Editors Blog

Southwest One, HR and shared-services

I met up with Richard Crouch, head of HR and OD at Somerset County Council, yesterday to interview him about Southwest One - the council's joint venture shared-services project - which includes HR.Interest in Southwest One has gathered pace recently,...

Posted by Mike Berry on May 21, 2009 3:21 PM

LGA incentivises councils to cascade a robust scaling-back of jargon without slippage

The Local Government Association (LGA) yesterday urged councils to stop using (or 'utilising', as the councils themselves might put it) jargon words, including 'revenue stream', 'stakeholder' and 'incentivising'.There are, horrifyingly, 200 words on the LGA's 'banned' list, which just goes to show...

Posted by Helen Williams on March 19, 2009 9:00 AM

EBay-style feedback for public services needs proper funding

What do we make of Gordon Brown's latest proposal to allow the public to 'rate' the services they receive from schools, councils, GPs and the police? On the plus side it might mean a renewed focus on customer service in...

Posted by Mike Berry on March 11, 2009 2:21 PM

Councils must reveal what they pay top staff

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published guidance which says senior public officials' salary bands should be publicly available as a matter of routine. The guidance, When should salaries be disclosed?, explains that salary details, bonuses and performance related pay...

Posted by Mike Berry on February 24, 2009 8:30 AM

Flexible Working | A step too far?

In one of the most extreme cases of flexible working we at Personnel Today ever seen, it appears an executive director at Fenland District Council in Cambridgeshire will be working from his home in Adelaide. Not Adelaide in the UK (and Google Maps has nine options), but Adelaide, Australia.

Posted by Guy Logan on August 15, 2008 11:40 AM

Equal pay | Clarity needed as the elephants stampede

The equal pay saga dominating the local government landscape continues to rumble on its destructive course. Equal pay is now not so much the elephant in the room but a stampeding herd of angry pachyderms. Last week the Court of...

Posted by Mike Berry on August 1, 2008 8:12 AM

Equal pay | More councils will be getting Cross...

Local government HR directors working in London could be forgiven for quaking in their shoes with the news that controversial no-win no-fee lawyer Stefan Cross is heading southwards. The MJ reports that the Newcastle-based solicitor has started advertising in the...

Posted by Mike Berry on May 15, 2008 8:00 AM