Local government needs a suitably skilled, well-motivated and engaged workforce that meets the changing needs of residents and can continue its work through challenging times.
The task is considerable – with a workforce some 1.4 million strong, around 800 different occupations and a pay bill of approximately £22 billion a year. While the numbers are large, the majority of local government staff earn less than the 2024 UK average of £37,430 as identified by the Office for National Statistics.
There are also significant issues around recruitment and retention of officers into local government. The most recent LGA workforce data provides a comprehensive review of the current situation in councils.
A council’s paid employees are called officers. Unlike civil servants, who work for the government, local government officers have a duty to support the whole council, not just the cabinet. This means that they must remain politically neutral.
Very simply, councillors set the strategic direction and agree the policy framework of the council; officers are responsible for delivering the council’s policies and for the day-to-day managerial and operational decisions within the authority. Officers must give advice and information to councillors and the public and carry out the council’s work in a professional manner, with due regard to the statutory requirements for delivering services and obligations in relation to the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty 2011.
Officers fall broadly into two main categories: front-line and support. Front-line officers deliver services to the public – for example teachers, social workers, care assistants and refuse collectors. Support staff ensure that front-line services and the democratic process can operate smoothly – for example through administrative, finance, legal, communications and IT support.
Councils also deliver services through various partnerships and outsourcing arrangements. These staff are not directly employed by the council but are affected by decisions made by councillors.
The working relationship between councillors and officers is integral to the successful operation of an effective local authority. Specific provisions will be included each council’s standing orders about the involvement that individual councillors can have in the appointment and dismissal of staff and in setting employment policies. Many councils have protocols or policies to govern councillor/officer relations. All councillors have a general duty of care towards officers, but the protocol will set a framework for members to promote equality and respect the impartiality and integrity of staff.
The management of officers is governed by a wide-ranging framework of employment law together with additional requirements for the sector on a range of employment processes and behaviours.
One important additional requirement is that by law, every council must appoint three key officers:
2. A monitoring officer – responsible for advising councillors of the legal framework within which they operate, and for ensuring that they understand if their decisions or actions could lead to a legal challenge or be found to be maladministration. They are also responsible for matters relating to member & officer conduct and the constitution. Not 'lead to legal challenge' but 'report on matters they believe to be illegal'.
3. A Section 151 officer – usually the director of finance, whose task it is to monitor the financial affairs of the council and to ensure that financial affairs are properly managed.
The senior management team will head up the council’s main functions or departments. The relationship between the leader or elected mayor and the chief executive is particularly important and can have a profound effect on the council’s performance. In some instances, more than one council share a senior management team or other management arrangements.
Local government is responsible for arguably the most complex range of services in the public sector, touching the lives of people and businesses throughout its local communities. The funding pressures facing local government together with increasing demand for services has created recognition that nothing has a bigger influence on the quality of service delivery and overall impact on our communities than the culture and practices of the workforce.
Councillors must be aware of the impact of workforce issues in their service planning activities and stay informed about the workforce structures and mechanisms that their local authority uses to create a sustainable and dynamic workforce.
The LGA improvement and support offer has resources to support councillors and officers to create the roles, skills and working environments to meet organisational workforce strategies and pressures, including:
- Resources to help local government employers to address recruitment and retention challenges and promote local government as an employer of choice, and
- Targeted professional and leadership development programmes, and
- Advice and information on ways local government employers can respond to an increasingly evolving work environment.