It means the department is currently spending around £1.5 million a month on agency staff. The figures were revealed in a financial document being discussed by Bradford Council’s Executive on Tuesday. The Quarter 4 financial report says the Council’s social care budget has overspent by £4.9 million in the past year due to higher workloads and an increased reliance on agency staff. As of February there were 149 agency social workers employed in the service. In April 2019 there were just 53 agency social workers at the Council. And it was recently revealed that 34 agency workers have worked for the Council’s Children’s Services for over a year.