Soulbury Conditions of Service Surveys 2009

The Soulbury Conditions of Service Surveys were conducted by the Local Government Association’s Analysis and Research team for the Officers’ and Employers’ Sides of the Soulbury Committee in November - December 2009.

Two surveys were conducted, one to seek the views of local authorities, and the other to seek the views of a random sample of Soulbury officers, on four key areas which were identified by the Officers’ Side trade unions during the 2008 negotiations on pay and conditions of service as the cause of growing pressure on their members: workload and responsibilities; working hours; staffing levels; and annual leave. The results from both surveys will facilitate a joint exchange of views and information at both national and local level in an attempt to identify those areas where it is agreed that there are problems which need to be addressed, either on a national, local or regional basis.

The local authority survey was sent to all 174 relevant local authorites in England and Wales and at the close, 38 (22 per cent) had responded. The officer survey was sent by the four relevant trades unions (Aspect, AEP, NAYCEO and NUT) to a random sample of 2,100 (20 per cent) officers in England and Wales, and at the close, 661 (31 per cent) had responded.

Some of the main findings are summarised below:

Local authorities

• 63 per cent of respondent authorities thought that school improvement staff’s workload had increased over the past two years, compared with 53 per cent for educational psychologists and 37 per cent for young people’s managers. None reported that workloads had fallen.
• 37 per cent of respondent authorities reported that school improvement staff worked on average more than 40 hours per week, 26 per cent reported that educational psychologists worked on average more than 40 hours per week.
• 68 per cent of respondent authorities thought that Soulbury officers’ working hours and obligations for evening/weekend working were reasonable in relation to their overall employment package.
• 37 per cent of respondent authorities indicated that they had had some difficulty recruiting school improvement staff over the past year, 42 per cent had had difficulty recruiting educational psychologists, but only 8 per cent had had difficulty recruiting young people’s managers.
• 42 per cent of respondent authorities had restrictions on school improvement staff taking annual leave during term time, 34 per cent had them for educational psychologists, while only 8 per cent had restrictions for young people’s managers.

Officers

• 86 per cent of respondents thought that their workload had increased over the past two years (varying between 90 per cent of school improvement officers and 78 per cent of educational psychologists), and 78 per cent thought that their professional responsibilities had increased over the same period.
• 78 per cent of respondents reported that on average they actually worked more than 40 hours per week (varying between 84 per cent of school improvement officers and 63 per cent of educational psychologists).
• 38 per cent of respondents that their working hours and evening/weekend obligations were reasonable in relation to their overall employment package, and 46 per cent did not think so (16 per cent were unable to answer).
• 52 per cent of respondents were aware that their service area had experienced recruitment difficulties over the past year, and 56 per cent thought that recruitment had become more difficult over the past two years.
• 69 per cent of respondents reported that there were restrictions on taking leave during term time (varying between 80 per cent of school improvement officers and 61 per cent of educational psychologists).

Soulbury Conditions of Service Survey 2009 - local authority report (PDF, 17 pages, 138KB)

Soulbury Conditions of Service Survey 2009 - officer report (PDF, 10 pages, 221KB)

End date: February 2009

Contact: stephen.richards@lga.gov.uk

Telephone: 020 7664 3256