Weaknesses in Welsh councils’ workforce strategies could hamper their ability to deliver in the long term, Audit Wales has found.
Wales’ public sector audit bodies, which come under the umbrella name Audit Wales, looked at asset management and workforce planning in all 22 Welsh councils between 2021-22.
After the mass move to remote working brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, councils were continuing to work through what their ‘new normal’ should look like, Audit Wales found.
Local authorities need to develop well-defined strategies if they are to balance flexible working arrangements with strong service delivery while making best use of their buildings and other assets, the watchdog said.
It found councils did not always have a good understanding of current workforce risks or the longer-term challenges likely to impact them.
Benchmarking was found to have been done rarely, meaning councils were not able to compare and understand the extent to which they were achieving value for money.
Audit Wales said councils should use the Well-being of Future Generations Act’s sustainable development principle in workforce planning.
Auditor General Adrian Crompton said: ‘The pandemic has brought about accelerated change for local councils, including in terms of how and where their workforce is working.
‘To ensure they are delivering in a modern and sustainable way, councils need to recognise how they can use the sustainable development principle to help them plan and deliver their approaches to workforce and assets.
‘As part of this, they really need to understand the risks ahead and work with each other and their partners to manage them.’
