Councillors have agreed to employ recruitment agencies to help them attract more teachers to Aberdeenshire.
Members of the policy and resources committee yesterday authorised the local authority’s education team to spend up to £150,000 on agency fees in the next financial year.
The council has struggled in recent years to attract probationary teachers away from the central belt and the Scottish Government has imposed recruitment targets on local authorities.
And Scottish councils were offered extra funding to maintain teacher numbers – but were warned budgets could be cut if government targets were not met.
Councillor Paul Johnston said he hoped the public would not misinterpret the move to hire headhunters, and stressed: “We’re doing it to avoid a fine.”
Committee chairman Martin Kitts-Hayes added: “I know a lot of members are in discussions with the government to show what’s important is not about teachers numbers, but rather about attainment.”
Members of the policy and resources committee yesterday also agreed a new £1.2million deal to bring in bailiffs to collect unpaid taxes.
The debt collection contract could help the local authority claw back some of the £42million owed by residents and businesses in the region.
In the past six years private debt collectors have recovered £28.3million of cash owed to the council. The proposed deal will cost £1.2million over six years, a £600,000 saving on the previous contract.