Reflecting on his time as an apprentice at Lancashire County Council, Sean shares how he has worked his way up to supporting clients at court tribunals as a Welfare Rights Officer for his local authority.

Sean started his local government career with an apprenticeship in level three business administration.

‘I knew local government was a good career to get into, with good progression, a good pension and good benefits. But it can be hard to work out how to break in when you're not in that sphere’, he said.

Roughly a month into the apprenticeship, Sean applied for and was given a role in the council’s business support team, in which he assisted social workers by sending out letters to their clients, contacting GPs and helping with spreadsheets.

This foundation of transferable skills gave Sean the confidence to later pursue a vacancy in the council’s welfare rights team. While he didn’t have direct experience in a position that was focused on advising benefits to pensioners, the hiring manager agreed that he’d be a good fit, and Sean submitted his application.

Career progression

Sean’s efforts proved successful, and he was selected for the role in the welfare rights team, where he began managing his own caseload and working with individual clients.

‘It's a really nice part of the job because you're helping people get more money’, he said.

Further development in his new team led Sean to his current position as a Welfare Rights Officer, where he attends tribunals alongside clients and helps them take their cases to court.

The job calls for Sean to use a range of skills and take on various responsibilities – including advocacy work, while integrating technical knowledge of legislation and helping clients understand how it applies to them.

On-the-job learning

Highlighting the big step between his starting role and current position as a Welfare Rights Officer, Sean noted that most of the necessary learning took place on-the-job.

Through a combination of interpersonal work and his completion of further formal training courses, Sean explained feeling as if he was consistently learning something new.

‘There are people with years of experience who pass on their knowledge’, he said, and added that ‘the more you throw yourself into the role, the more you get out of it’.

A people-first approach

Sean’s first team was a pension project team, which ran campaigns to appeal to people who might be missing out on benefits. The work involved sending mailshots that recipients could fill out and return if interested, with launch events and community pop-ups being held to reach the team’s target audience.

‘The clients were pension age, so traditional media and in-person routes worked better than social media’, Sean explained.

He emphasised that ‘the main highlight [of the role] is making a difference to people's lives’. For example, being able to tell clients that they’re eligible for Attendance Allowance plus Pension Credit, resulting in their income being doubled or even tripled.

‘Even when there hasn't been any financial gain, clients give feedback that it was nice to speak to someone informative and be told things correctly’, he said.

Navigating challenges

Sean revealed the barriers the team can encounter while trying to engage with vulnerable residents. With many clients being on waiting lists, and others having only received an initial assessment or short-term support, they often don’t have anyone to connect them to services. This can lead to people missing out on support and cause cases to be more time-consuming for teams to handle.

He noted that economic deprivation, health conditions, and being located in a rural area can create obstacles to service access. And while Sean’s team delivers home visits where required, the service is small and must cater to over a million residents across the county.

‘We mainly give advice over-the-phone’, he said. ‘I'd love to do more home visits, but it has to be balanced with everything else coming in’.

Collaboration is key

In an overstretched and busy sector like local government, mutual trust between managers, staff, and colleagues is really important, Sean explained. He emphasised the value of having a supportive team where he feels able to raise problems if they arise.

‘Budgets will always be limited because of high demand, a restrained financial climate and the competing demands of all the services local government provides. So if something needs more time, communicate that with management.’

‘Resilience isn't developed in isolation. It's built through strong links and creating that community’, Sean said.

The place of AI

Sean finds Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools handy to help draft emails and client letters, or to edit appeal submissions by rephrasing certain sentences.

‘I use it as an aid and a proofreading tool, but never to fully take over, and I always check it myself’, he said.

However, Sean revealed that clients are increasingly using AI to challenge local government. For example, writing to the council after AI has told them they would be eligible for enhanced rate of PIP rather than the standard rate.

Sean said: ‘It's about being clear and giving realistic expectations. It can be a really good tool, but people are putting a lot of trust in it. It also puts practitioners like social workers under a lot of scrutiny’.

‘AI should always be used as a tool, not to replace people’, he stressed.

Help for hopefuls

For those hoping to get into the sector, Sean recommended regularly checking their council’s jobs board and contacting the hiring manager about specific roles. He suggested that young people look for part-time jobs or apprenticeships and noted that business support positions are a good starting point for those who aren’t sure which area they’d like to work in.

‘If you know someone who works in local government, ask them about it. If you're politically active, contact your local councillor and ask if they could put you in touch with someone.’

‘Be curious and reach out to people’, he said.

Sean also advised asking for reasonable adjustments in interviews, if necessary, which can be particularly useful for applicants with neurodiversity. He explained that AI can assist with this process by helping to brainstorm the kind of adjustments that might help, as well as generating interview questions for practice.

The future of local government

To support the pipeline of future talent, Sean said that career mentoring can be of great use, helping people who work on the ground to progress into leadership roles.

‘In my team, a lot of practitioners have stayed on the ground for many years, which is really good, but their ideas don't always get filtered up.’

He added: ‘I'd like to see more leaders from backgrounds like mine, including working-class backgrounds and practitioners. Local government also still has predominantly men in senior leadership, even though most of the workforce is female.’

Check out the first article in LocalGov's Next Generation series.