Local
government HR body Socpo has criticised the decision not to award the sector
Sector Skills Council (SSC) status.
Socpo
president Francesca Okosi predicted, in an exclusive interview, that it would
prove detrimental to skills development in local government and add to its
chronic staff shortages.
"There
is an agenda being followed by the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) but
it does not fit in with anyone’s particular needs," she said.
It
seems local authority staff will be split between six or more different SSCs
after the SSDA, which grants council status on behalf of the Department for
Education and Skills, told council representatives it is viewed as a series of
professions and not just one.
"We
cannot be put in to lots of different SSCs. It does not make much sense to us
when there is this huge agenda for change and capacity-building," said
Okosi.
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"Without
one SSC it will be difficult to manage and co-ordinate."
UK
local government, one of the biggest employers in Europe with over a million
staff, is suffering from service-crippling recruitment and retention problems
and chronic skills shortages that Socpo feels would get worse if it fails to
secure its own SSC.
