Slough's financial challenge 'unprecedented'
28/07/2022 Commissioners at Slough Council are set to be given powers over recruitment after finding it was unable to turn around its finances quickly enough. |
Ofsted calls for social care workforce strategy
27/07/2022 The watchdog the need is ‘more urgent than ever’ as it published a report looking at the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on children’s social care. |
Filled posts in adult social care are down for the first time
21/07/2022 The number of filled posts in adult social care is down for the first time on record, highlighting recruitment challenges, a new report has found. |
Employers warn against local pay deals
19/07/2022 Councils have been warned against undermining the ‘fundamental integrity’ of national talks by agreeing local deals as pressure grows on pay. |
LGA Conference: Sector should consider offering four-day week
29/06/2022 Councils may have to consider offering a four-day week in order to attract the staff desperately needed by the sector, a workshop at the Local Government Association’s (LGA) annual conference has heard. |
Staff shortages undermining drug treatment, study reveals
21/06/2022 A loss of skilled professionals and the fragmentation of services has proven a major barrier to tackling drug addiction, new research has found. |
Half of social workers at risk of quitting survey finds
13/06/2022 Nearly half (49%) of social workers say they are less likely to stay in their jobs due to excessive workloads, high stress levels and low morale. |
Council to recruit 1,000 embedded digital champions
07/04/2022 Dorset Council is looking to recruit 'an army' of digital champions to help digitally excluded residents get online. |
Ministers urged to reverse public health cuts
22/03/2022 The Local Government Association (LGA) has urged ministers to reverse public health cuts amid warnings the COVID-19 pandemic has left staff exhausted and exacerbated recruitment difficulties. |
Think tank warns of 'invisible crisis' in home care
01/12/2021 The social care sector in England has lost up to 50,000 workers in the past six months, new analysis has revealed. |
Crisis talks: Government support urgently needed to tackle the social care sector recruitment crunch
16/11/2021 Kris Peach explores what the industry needs in order to tackle the worst workforce crisis in more than a decade. |
Government told to ‘invest’ in social care to solve recruitment crisis
13/10/2021 A new report has emphasised the importance of ‘properly’ rewarding care workers as figures reveal that adult social care providers are struggling to recruit and retain staff. |
A million extra health and social care staff needed in the next 10 years, says report
01/10/2021 More than 600,000 extra social care staff are needed in the next decade to meet the growing demand for care, according to new research. |
Wolverhampton's i9 selected to house MHCLG's Midlands base
28/05/2021 Two floors of Wolverhampton’s new i9 office building will be home to the first ministerial department outside of London, it has been announced. |
How to reduce spending on temporary staff and boost employee engagement
25/02/2021 Scott Erwin calls on councils to adopt a ‘dynamic staffing’ model to combine the use of agency staff with more stable budgeting. |
More than 110,000 job vacancies in social care, report finds
21/10/2020 Analysis shows that 7.3% of adult social care roles in England were vacant in 2019/20, equivalent to 112,000 vacancies at any one time. |
Re-write the rules of recruitment
15/04/2020 Anne-Marie Scott offers her predictions for public sector recruitment challenges for 2020 and asks, ‘how do we recruit the right candidates?’ |
County Council urges businesses to share its recruitment campaign
08/04/2020 Sarah France-Gorton, head of resourcing solutions at North Yorkshire County Council, has written to business leaders urging them to share its recruitment campaign. |
Care providers in law change call
01/04/2020 Care providers have pleaded with Prime Minister Boris Johnson to change the law to boost staff numbers in the sector during the COVID-19 outbreak. |
Rethinking the tech skills gap in local government
13/01/2020 Nick Walrond explains how how can local government attract candidates with the right tech skills, while avoiding long-standing vacancies or needing to outsource the role altogether. |
Former social workers urged to return to sector
06/01/2020 Former social workers are being encouraged to get back into the care sector with the return of a national scheme. |
At last 90,000 extra social workers needed to meet care reforms
28/11/2019 An extra 90,000 care workers will be needed to provide just two hours of basic care for older people with high needs, a report has warned today. |
Council launches bond scheme to recruit key workers
