ALB, Arm’s Length Bodies, Public Bodies, Quangos, Public Servants, Civil Servants
ALBs employed an additional
17,059 FTE
in contingent labour on the 31st March 2024
Contingent labour represented
4.1%
of the total ALB workforce
HM Courts and Tribunals Service employed the most contingent staff
1,989 FTE
which represented 11.9% of their total workforce on the 31st March 2024
Most contingent labour staff were employed in ALBs providing
Major Programmes
which employed 10,354 FTE in additional staff
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
The Cabinet Office and HM Treasury provide guidance to government departments and their ALBs on spending controls for the use of contingent labour. They define contingent labour as contractors, agency workers, and temps - who will often, but not always, be recruited to undertake work in a Business As Usual (BAU) environment. The contracts for contingent labour will generally pay on a time-based rate rather than delivery of an output or outcome, where there is a justifiable need identified by the organisation for contingent labour within their workforce plan.
The majority of ALBs were able to provide their contingent labour workforce size as of the 31st of March 2024, to allow for comparisons with their primary workforce, which was also captured as of 31st March 2024. However, it is worth noting that capturing Contingent Labour as of the 31st March 2024 is unlikely to capture staff who were in post throughout the year that have since left prior to the 31st of March.
It is also worth noting that a few ALBs were not able to provide this data, and instead had to provide an average of their contingent labour workforce for the year. The Cabinet Office asked these ALBs to provide an additional note indicating this in their supporting comments within the data.
On the 31st of March 2024, Arm’s Length Bodies employed 397,256 staff (FTE). ALBs also collectively employed an additional 17,059 FTE in contingent labour, meaning that contingent labour made up around 4.1% of the total workforce (414,314 FTE) on the same date.
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Ministry of Justice and Department for Transport were the departments which sponsored ALBs with the largest total contingent labour workforces, representing 3,288 FTE and 1,940 FTE, respectively as of the 31st March 2024. These workforces represented 19.3% and 11.4% of the total contingent labour workforce for all ALBs (17,059 FTE).
For Ministry of Justice, the ALB with the largest contingent labour workforce was HM Courts and Tribunals Service (1,989 FTE), whilst for Department for Transport, the ALB with the largest contingent labour workforce was Network Rail (1,664 FTE). For context, the contingent labour workforce for these ALBs represents a small proportion of the combined workforce of both core permanent staff and contingent labour staff for the same point in time: Network Rail (40,026 FTE, 4%), HM Courts and Tribunals Service (14,728 FTE, 11.9%).
Circles represent contingent FTE for individual ALBs, bars represent total contingent FTE for ALBs under sponsor.
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
ALBs use contingent labour in a variety of contexts, yet the majority of contingent labour employed (FTE) by ALBs on the 31st March 2024 worked in the following types of bodies: Major programmes and delivery organisation (10,354), Cultural Institution (1,896), Safety, licensing and regulation body (1,598). Collectively, these types of bodies employed 13,848 staff, representing 81.2% of the total ALB contingent labour workforce (17,059) on the 31st March 2024. Many of these ALBs, such as HMRC and Network Rail, deliver public-facing front-line services, and therefore have larger workforces, which may then require greater use of contingent labour to meet their operational duties.
Circles represent contingent FTE for individual ALBs, bars represent total contingent FTE for ALBs by purpose group.
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
On the 31st March 2024 ALBs collectively employed around 17,059 in additional contingent labour (FTE). However, not all ALBs employ contingent labour, with some requiring greater use of contingent labour than others due to their operational outputs. When examining the proportional size of contingent labour within different ALBs workforces, contingent labour plays a more important role within the workforce of certain ALBs. The ALBs with workforces which have the largest proportional representation of contingent labour are: Oak National Academy: 88 FTE (51.7%); Sir John Soane’s Museum: 24 FTE (49%); Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery: 36 FTE (43.5%); Reclaim Fund Ltd: 6 FTE (28.6%); National Gallery: 89 FTE (25.7%).
Only includes data for ALBs with a workforce greater than 5 FTE.
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
Cabinet Office | ALB Landscape Analysis 2023-24
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