Local Government Workforce Survey 2009

Councils are working hard to develop their staff and offer the best value-for-money services during the recession, the latest Local Government Workforce Survey has found.

Key findings:

The number of councils with recruitment and retention difficulties has reduced dramatically:

• Only 52 per cent of councils reported any difficulties, compared to 83 per cent last year

The majority of authorities are taking actions to help develop and make the best of their talent:

• 71 per cent of councils are now accredited with Investors in People (IiP) for the whole authority, up from 51 per cent in 2001  
• 91 per cent have participated in or planned leadership development, either on their own or in partnership

Most councils are also getting involved as employers in helping to tackle local unemployment:

• 95 per cent are offering regular work experience schemes with local schools and colleges

Although overall recruitment and retention has improved, recruiting social workers has become more difficult:

• 72 per cent of authorities with recruitment and retention difficulties have problems in recruiting children’s social workers, up from 64 per cent in 2008

The number of councils implementing or considering a total rewards approach has fallen:

• 28 per cent of councils have implemented or considered implementing this approach

Councils are improving their accountability in awarding for reward packadges:

• 32 per cent are using a remuneration committee to oversee the reward package for chief executive

2009 Survey

The survey was conducted by the LGA Group’s Analysis and Research team, on behalf of the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and Local Government Employers (LGE). The IDeA and Local Government Employers (LGE), together with the rest of the LGA Group, will draw on these results in supporting councils to develop a ‘fit for the future’ workforce and in producing the Local Government Workforce Strategy 2010

The final response rate achieved in the England and Wales  was 57 per cent (212 authorities); the England response rate was 58 per cent (206 authorities).

Local Government Workforce Survey 2009: England - Report (PDF, 65 pages, 629KB)

Local Government Workforce Survey 2009: Full Results (xls, 1418KB)

This file allows you to view all of the results from England and Wales by whichever type of authority or region you like. The guidance notes on the cover page will explain to you how to use the file but if you do have any queries then please use the contact below.

Authorities that completed the survey are also eligible to an interactive benchmarking file that will allow you to compare your authority's results with those of other authorities. This comparison can be made using a number of different variables including type of authority and region.

If you have not received your authority's interactive benchmarking file please let us know at the contact below and we'll re-send it. 

Please note that we have republished the 2009 Local Government Workforce Survey report and associated files (December 2009); this is so that methodology used to calculate GTE for this year's survey is constistent with that used for the 2008 survey.

Date: November 2009

Contact: elizabeth.spratt@lga.gov.uk