Wandsworth Council is overspending tens of millions of pounds this year — and the biggest culprit is the council itself.
New figures [pdf] show the borough is massively reliant on expensive external agency staff because it has failed to fill hundreds of permanent roles. In total, Wandsworth Council overspent by more than £40 million in 2024/25 — with much of that driven by its inability to recruit or retain staff in key departments.
The council spent £3.77 million on agency workers last year — more than four-and-a-half times what neighbouring Richmond Council spent (£830,000) — despite both boroughs sharing most services and staffing structures under a combined management arrangement.
Worse still, the bulk of the agency hires were made off-framework, meaning they weren’t even hired through the council’s agreed supplier, Adecco. The combined councils spent £17.3 million on off-contract agency workers in 2024–25 — more than double the £8.1 million spent through official channels.
Staffing Gaps Across the Board
A breakdown of staffing shows that the council is struggling to fill permanent roles across nearly every major service area. As of March 2025:
| Directorate | FTE Vacancies (Jan-Mar) | Permanent Hires |
| Adult Social Care & Public Health | 45 | 6 |
| Children’s Services | 57 | 7 |
| Housing & Regeneration | 30 | 14 |
| Finance | 53 | 30 |
| Chief Executive’s Department | 14 | 13 |
Adult Social Care and Children’s Services — two of the most critical and regulated areas — had the worst vacancy-to-hire ratios, with only a handful of permanent staff recruited in the final quarter of the year.
Overspending Mirrors Staffing Gaps
The same departments struggling with vacancies are also driving overspend:
| Department | 2024/25 Overspend |
| Adult Social Care | £13.7 million |
| Children’s Services | £8.1 million |
| Housing & Regeneration | £5.3 million |
| Change & Innovation | £2.1 million |
All four areas were flagged in internal reviews for excessive use of temporary staff, unclear leadership, or failure to implement cost-saving reforms.
“Well-Run” Claims Fall Apart
For years, Wandsworth has marketed itself as a “well-run” borough. But the data paints a very different picture: a council unable to retain staff, unwilling to act until legally forced, and now spending millions to cover its own failings.
Internal assessments revealed that many council services are bloated with excessive management layers, leading to inefficiency, slow decision-making, and duplication. And the problem appears to begin at the top.
Despite Richmond and Wandsworth having roughly the same number of full-time staff as other comparable London boroughs (between 3,500 and 4,000), the Chief Executive’s department alone has 406 full-time staff — and recently recruited 14 more. That amounts to 13.5% of the entire workforce.
By contrast, most other London boroughs assign just 2% to 9% of their staff to the Chief Executive’s office — typically between 40 and 250 people. In Richmond and Wandsworth, the top tier is vastly oversized for the organisation it oversees.
Wandsworth is, by its own admission, a bloated, top-down organisation — one that struggles to retain staff at the base while piling on layers of management at the top.
Forced to Act — Not Choose to
Wandsworth’s recent efforts to cut agency use in Children’s Services only came after new statutory guidance came into effect in October 2024, restricting the use of agency social workers. The borough had no choice but to comply — it didn’t lead the change, it reacted.
In Housing, the story is similar. The council has been forced to respond after receiving a C3 rating from the Regulator of Social Housing and facing legal pressure from Awaab’s Law, which compels landlords to deal swiftly with mould and damp.
According to the council’s own complaints report, 68% of complaints relate to service delays or failures, and 26% to staff behaviour or attitude. These failings have now snowballed into millions of pounds in disrepair claims, legal liabilities, and budget overspends.
A Council in Trouble
Wandsworth’s reliance on temporary and off-contract workers is not just a budgeting issue — it’s a symptom of a deeper organisational failure.
It can’t keep staff.
It can’t hire fast enough.
It won’t reform until it’s forced to.
And taxpayers are picking up the bill.
