A council is finding that its public services are being strained to crisis point as vacancies rise to 50.

Rutland County Council is struggling to maintain services as the number of staff vacancies has risen to an all-time high.

A spokesperson for Rutland County Council said: "We currently have 50 known vacancies due to someone leaving, or it being a new job role for the authority, and 27 of these roles we are in the process of actively recruiting. As of the end of June 2023, our vacancy rate was 8.5 per cent but with emerging new roles this has increased it to 11 per cent.

"Staff turnover is currently high across the Local Government sector. Councils have some of the hardest jobs to fill – such as engineers, planners, surveyors, care staff, social workers, accountants.

"For Rutland, we are also competing in the same market as our neighbouring authorities and, with more flexible working opportunities, candidates have a greater choice in terms of location. For some careers, it is possible to change sector and the private sector are able to entice candidates with a wider range of benefits.

"In addition to vacancies in some of our established posts, we also have a number of new short-term job roles that have been created by Government grant programmes like the Levelling Up Fund. These are brand new roles needed to support specific projects, rather than full time posts at the council, and will be paid for by the grant monies we receive."

Vacancies are putting a strain on services and staff. Image credit: Nub News.

The recently published Local Government Association '2022 Workforce Survey' concurred, showing nine in 10 councils experiencing staffing issues, with 57 per cent struggling to retain staff, while 71 per cent are having problems recruiting.

The survey also found that almost six in 10 councils (58 per cent) are struggling to recruit planning officers and more than a fifth (22 per cent) are experiencing recruitment difficulties for HGV drivers. Nearly half (45 per cent) of councils which run environmental health services were having difficulties recruiting environmental health officers and 43 per cent were having difficulties recruiting building control officers.

LGA chairman, James Jamieson said: "Working in local government is hugely challenging and varied, but in the coming years some services are likely to continue to see a significant increase in demand which they will not be able to meet without an increase in the supply of skilled staff. Government investment in local government and its workforce is key to ensure services are protected and also to delivering its own policy agenda."

Rutland County Council Deputy Leader Andrew Johnson (Lib Dem) said: "To ensure that we maintain service continuity, vacancies in critical services are covered with agency or temporary staff where appropriate. This is usually at a higher cost to the authority, and therefore has an impact on the any financial savings reported from vacancies.

"The vacancy levels present the council with risks, and management are trying to manage the impact of staffing levels on the performances of services, and the delivery of corporate strategy".

At a meeting of the cabinet last week, council CEO, Mark Andrews said: "Just to highlight to the cabinet in public that we have been experiencing problems resourcing and recruitment in our highways service.

"We held an emergency meeting on Monday evening (14 August) as the issues have gone beyond those that the service and the directorate can manage on their own. We've agreed some short term intervention to try to stabilise the service, subject to being able to recruit any additional resource."

At the same meeting, Council Leader Gale Waller (Lib Dem), added: "Vacancies actually put a strain on the staff who are trying to cover them, and inevitably – and I suspect highways is an example – will impact on the service delivery if they become too great in any particular area.

"We are aware that a number of professional staff that we employ are in short supply, but that actually doesn't help us, so we need to get our thinking caps on to develop any innovative ways to develop our own staff, as well as attract people to us. It's a difficult situation when we can't get people to do the jobs that we want them to do."

A range of roles are available at RCC, including on site positions in the attractive offices and grounds. Image credit: Nub News.

Among the jobs currently being advertised on the Rutland County Council website are:

• Casual school transport passenger assistant (Salary: £10.79 per hour – Casual – zero hours)
• Digital information officer (Salary: £27,852 to £29,439 per annum)
• Team manager, fostering (Salary: £43,516 – £45,495 per annum (plus £5,000 market supplement) pro rata)
• Team manager – referral, assessment and intervention (Salary: £43,516 – £45,495 plus £5,000 market supplement)
• Social workers RAIS / social worker PAPS (Salary: £27,852 – £38,296 plus £3,000 market supplement)
• SEND case officer (Salary: £35,411 – £38,296)

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