Meeting documents

Cabinet
Tuesday, 19 December 2006

CA191206-08

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Division(s):

ITEM CA8

CABINET – 19 DECEMBER 2006

ESTABLISHMENT MONITORING

Report by Head of Human Resources & Organisational Development

Introduction

  1. 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 September 2006.

    (Annex 1 - download as .xls file)
     (Annex 2 - download as .xls file)
     (Annex 3 - download as .xls file)
     (Annex 4 - download as .doc file)

  2. We have also taken the opportunity to summarise overall progress in the first year of operation of the Establishment Review and laid out the way forward for the coming year. Future reports will reflect this new agenda both in terms of style of reporting and content.

    3. Objectives of the Review

  3. 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.

These remain relevant as we take the Establishment Review work forward.

Progress against targets

  1. 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.

  2. The identification of an agreed establishment figure: 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. The establishment figure is now being updated on a quarterly basis.

  3. 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 and continues.

  4. 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 effect from 1 April 2006 and continues to be monitored in terms of appropriateness.

  5. 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.

  6. The involvement of the Cabinet member for Change Management in the process: Regular updates on progress are in place.

  7. 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 advert is placed. To ensure even tighter control of the process, all redeployment activity across the Council has been 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.

  8. 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.

    9. First Year Results

  9. It is clear that the Establishment Review has controlled staff numbers whilst at the same time allowing for the identification of grant funded posts and agency staff (numbers and costs). By the end of the first year of operation the Council’s staffing establishment (excluding schools) was showing a significant reduction. We have at the same time engaged our Heads of Service with this process and now have clear service level reports in place consistently across the organisation.

  10. Perhaps a more significant factor than the reduction in the overall establishment figure, however, is that the number of actual FTE employed has been held at a fairly constant figure over the year despite the additional tasks which staff have been asked to undertake. After a year of successful operation we, therefore, have a better control and a better understanding of the dynamics of staff movements.

  11. However, the past year has also seen significant organisational change particularly as a result of the Realignment of Directorates project. This has affected the way in which the establishment numbers have been shown and calculated within directorates and we have, for example, constantly challenged the basis of calculation directorate-by-directorate.

  12. The issues which contributed to the difficulties in reporting within the Children, Young People and Families Directorate in previous reports have now been resolved. Heads of Service have now completed work on checking their establishments and the data has been cleansed on SAP. However, there was still a concern over the numbers within the Schools bloc of data which is shown ‘below the line’ and, therefore, outside the detailed reporting of the Establishment Review.

  13. The key issue with this bloc of data was to ensure that it contained only those staff employed by schools and not schools-related posts which are centrally funded and which should be shown ‘above the line’ and within the Establishment Review. Getting this balance right is crucial given that almost 75% of new starters with the Council in the current quarter were classified as being in the Schools bloc and, therefore, outside the detailed reporting of the Establishment Review.

  14. In addition, we have also identified other areas which need to be addressed if we are to ensure we have the appropriate levels of control and which are set out below.

    15. Moving Forward

  15. As a result of further work on the Schools bloc, we have taken the opportunity of the end of the first year of operation of the Establishment Review to reset the base-line establishment figure to bring within its reporting ambit a number of schools-related posts which were previously excluded. One outcome of this has been to increase the Establishment figure previously reported for CYP&F and a reconciliation of this is provided in Annex 4.

  16. The recast number for 30 September 2006 is shown on Annexes 1 and 2 and will be our new baseline going forward.

  17. In addition, we have reviewed the way in which the establishment data is presented. We shall, therefore, from 1 January 2007 be introducing a simple, balance sheet-style headline table so that movements are transparent and clear and inter-period changes more apparent. A breakdown of movements by directorate and service area will continue to be provided as an annex.

  18. Heads of Service have therefore already been asked to provide reports by their service area on the following basis (dates below reflect this quarter’s reporting) which represents a streamlining of the process:

    • Establishment figure (FTE) at 30 June 2006

    • Authorised vacancies (FTE) included in that number

    • FTE employed at 30 September 2006

    • Reason for movement over the last quarter – details of new posts, resignations, temporary appointments

    • Vacancies at 30 September 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

  1. In taking the Establishment Review forward into its second year, there are three additional areas which we will need to examine and for which initial papers will be going to the Change Management Board.

    • First, having completed the data cleansing exercise in CYP&F on SAP, we need to understand the movement of staff numbers in schools. Trend data on the balance between teaching and non-teaching staff will be included in future reports;

    • Second, it was always the intention of the Establishment Review that vacancies held for longer than 6 months would need to be justified by Directorates. Given the large numbers of vacancies currently being carried a review of these numbers is now overdue. Whilst such high levels of vacancies are maintained there must always be the risk of returning to the previous culture of ‘new task, new person’;

    • Third, we need to assess whether the balance between full time and part time workers is in the best interests of the Council and of the taxpayer. For information, the numbers as at 30 September 2006 were as follows: Full time – 7538. Part time – 12984. This equates to a total of 13149.34 FTE. There are complex issues involved in this not least the effect which these sort of numbers of part time staff might have in calculating the Council’s pensions contribution under the proposals currently issued for consultation by central government, the additional payroll costs involved, additional management time, and business continuity and culture change issues. Against this will need to be set the benefits which part-time working provides in terms of workplace flexibility and the family-friendly reputation of the Council as an employer.

  1. Finally, it is worth re-iterating the contribution the Shared Services Centre will make to the timely production of Establishment Review data in the future and the robustness of the figures both for FTE employed and the overall establishment.

    2. Current Numbers

  2. The establishment and staffing numbers (FTE) as at 30 September 2006 are shown in Annex 3. In headline terms the numbers are Establishment 5388 (FTE in post 4678). These figures exclude the school bloc.

  3. There have been 762 applications through the Recruitment Approval process during the period 1 August 2005 and 30 September 2006. 266 (35%) of these applications have been considered in the last quarter. 77 of the 266 applications were approved on a temporary basis only where it was felt that the posts would be suitable for those displaced by Shared Services.

  4. During the period 1 July 2006 to 30 September 2006 there were 1079 new starters with the Council, 784 of which were Schools and 295 non-schools.

    5. Current Activity

  5. We continue to review the establishment process based on feedback from managers. All requests to recruit are now channelled through the Job Finder Service to ensure that anyone whose job is at risk is considered prior to advertising, if they meet the minimum specification for the job. There have been a number of briefing sessions for the Job Finder Service during November which has been well attended. Three sessions have been held for staff, two for managers and one for HR staff who will be involved in the process.

    6. RECOMMENDATION

  6. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

          1. note the report; and

          2. confirm that the Establishment Review continues to meet requirements in reporting and managing staffing numbers.

 

STEVE MUNN
Head of Human Resources & Organisational Development

Background: Nil

Contact Officer: Sue James, Corporate HR Officer, Tel: 01865 815465.

December 2006

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