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ITEM CA8
CABINET
– 21 JUNE 2006
ESTABLISHMENT
MONITORING
Report by
Head of Human Resources
Background
- This report provides
an update on activity since implementation of the new Establishment
Review and associated Recruitment Approval process on 1 August 2005.
It makes particular reference to the objectives and targets of the Review
and progress made against them. In addition it gives details of the
agreed establishment figure at 30 June 2005 and staffing numbers at
31 March 2006.
Objectives
of the Review
- The overall objectives
of the review are to:-
- gain control
over the numbers of staff, which should result in an initial stabilisation
and subsequent reduction in numbers as well as cost savings;
- achieve a shift
in distribution of resources to front-line services and certain approved
business critical roles;
- reduce overall
costs associated with temporary/interim staff and recruitment advertising;
- handle redeployment
more effectively;
- raise accountability
across the Council in terms of resource allocation.
Progress
against targets
- To ensure that
we delivered the agreed objectives of the Establishment Review a number
of targets were proposed. These are outlined below with a statement
of progress to date.
- The identification
of an agreed establishment figure as a base-line. The proposal
was that we use the 30 June 2005 actual staff numbers and ask Heads
of Service and Business Managers to confirm the number of vacancies
they were carrying at that date. This total would become the establishment
figure – which would be reported in terms of FTE (Full Time Equivalents).
This was done and the results are shown at Annex 1 (download
as .doc file) ; the total of Established Posts at 30 June 2005
was 5064.
- A documented
case for each vacancy, with a detailed audit trail for a decision
to recruit or remove from establishment would be put in place. This
has been done. An agreed format for applications was put in place for
1 August 2005.
- An agreed
description of front-line, business critical and back-office services
would be in place. This has been done via the creation of a
list of posts which are exempt from the scope of the establishment review.
All other posts go through the recruitment approval process. This exempt
list was reduced in scope with effective from 1 April 2006.
- A centralised
system of approvals for recruitment based in Corporate HR. This
has been done, with the system going live on 1 August 2005. We now have
a clear "business as usual" process in place across the Council with
the objective of turning around requests within two working days of
receipt.
- The involvement
of the Cabinet member for Change Management in the process.
Regular updates on progress are in place.
- All staff
in the redeployment pool to be considered for each vacancy before
it is advertised and a documented decision placed on file. This is an
integral part of the recruitment approval process; directorate HR teams
check the redeployment register before any advertisement is placed.
To ensure even tighter control of the process, all redeployment activity
across the Council is currently being pulled together within the Corporate
HR team. Re-badged as the Job Finder Service, this enables us for the
first time to have redeployment activity and recruitment approval process
in one place.
- There were also
annual reduction targets set for the costs of hiring temporary
staff and recruitment advertising. We are continuing to drive efficiencies
in both areas and awarded a new recruitment advertising contract to
Tribal Resourcing as part of that drive to reduce costs. We are about
to receive our first full set of management information on the new contract.
Numbers will be reported to Cabinet as soon as they are available.
Current
Numbers
- The establishment
and staffing numbers (FTE) as at 31 March 2006 are shown at Annex
2 (download as .doc file) by directorate
and at Annex 3 (download as
.doc file) with service breakdown. As can be seen below, the
31 March figures show the first fall (albeit small) in FTE when compared
with the previous quarter. In headline terms the numbers are as follows:-
- 30 June 2005
– Establishment 5064 (FTE in post 4537)
- 30 Sept 2005
– Establishment 5277 (FTE in post 4635)
- 31 Dec 2005
– Establishment 5131 (FTE in post 4663)
- 31 Mar 2006
- Establishment 5196 (FTE in post 4656)
- There have been
319 applications through the Recruitment Approval process during the
period 1 August 2005 and 31 March 2006. Although the number of applications
declined remains small, focusing on the figures alone hides the fact
that a number of applications were returned to the recruiting managers
for further information – which allowed applications which would have
been declined on initial submission to be approved after more work was
carried out. There is also no doubt that the cases made for filling
posts have been much stronger as the process has evolved.
- In addition, a
number of applications approved to fill on a temporary basis were originally
requested as permanent appointments. This is making a contribution towards
the initial stabilisation of numbers and should afford opportunity to
subsequently reduce them.
- During the period
1 January 2006 to 31 March 2006 there were 444 new starters with the
Council, 285 of which were Schools and 159 non-schools.
Process
Improvements
- There has been
a lot of activity since 1 August to make sure that we are able to secure
real benefit from the Establishment Review and Recruitment Approval
process. More needs to be done but the view from the HR community is
that we have a process in place which, when allied to the work that
has been carried out on cleaning the organisational management information
on SAP, gives us accurate people information to work with.
- The agreed establishment
figure still needs to be recast to reflect the organisational changes
made as part of Directorate Realignment. Work is being finalised to
define new structures as part of the directorate re-alignment and these
will be reflected in the June 2006 report.
- Heads of Service
have been asked to provide reports by their service area on the following
basis:
- Establishment
figure (FTE) at 31 December 2005
- Authorised vacancies
(FTE) included in that number
- FTE employed
at 31 December 2005
- Reason for movement
over the last quarter – details of new posts, resignations, temporary
appointments
- Vacancies at
31 March 2006 (FTE)
- Number of posts
removed from the establishment in this quarter
- Number of posts
added to the establishment in this quarter
- Grant funded
posts (FTE)
- Vacancies included
in these numbers covered by agency staff – in terms of FTE and cost
- Further improvements
to the process are planned for the coming months including engaging
Business Managers more effectively to ensure that the "directorate story"
is further developed and monthly reports being produced on overall staffing
numbers at a directorate level.
RECOMMENDATION
- The Cabinet
is RECOMMENDED to:
- note
the report;
- confirm
that the Establishment Review continues to meet the Cabinet’s
requirements in reporting and managing staffing numbers.
STEVE
MUNN
Head of Human
Resources
Background
Papers: Nil
Contact
Officer: Sue James, Corporate HR Officer, Tel 01865 815465.
June
2006
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