11/11/2019 Cherwell District Council has launched a new bond scheme to encourage more key workers to move to the area. |
Social care sector faces 'disastrous' staffing black hole
10/09/2019 A care workers union has warned of a 'disastrous' staffing black hole in England’s social care sector as research shows there are tens of thousands of vacant posts. |
Over 40% of emergency hospital admissions ‘avoidable'
25/07/2019 Council chiefs have called for more resources to recruit care home staff after research shows four in 10 hospital admissions from care homes could be avoided. |
'Slow progress' two years after inadequate judgement
24/05/2019 Gloucestershire CC is making ‘slow progress’ in improving its services for its children and young people two years after it was judged inadequate, Ofsted has found. |
Double the number of providers handing back care contracts to councils
12/02/2019 The number of social care providers handing back contracts to councils has more than doubled in 2018, new research has revealed. |
Whitehall launches social care recruitment drive
12/02/2019 The Government has launched a new national recruitment campaign to help fill the 110,000 vacancies in the adult social care sector. |
Ashford BC offers £3,000 bursary to undergraduates
14/01/2019 A Kent council has approved the introduction of an undergraduate work placement and bursary scheme - the first of its kind amongst local authorities in the county. |
Shortage of social care workers to reach 290,000 by 2030, says report
06/12/2018 NHS figures show that in the last two years two million hospital beds were unnecessarily occupied because of a shortage of social care to support patients ready to be discharged, according to management consultants. |
A leading question
28/11/2018 Jayson Darby considers the traits of good leaders and the role people assessment tools can play in identifying if someone’s leadership material. |
The rise of predictive analytics in local government recruitment
20/11/2018 Why does data have such an important role to play in improving recruiting practices within the local government? Charles Hipps reports. |
Fighting for talent in local government
13/11/2018 How are councils transforming approaches to talent acquisition using tailored technology offerings? Charles Hipps reports. |
Counties launch joint venture to recruit temporary agency staff
21/09/2018 Hampshire has joined forces with a company set up by Kent County Council to recruit temporary agency workers. |
Council announces recruitment ‘freeze’ to tackle £60m budget gap
03/08/2018 Shropshire Council has announced it will be ‘freezing’ all recruitment in order to ensure the authority stays within its budget. |
Staff churn in local government - an unsustainable reality
26/07/2018 Garry Nelson explains how councils can improve effective talent acquisition, retention and development programmes. |
Bristol first council to become ‘Ban the Box’ employer
17/04/2018 Bristol City Council has become the first local authority in the country to use job applications without a tick box that asks applicants about their criminal record. |
Five recruitment trends in local government
05/03/2018 Jes Ladva argues that local authorities are embracing genuine transformation in recruitment as the austerity freeze continues. |
Project launched to retrain 100 social workers
23/10/2017 Three regions will take part in a new programme to help retrain 100 social workers who have left the profession. |
Councils face recruitment crisis unless pay restraint eased, say financial experts
20/09/2017 Councils could face a management-level recruitment and retention crisis unless public sector pay restraint is eased, a respected think-tank has warned. |
New plans to increase mental health services revealed
31/07/2017 Plans to boost mental health services and recruit thousands of new staff have been announced today by the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt. |
County Council announces jobs freeze to tackle £8m overspend
05/01/2017 Devon County Council has announced a jobs freeze in order to manage a projected £8.1m budget overspend. |
60% of local councils want a new leadership approach
14/12/2016 The majority of HR directors in local government believe a new style of leadership is required to help them deliver a better quality of service. |
Shell is helping power the journey towards a circular paving industry with Shell Bitumen LT R, a new product for roads that uses plastics destined for landfill as part of the additives to make the bitumen.
Effective Energy Group is now offering its support to the 40 Local Authorities who have received a share of the £430m to deliver their projects on the ground by surveying properties and installing measures.
Dougie Belmore explains how one of the main interfaces between you and Bacs is about to change.