New research has found that the slow hiring practices of local councils wasted an estimated £437m last year.
An investigation by the recruitment firm Omni RMS found that local councils take nearly twice as long as firms in the private sector to fill positions.
Acquiring its information through Freedom of Information requests, Omni RMS discovered that East Northamptonshire Council took an average of five months to hire new members of staff.
Other councils named in the study included: Enfield Council (145 days to hire), Woking Borough Council (133 days), Glasgow City Council (126 days) and East Lothian Council (102 days).
On average, according to the findings, it takes private firms 28.6 days to hire an employee. This is roughly half the time it takes local councils (55.4 days).
Omni RMS estimates this delay results in a productivity cost of over £350,000 for every 100 new hires.
