Town halls double their spending on ‘ridiculous’ woke jobs, figures show after Jeremy Hunt demands an end to public sector waste as struggling councils risk going bust

Councils have almost doubled their spending on ‘ridiculous’ woke jobs in the past three years, figures show.

Almost £52million of taxpayers’ cash has been spent by local authorities on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) roles.

The amount spent by councils rose from just over £12million in 2020/21 to almost £23million in 2022/23.

It comes after the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt ordered town halls to ditch diversity schemes as part of plans to clamp down on wasteful spending as more struggling councils risk going bust.

Nearly 200 councils across the UK have forked out cash on EDI roles since 2020, figures compiled by the TaxPayers’ Alliance show.

They include the bankrupt Labour-run Birmingham City Council, which hired an ‘Assistant Director Community Services and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion’ on an average salary of £103,165 in 2022.

Meanwhile Calderdale Council in West Yorkshire, also Labour, hired a ‘Staying Well Team Manager (Agency)’ – one of 40 ‘wellbeing’ roles hired across ten councils over the three-year period at a total cost of at least £1,149,441.

Councils were last night facing pressure to scrap the roles as MPs and campaigners accused them of wasting millions.

Former business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said: ‘It shows why councils do not deserve extra funding from central government. Too many are wasteful and badly run and will only be brought to order by tightening finances.’

Tory MP Nick Fletcher said: ‘Enough of this ridiculous woke spending that actually creates division. We absolutely must find a way to get rid of this wasteful and divisive resource allocation from right across our public sector.’

Last week Mr Hunt told local authorities to produce plans by July to reduce ‘wasteful spend’. He has singled out diversity schemes as an example.

A Cabinet Office source said: ‘The Government has been clear that councils cannot ask for more money while maintaining huge spending on non-jobs in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. They need to get their house in order, tackle this unnecessary expenditure and focus on service delivery to their residents.’

Millions of households are set to see their council tax bills rise in April, with many imposing a 4.99 per cent hike – the maximum it can be increased by without a referendum.

Families in areas where councils have effectively declared themselves bankrupt face even steeper hikes. 

For example, Birmingham City Council is raising council tax by 21 per cent over the next two years.

Since 2020 ten councils have declared effective bankruptcy, according to the Institute for Government.

The figures from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which sent Freedom of Information requests to all 383 councils in the UK for details on the number of EDI roles they employed, show a rise in the amount spent and the number of roles in each of the past three years.

In 2020/21 UK councils employed 474 EDI roles, costing £12,043,455.15. This rose to 579 roles, costing £16,084,609.48, a year later. By 2022/23, councils had 717 EDI roles, costing £22,821,573.40.

Of those that responded to the FoI, 196 confirmed they employed EDI roles in the past three financial years, totalling 1,818 jobs at a cost of around £51,775,800.

Six of the nine biggest spenders were town halls with Labour majorities. They include Greenwich and Calderdale which spent a minimum of £2,562,500 and £2,561,538.50 respectively.

The 40 ‘wellbeing’ roles had titles including ‘Neighbourhood Worker Staying Well’, ‘Diversity Inclusion and Wellbeing Adviser’ and ‘Staying Well Team Leader’.

Joanna Marchong of the TPA said: ‘With the cost of council tax soaring and the mounting debt councils are sitting on, taxpayers will be astonished by the money wasted on council non-jobs.’

The Local Government Association, which represents 315 of the 317 councils in England, said: ‘Councils have a legal duty to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation.

‘While councils continue to innovate and transform their services to meet the needs of their communities, it is unsustainable to expect them to keep doing more for less in the face of unprecedented cost and demand pressures.’