Local Government - where to find your job!
Local Government is an amazingly diverse field. Hundreds of different councils across the whole of the UK control a stunning array of community-directed services. For the jobhunter interested in a career in local government, there is an incredibly wide range of careers to choose from.
But local government itself can take some understanding. Thanks to several decades of change, the types and responsibilities of local councils across the country now vary enormously.
This article is a local government primer. It explains the main types of authorities likely to be offering work to the job seeker, sets out where to find more information on local government careers and offers a basic navigational map around the rest of the monster.co.uk articles on local government.
Some of the terminology used can be confusing. Different expressions are used interchangeably and may have different meaning according to the context. Local government - in common with its counterpart in Whitehall - also loves abbreviations, and many job advertisements are littered with acronyms which have little meaning to the outsider.
The term 'local government' is generally accepted to mean a publicly-funded, elected body which has decision-making and spending powers. In most cases, this simply means your local council.
Local councils, rather like the Government, consist of two different sets of people working together for a common purpose. The first are the Councillors, who, like Members of Parliament, are elected in local elections. Unlike MPs, however, most councillors receive no salary - just a small allowance and some expenses. Councillors may belong to a political party or they may be independent. They are not employees of the Council. Rather like a Board of Directors, they oversee the organisation of the Council they belong to and decide its policy direction.
The second set of people working in a local authority are the employees - almost always referred to as the 'officers' of the authority. They are employed by the Council to carry out the policies that the Council decides are important. This group of people will form the focus of the rest of this article.
What councils do - and therefore what job opportunities exist - varies widely from place to place. Through a series of directed reorganisations, historical accidents and local policy inititatives, Councils each tackle a differing range of public service tasks.
Below is a summary of what different types of councils do. It is not an exhaustive list, rather an outline indicator.
Metropolitan Councils (large cities or conurbations such as Birmingham, Glasgow, London Boroughs) - are unitary (all-purpose) authorities. They control all council services, e.g. education, housing (including housing benefit and council tax collection) social services, environmental services, waste disposal, highways, consumer services, leisure services, libraries and arts and planning. Unitary authorities (such as Thurrock, Herefordshire and Milton Keynes) cover the same responsibilities in a smaller or less populous area.
County Councils - are part of the two-tier system which comprises counties and districts. They cover education, social services, highways, some planning matters, environmental services (but not environmental health), consumer services (but not some aspects of premises licensing) and libraries and arts.
District Councils - are part of the two-tier system. Their responsibilities cover housing, including housing benefits and council tax collections, some planning matters, waste disposal, licensing, environmental health and leisure.
Parish and Town Councils - are the smallest local authorities and may only have a handful of paid staff. Their responsibilities include some local planning and highways matters, allotments, bus shelters, tourism and some aspects of economic development.
Overall, it's a confusing picture. Most public surveys show that ordinary council tax payers have little idea of what their local council does. Many think they also have responsibility for the police, hospitals and the courts or prisons (they don't).
Councils employ a wide range of specialist and generalist staff, from care workers on the National Minimum Wage to Chief Executives, who, in the largest authorities, can earn in excess of £140,000 per year. Most council workers' salaries are pegged or related to a recognised national grading system, which does allow some local variations.
There are usually a wide range of jobs on offer in office environments - most of which will call for good telephone skills, knowledge of a range of modern PC packages and well-developed administrative practice. Salaries can be competitive in suburban and rural areas: in a number of citites, councils struggle to ensure they remain competitive employers.
Most manual work has now been contracted out - even supervisory or management positions in traditional council employment such as road-mending or grass verge-cutting are with private sector contractors. There is an increasing trend for white-collar 'back-office' services such as IT, HR and administration to also be contracted out to large providers. Some council staff operate inside 'mini-businesses' called 'trading units' which are required to make a minimum rate of financial return.
Councils are the largest employers of teachers and social workers in the UK. Good practitioners in both disciplines are currently in fierce demand, although salaries and benefits do vary from place to place
A number of highly specialist disciplines are employed by councils - trading standards officers, animal welfare officers, countryside managers, public sector financial specialists, European Development officers, inward investment or economic development officers, waste disposal experts, emergency planning officers.... the list is endless.
Council jobs are widely advertised in the local and national press, and in specialist magazines such as Local Government Chronicle, or via jobs websites such as Monster.com
Well-developed Equal Opportunities policies mean that council jobs are almost always advertised, and will also be placed with the local JobCentre, or via a weekly employment bulletin published in-house.
A good way to find out if local authority work is for you is to ask for work experience, shadowing or short-term secondments. Most authorities are happy to comply with this kind of request, even if most are unable to pay much more than travelling allowances. Try contacting the Personnel or Human Resources department.
Many local authorities are very short of cash, and there are few graduate entry schemes. Staff who join in professional posts such as finance, Human Resources, Legal Services or Property Services may find that they have to make a contribution to their professional training. In other areas, councils will only employ fully-qualified staff.
Councils are often very progressive employers, and relatively senior posts can often be job-shared or worked to flexible hours. The Local Government Pension Scheme is a generous one, and holiday leave is also well-provided for in most councils. Trade Unions continue to be active in the majority of Councils.
You can find out more about local government - and the types of jobs available - from the Local Government Association www.lga.org.uk. Within professional disciplines there are often Local Government sections - or specific local government bodies. Some are listed below.
The Society for Chief Executives and Senior Managers in Local Government - SOLACe www.solace.org.uk.
The Society for Chief Personnel Officers - SOCPO www.socpo.org.uk
Most local councils have websites which can be useful for reserach, although many still lack an interactive capacity. It is quickest to access them in the alphabetical listing of www.open.gov.uk.
Search for Public Sector jobs or visit Monster's Local Governnment Forum
