Report warns councils face chronic staff shortage

(21/04/08) UNISON says new research that shows councils will struggle to employ enough staff to run services in the next decade is a perfect illustration of why pay and conditions must be improved.The report from the New Local Government Network, published today, warns that a third of local government workers are due to retire within 10 years.Adding to the problem, it also found that “authorities are set to lose significantly higher proportions of senior managers over the next decade” compared to other areas of the public services.UNISON senior national officer Lucille Thirlby said: “This is not an issue for the future, but for the here and now.”While the report seemed only to focus on senior managers within local authorities, she said, “the problem is much deeper that.“While there are fewer graduates wanting a career in local government, this cannot have solely led to this crisis. It is pay and conditions at work that lead people to stay or go.”The report also shows that graduates often reject a career in local government because they perceive average council staff to be “definitely middle-aged, probably wearing glasses, slightly overweight … white, middle-class men”, who spend their lives focusing on “things like parking fines and what type of seat is going to be at the bus stop”. Ms Thirlby noted: “We are very concerned on the perception of local government, as it does not reflect that three-quarters of the workforce are women.“There is a job of work to be done by the Local Government Association and others in local government to promote local government for what it really is.”The report criticises many council management structures as “not currently fit-for-purpose” and calls on councils to be more “outward looking” when recruiting for posts.UNISON is backing the report’s call for greater support for middle managers.However, the union disagrees with two other recommendations: fixed-term contracts for management staff, and the introduction of a ‘transfer fee’ system, where councils would collect a cash reward if a worker they trained moved on to another authority.“Where is the equality in that approach?” Ms Thirlby asked. “We know that managers never have difficulty getting training, but other workers do.”And there were enough fixed-term contracts already, she said.