HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

POLICY, RESOURCES & PERFORMANCE CABINET PANEL

WEDNESDAY23NOVEMBER 2011 AT 2.00PM

WORKFORCE REPORT 2011

Report of the DirectorResources and Performance

[Authors: Louise Tibbert, Head of Human Resources & Organisational Development

Tel: 01992 556653

Richard Hall, Resourcing Business Partner.

Tel: 01992 588891

Executive Member: David Lloyd (Resources & Economic Well-being)

  1. Purpose of report

Part 1: To update the Panel on the latest Workforce Information and key changes in HR resourcing and seek endorsement of the approach being taken.

Part 2: To present workforce statistics as at September 2011, as well as the annual Workforce Profile for year ending March 2011, and to highlight key changes and actions, which is a statutory requirement.

  1. Executive Summary – Part 1: Workforce Resources and Development Update (Section 5 refers)

2.1The recruitment position hasimproved since last year, with voluntary turnover (resignations) remaining stable. As the Council continues through transformation turnover will increase as a result of ongoing downsizing.

2.2Recruitment has seen reductions in vacancies in areas of national skill shortages e.g. Children’s Social Workers had18.0equivalent whole time (ewt) vacancies at the end of September 2011 (reduced from 73.0 ewt vacancies in August 2010).

2.3The Council has seen a decrease in overall headcount (2,443 headcount reduction between July 2010 and September 2011). The majority of this change is due to 28 schools becoming Academies.Vacancy management, the Shared Managed Services transfer to Serco, early retirements, as well as the impact of transformation changes have all contributed.

2.4Despite headcount reductions, the percentage of staff from under-represented groups has improved or remained the same in most groups. The only groups that have shown decreases are males and staff aged under 25. We have also seen a decrease in unknown information across all protected characteristic groups.

2.5As a result of forecasting resource requirements and a more robust policy,the usage of and reliance on agency workers has reduced from £22.8m in 2009/10 to £18.9m in 2010/11, a reduction of 17.1% and a saving of £3.9m.

2.6The reduction in M4 and above managers (salary band from £41,616)in post since January 2010 is currently 19% across all departments (excluding Schools). This equates to a paybill saving of approximately £10.0 million.

2.7The Agency Workers Regulationshave become effective from 1st October 2011. The Council is likely to directly employ more individuals on fixed term contracts and reduce its reliance on agency workers in future. A target of temporary spend at 3-5% of paybill by 2013 has been agreed.

  1. Executive Summary – Part 2: Equalities Workforce Profile(Section 6 refers)

3.1The profile of the Council’s workforce is relatively static over the year to March 2011; however there has again been an increase in the percentage of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff.

3.2The number of disabled employees continues to decrease. Work continues to increase the numbers of disabled employees into the workforce. The new Disability Leave Policy in April 2012 may result in an increase in the number of staff who declare themselves as disabled.

3.3A strategyto address the under-representation of the 25’s and under age profile within the Council iscurrently being developed. Initiatives already in place include work tasters, the Graduate Trainee Programme and Apprenticeships.

3.4For Council departments, over 23,500 training places were taken up over the year. All protected characteristic groups are well represented, with apparent no detriment to any one group.

3.5Overall, the applicant and starter data correlates with the Council’s workforce profile and shows applicants are being attracted from all protected characteristic groups. However, the proportion of disabled and BME applicants progressing to appointment stages is low, so further investigation is underway to identify any further actions that maybe required.

3.6There has been a noticeable drop in starters from 6,023 to 5,219 (804) since last year. Leavers have increased by 1,161, predominantly due to the transformation changes within Council departments and changes to staffing levels in schools.

  1. Recommendations

4.1The Panel is invited to note and comment on the report, and endorse the actions being undertaken as set out at section 7.

Background Papers

The Council’s Workforce Equalities Profile 2010/11: available at

Part 1: Workforce Resourcing and Development Update

  1. An overview of the size and shape of the existing workforce

Data for the year to September 2011 is attached inAppendix 1.There have been some noticeable variations from the previous year. Key points are:-

5.1BasicData

5.1.1There has been a 6.7%(2,443)decrease in headcount (inc. schools) and an8.3%(1,924) decrease in equivalent whole time employees (ewt) since July 2010.

5.1.2This is principally associated with a number of schools (28) becoming Academies, the Shared Managed Services changes as well as the impact of the ongoing transformation changes within the Council.

5.1.3In Council departments,headcount has reduced by 740 heads (6.8%) / 603 ewt since March 2011. Thisis expected to continue in line with current budget pressures and the transformation programme.

5.1.4As at September 2011 projections for the next three years anticipate a reduction of a total 1,200 people across Council departments through vacancy management, planned organisational changes, and turnover.

5.1.5Over 60% (20,715) of Council employees work part time - this percentage has increased by 1.6% since July 2010. This follows the trend regionally, with an increase in flexible roles and more agile working.

5.1.6The percentage of staff employed on fixed term contracts has decreased by 1% to 12% since last year due to the need to reduce workforce size over the next three years and minimise the impact and cost of redundancies.

5.2Turnover

5.2.1There has been a slight increase of 0.1% in voluntary turnover from 9.5% in July 2010 to 9.6% for September 2011 for the Council overall. This compares favourably against the labour turnover benchmarks, which are around 12.5%. (CiPD Benchmark 2011).

5.2.2Comparison data for Hertfordshire and our neighbouring councils for turnover is contained within Appendix 1 Chart C.

5.2.3In areas of shortage skill, turnover for Children’s Social Workers has decreased by 10.5% through a number of initiatives to retain staff such as the conversion of temporary to permanent workers, restructuring and the Academy. Turnover for Engineers has decreased by 2.0% in the same period. A detailed analysis of the current situation is shown below and in Appendix 1 Chart D.

