A council has spent £4.56m on 66 agency workers in the 2024/25 financial year with many needed to work in social care.
The figures were shared at a Wiltshire Council committee and were lower than the previous financial year, with a high of £8m in 2018/19 according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Wiltshire Council said they spent less compared to similar local authorities and without the agency workers there would be impacts on service users and the wider Wiltshire community.
The council has just approved a new three-year contract for agency workers too, with the option to extend for a further 12 months, at an estimated cost of £20m over four years.
The £4.65m equates to around £75,000 per agency worker, which would be well above the average council pay of £35,000.
However, the council said when it comes to agency hiring "a simple average does not accurately reflect the true cost of these roles."
