Issue - meetings

            The Board considered a report of the Operational Director – Policy, People, Performance & Efficiency, which provided Members with an overall view of the resourcing challenges currently faced by the Council, their impact, implications and options.

            It was noted since the start of 2021/22 financial year, the number of Council service vacancies submitted for advertisement had increased significantly. The rise in numbers had created a significant challenge as the Council’s recruitment service was not resourced at a level sufficient to manage workflow of such volumes. This had created delays in service provision, which remained prevalent. The key reasons for the increase in volume of vacancies were set out in the report. However, in addition to these reasons, there was also a failure to attract candidates to some roles which resulted in re-advertising and repeated recruitment activity.

            The Board was also advised that the recruitment service also processed recruitment for school on a chargeable SLA basis. 45 schools had bought into the service and Members were updated on revised legislation in respect of school recruitment which was introduced in April 2020 and the impact this had on the recruitment service.

            Members noted data outlined in the report which showed an upswing in vacancies across both the public and private sectors and in particular across the Liverpool City Region (LCR). All local authorities in the LCR were reporting recruitment issues and certain post types continued to provide the highest level of challenge across the city region, namely social worker roles, caring posts in the adult care sector, nursing posts in the adult care sector, technical and professional roles across a broad range of service areas and more recently administrative type posts.

            In order to address some of the recruitment issues experienced, a revised approach to attracting candidates to Council roles was to be explored. The report detailed the measures which were under consideration as part of this new approach. In addition, the Council was also engaged in a strategic programme of work with the other five LCR Council’s headed up by the Chief Executive of the LCR Combined Authority, designed to consider the high level challenge of resourcing the local government sector more generally in the short, medium and long term.

            RESOLVED: That the Board note the report and the actions being taken to mitigate the challenges.