t employ everyone with every skill and when we don’t have people with the skills we need we employ consultants.”

He added: “It’s frustrating when people see consultants as a waste of money – it’s money being used to save money in the long run.”

Worthing Solidarity Network (WSN) – an alliance of trade unions and community groups from Worthing – said elected councillors were “abdicating their responsibilities”.

Pensioner John Hughes, a member of WSN, said: “Worthing’s councillors need to wake up – it’s time for Worthing’s elected representatives and the council’s expert staff to take these decisions and not contract them out to profit-making organisations which don’t share our values or have our interests at heart.”

Information about the council’s consultancy spending can be seen by clicking on the external links to the top right of this story.