The management of local councils

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Paul Masterman

The management of a council is shared between officers and councillors - and it is important you understand how an organisation is run if you want to work for it.

You may also find that you will be interviewed by a panel of councillors for certain jobs, so you should understand their role

In theory all councils are run by councillors (known within local government as members) who are part-time, unpaid politicians in the main

Usually one party or another is the largest party in the Council and takes overall control of the council and its decision-making committees.

However, in many councils no one party has a majority so technically there is "no overall control". This is known as a hung council.

In this case, the biggest party may take control of the committees but can never bank on getting support from the other parties

Services are delivered by the paid professionals, known as officers

Although there is supposed to be this split between decision making by members and delivery by officers, the latter often develop detailed policies within the political framework.

Many councils are setting up executive cabinets of senior councillors to run the organisation. The decisions of these cabinets are scrutinised by committees of "backbench" councillors.