Staffing crisis in UK parks

Financial
pressures at the UK’s
27,000 public run parks has led to a skills
and staffing crisis, according to an official report released today.

The
workers who plan, manage and maintain parks and green spaces are over-age and
"a dying breed – literally", according to the report.

The
survey, led by English Heritage and the Commission for Architecture and the
Built Environment’s public spaces unit, found the parks’ workforce is ageing,
with 6 per cent aged over 40 and 92 per cent over 30. More than half the
existing workforce rated their career prospects as ‘poor’, ‘very poor’ or
‘non-existent’.

Low
pay, poor career prospects and a poor public profile were cited as an obstacle
to recruiting skilled staff.

The
survey was based on research into parks workers in six ‘beacon councils’ –
Northamptonshire County Council, Holton Borough Council, and the London
boroughs of Enfield,
Barnet, Bexley, and Hammersmith.

By Daniel Thomas 

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today and OHW+ - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Phone

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