Almost £2 million was spent on interim managers at the council during the last financial year, the Post can reveal.

During 2015/16, 40 temporary staff were hired totalling £1,798,358 – a fifth more than two years earlier.

The figures were released following a Freedom of Information by this paper.

A recruitment consultant, who didn’t want to be named, questioned why fixed-term contracts weren’t used to save on spending.

“There may be alternatives they could explore,” he said. “Is there an opportunity for them to take on permanent staff?”

A spokesman for the council said it was “committed to and has continued to” reduce the cost of senior management.

He added that the council had introduced a “number of temporary managers in order to meet the needs of the service in the short term” as a result of permanent staff who had left through a voluntary redundancy scheme during the past year.