Town halls double their spending on 'ridiculous' woke jobs, figures show after ... trends now
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.
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
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
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
