A
national graduate development programme for local government has been launched
in a bid to attract and develop future chief executives and senior managers.
For
the first year of the programme, the Employers’ Organisation for Local
Government scheme has an £800,000 grant to train and develop graduates into
senior managers for the sector within 10-15 years.
The
recruitment of recent graduates and young workers is a problem for the sector
with only 6 per cent of local government staff aged under 25 years old.
The
Employers’ Organisation estimates that of the 400 councils in England only 20
run graduate trainee schemes.
So
far 2,000 people have applied for the 50 places on the two-year scheme that
will see the graduates become full-time employees of a local council earning
between £18,500 and £21,000 a year.
The
course consists of two to three month placements in core, frontline and support
services as well as placements with public or private sector organisations and
external mentoring.
Ten
local authorities, including Newcastle City Council and the London Borough of
Lewisham, have already signed up to the scheme via the EO’s website. Other
councils have until 24 May to join.
Keith
Handley, programme change director at the City of Bradford Metropolitan
District Council, said: “We want to attract more graduates into local
government and the new programme is the best way to do it. We need to attract our fair share of
high-flyers who will be capable of becoming senior managers in the next decade.
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“It’s
very important, given our current recruitment issues, that local government is
seen to be visible in the graduate job marketplace and this programme will help
us to improve our image in this area.”
