STAFFING / COMMUNICATIONS, TRAVEL & HOUSING SPEND / ODS / COST PER SERVICE AREA
Case reference FOI2026/00980
Received 6 September 2026
Published 2 October 2026
Request
Dear Oxford City Council, Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following information relating to Oxford City Council (the council directly, not Oxford Direct Services or other wholly-owned companies unless specifically noted below). 1. STAFFING For each of the last three full financial years (2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25): a) The total number of staff employed by the council (headcount and full-time equivalent/FTE), including permanent, fixed-term, and apprentice contracts. b) A breakdown of staff numbers (headcount and FTE) by department, directorate, or service area. c) The number of staff employed within the council's communications/press/marketing function specifically, and the annual staffing cost (salaries plus on-costs) for that function. 2. COMMUNICATIONS SPEND For each of the last three full financial years: a) Total spend on external communications, marketing, PR, and public consultation activity (including agency fees, design, print, digital advertising, and social media spend), excluding statutory public notices. b) Total spend on the council's website, newsletters, and any paid social media promotion. 3. TRAVEL SPEND For each of the last three full financial years: a) Total staff travel and subsistence expenditure (mileage, public transport, hotels, and related expenses claimed by officers and councillors). b) Total spend on the council's own vehicle fleet (excluding Oxford Direct Services' fleet), if applicable. 4. HOUSING SPEND a) A breakdown of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget by function (e.g. repairs and maintenance, management costs, capital works, homelessness/temporary accommodation) for each of the last three full financial years. b) Total temporary accommodation spend, including the number of households and the split between council-owned/leased accommodation and commercial (hotel/B&B) accommodation, for each of the last three full financial years. 5. OXFORD DIRECT SERVICES (ODS) a) The total annual payment made BY the council to Oxford Direct Services Limited and Oxford Direct Services Trading Limited for services delivered under contract, for each of the last three full financial years (as distinct from ODS's total company turnover, which includes non-council commercial income). b) Any annual management fee, dividend, or surplus returned BY ODS to the council, for each of the last three full financial years. 6. COST PER SERVICE AREA For each of the last three full financial years, a breakdown of net revenue spending by service area (as published in the council's spending plans) cross-referenced with the FTE staff numbers allocated to each of those service areas, so that an approximate cost-per-FTE and spend-per-service-area figure can be calculated. If it would be quicker or clearer to provide any of the above in an existing published document (such as a Budget Book appendix, workforce report, or management accounts extract),
Response
Response
1. STAFFING a) Total number of staff employed by the Council
2022/23
Headcount: 809
FTE: 873.54
2023/24
Headcount: 830
FTE: 830.12
2024/25
Headcount: 867
FTE: 811.69
b) Breakdown of staff numbers by department, directorate or service area
Please see the attached spreadsheet containing the requested information.
c) Communications/press/marketing staff and annual staffing costs
2022/23
Headcount: 11
FTE: 10.14
Salary cost: £370,715.94
2023/24
FTE: 10.0
Annual staffing cost including on-costs: £477,009
2024/25
FTE: 9.31
Annual staffing cost including on-costs: £514,394
For 2022/23, the information held is recorded as salary cost. The 2023/24 and 2024/25 figures provided by Management Accounting include salary on-costs.
2. COMMUNICATIONS SPEND
a) External communications, marketing, PR and public consultation activity
2022/23: Information not held.
2023/24: £550,060
2024/25: £607,623
The figures provided are the costs of the communications and consultation teams and are predominantly salary costs.
b) Website, newsletters and paid social media promotion
Website
2022/23: Information not held.
2023/24: Capital £72,385.35; Revenue £0
2024/25: Capital £63,450.00; Revenue £62,634.00
Newsletters
2022/23: Information not held.
2023/24: £18,904.40
2024/25: £20,319.84
Paid social media promotion
2022/23: Information not held.
2023/24: £9,417
2024/25: £11,926.84
The paid social media figures include the Council’s annual £5,500 LinkedIn contract for advertising vacancies.
3. TRAVEL SPEND
a) Staff travel and subsistence expenditure
2022/23: £48,431.65
2023/24: £46,595.83
2024/25: £39,479.70
b) Council's own vehicle fleet
2022/23: Information not held.
2023/24: Information not held.
2024/25: £7,419.67
4. HOUSING SPEND
a) HRA budget by function
Please see the attached spreadsheet containing the requested HRA budget information for 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25.
b) Temporary accommodation spend, number of households and accommodation split
Temporary accommodation spend:
2022/23: £136,896
2023/24: £1,281,152
2024/25: £3,000,756
The Council does not hold the requested information regarding the number of households and the split between Council-owned/leased accommodation and commercial (hotel/B&B) accommodation.
5. OXFORD DIRECT SERVICES (ODS)
a) Annual payments made by the Council to ODS Limited and ODS Trading Limited
2022/23: Information not held.
2023/24: Information not held.
2024/25: £20,632,487.40
The Council makes payments to Oxford Direct Services Limited (ODS), rather than Oxford Direct Services Trading Limited (ODST), for the contractual delivery of statutory services.
b) Management fee, dividend or surplus returned by ODS to the Council
2022/23: Information not held.
2023/24: Information not held.
2024/25: £5,400,000 dividend received.
6. COST PER SERVICE AREA
Information on the Council's net revenue spending by service area is available within the Council's published Statements of Accounts for the relevant financial years:
Oxford City Council – Downloads for Statement of Accounts
The Council does not hold the requested information cross-referenced with FTE staff numbers in the form requested, and does not hold a calculated cost-per-FTE or spend-per-service-area dataset.
Documents
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