HAMPSHIRE County Council is spending millions on management consultants while making savage cuts to frontline services for vulnerable people, the Chronicle can reveal.

The bill for external advisors, such as Deloitte and Atkins, was £12.8m between January 2013 and September 2014, an investigation reveals.

This works out at about £19,000 per day, including weekends.

Yet at the same time the Conservative-run council is cutting service budgets by as much as 40 per cent and preparing to axe a further 1,200 jobs.

Critics point out that if less public money was spent buying in external advice, cuts to social services might not be necessary.

As reported in the Chronicle last week, the council’s budget for supporting vulnerable people is being cut by 43 per cent from £24m to less than £14m.

Among services facing the axe is a homeless hostel in Winchester. Milford House in Christchurch Road provides 20 rooms for people who have moved on from Winchester Nightshelter.

Other cuts include slashing £1.5m from council-funded bus routes, including rural and evening services with people on low incomes, the young and elderly worst-hit.

Under Government transparency rules, the council is obliged to publish details of spending over £500 and contracts with suppliers.

The data shows the council has awarded Deloitte a lucrative contract worth up to £18m “as private sector partner to support transformational change” from 2014-16.

This is defined as a “root and branch review of how front-line services can be best delivered” and the council become more businesslike - changes aimed at cutting costs.

Deloitte was paid £7.8m of public money by the council between June 2013 and September 2014, an analysis of the figures show. In addition, council bosses spent at least £5m over the same period on management consultants from other firms, such as Atkins.

John O’Connell, director of pressure group Taxpayers Alliance, called on the council to explain the bill. He said: “Consultants can occasionally save councils money but this is quite an extraordinary sum to have racked up in such a short period of time.

“Taxpayers will be deeply concerned that contracts of this size are being dished out to management consultancies at a time when finances are so stretched.”

Cllr Keith House, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group on the council, criticised the consultancy bill as “lazy” spend. He said: “It’s easier to buy in expensive advice than work out how to do it themselves.”

Hampshire Unison spokesman Andy Straker slammed the bill as a “staggering” waste of money. The council is aiming to save £96m in 2015-16 to cope with reduced Government funding and increased demand for statutory social care. In a statement, the council defended spending on external advisors, saying it was more “efficient and cost-effective” than recruiting permanent staff and making posts redundant.