Councils plan hopes to attract staff

A
new initiative has been set up to help local government recruit and retain
staff.

The
Recruitment and Retention Group, launched this month by the Employer’s
Organisation for Local Government (EOLG), will produce a guide for councils on
best recruitment practice and develop strategies to retain staff.

The
IT, engineering, social work and teaching sectors are particularly short,
according to EOLG. There are currently 28,000 trainee teachers in the UK, for
example, and while this is the highest number for eight years, it
is still 1,500 people short of the requirements, the EOLG said.

Geographically,
it is local authorities in London that have the most acute staffing problems.

Deborah
Moon, corporate personnel policy manager at Medway Council, believes that the
new EOLG group should focus on producing a framework that will make local
government an attractive career option.

She
said, "Local government has an image problem with young people which needs
to be addressed. Hopefully the group can be a helpful driver in changing this
and produce frameworks for individual councils to work with."

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The
new group will also tackle staff motivation and morale, and attempt to improve
training and childcare.

It
meets next month to set a timetable for service provision.