5.3Local & National Trends

5.3.1In September 2011 the claimant count (the number of people claiming the Job Seekers Allowance) stood at 3.9% for the UK, 3.1% for the East of England and 2.6% for Hertfordshire. Over the last year the claimant count in Hertfordshire rose by 5.0% (from 17,525 to 18,439). Nationally the claimant count rose by 8.8% and in the East of England by 7.5%. (Source: Hertfordshire Local Information System AtlasUnemployment Bulletin: September 2011).

5.3.2Hertfordshire's economy is still feeling the effects of the recession with unemployment increasing slightly since last year. However,it is hoped the 2012 Olympics will bring potential business and income to Hertfordshire.

5.3.3Our proximity to London and the high cost of living in the South East continues to create a challenging recruitment market, especially for national skill shortage roles.

5.3.4Nationally between March and June 2011, 57,000 local government jobs were lost. Public sector employment has shrunk over the past 12 months with the loss of 240,000 public service jobs. Of those 36,000 (4.4%) were in Londonand 22,000 (3.4%) were across the South East. (Source: The Guardian - September 2011). Many more jobs will go over the next three years.

5.4Shortage Skills& Hard to Fill Posts

5.4.1Market Forces Payments

  • A market forces payments policy has recently been introduced and requires annual review cycle of all these payments.

5.4.2Children's Social Workers

  • The continued success of Hertfordshire’s Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSW) Academy and transformation across Children’s Services has had a dramatic affect upon the QSW vacancy level.
  • As of the end of September 2011 there were 18 area team posts vacant; 15 of which were covered by agency staff. From an establishment of 211 posts this equates to an 8.5% vacancy rate. This vacancy level has decreased significantly from 73 in August 2010 when 47 were covered by agency staff.
  • The remaining vacancies are being recruited to which will reduce vacant positions in frontline teams to single figures.
  • The Councilhas a strategic plan in place to recruit and retain Social Workerswhich includes: Development of the Social Worker Academy; onboarding andretention projects to improve the experience of QSW’s joining the Council; review of market pay; continuous presence in the UK marketplace using a variety of media options and promoting Hertfordshire as an Employer of Choice; and networking and development of stronger working relationships with other Local Authorities both nationally and regionally to benefit from best practice and generate new ideas.

5.4.3Schools Catering Service

  • A refreshed recruitment approach for catering roles continues as vacancies within primary schools have seen an increase. As at September 2011, 27 appointments have been made pending employment checks with 42 between advert and interview stage.

5.4.4Engineers

  • As at September 2011, the position of engineering vacancies is being kept under review pending the restructuring of the highways service in 2012.
  • The October 2011 review of Engineer’s market forces payments confirmed that payments will continue at the current level to maintain the alignment between the Council’s salaries and those of other organisations. The location based market forces payment paid to Engineers will be removed when Shire House in Watford is closed.

5.4.5HCS Occupational Therapists and Social Workers

  • HCS had 5.2 Occupational Therapist posts vacant as at the end of September 2011 against a 54.2 establishment, this equates to a 9.6% vacancy rate which is being held pending the New Ways Programme.
  • The New Ways Programme includes reviews of workflows and as a result, only business critical recruitment to shortage skills and hard to fill posts are in place, however there are likely to be 150 existing roles that could be outsourced to Serco in 2012 and some redundancies.
  • There were also 9.9 Social Worker vacancies in HCS against an establishment of 150.3 (6.6% vacancy rate),all of which are being covered by agency locums.
  • Currently there is a review of the career grade scheme to identify if other roles need to be included. Senior Support Worker posts have been identified as hard to fill roles, with 19.0 Senior Support Worker vacancies countywide which are being advertised.

5.4.6HCS Unqualified Care Posts in Day and Supported Living

  • As at the end of September 2011, there are 181.5vacant unqualified care posts, against an establishment of 893.3 (20.3% vacancy rate). Vacancy levels are historically high due to significant turnover in this area. This has prompted the introduction of 150 new Flexible Support Worker posts which will provide a more flexible In-House Services workforce and reduce the costs and reliance on agency workers.

5.5Staff Survey 2011

5.5.1This year’s staff survey yielded a 33.0% response rate, down by 1.7% since last year. The Council’s employee engagement index is calculated from the average score of 6 key questions across 3 areas (say, stay, and strive). This decreased only by 1%, down to 49%which is very encouraging as the survey period occurred during major transformational changes.

5.5.2Findings from the staff survey have also helped inform the Workforce Wellbeing and other related strategies. Regular updates continue to be given to the workforce to communicate follow up actions to address issues raised by the survey. The five main themes were: Perceptions of Senior Management; Communication, Change Management and Job Security; Work Life Balance and Wellbeing; Reward and Recognition; and Values and Behaviours.

5.6Impact of Transformation on workforce demographics

With the ongoing reduction of workforce numbers, the percentage of staff from under-represented groups has actually improved in most groups. This is mainly due to the workforce reducingrather than increases in the numbers from these groups.The only groups that have shown decreases in percentages are males and staff aged under 25. A current picture of the workforce’s demographics compared to the last three years is in Appendix 1 Chart A.

5.7Improving the data the Council holds

The successful roll out of the SAP Employee and Manager Self Service (ESS and MSS) system over the past two years has enabled staff to update their personal data online and has reduced the percentage of ‘not known’ records across all protected characteristic groups.Arecent pilotwithin HBS to improve equality data for staff without access to ESS providedhard copies of the equalities monitoring form and guidance information on site.

5.8Graduate Recruitment

The aim of the Graduate Training Schemes are to increase the Council’s future leadership pool by recruiting and developing graduates who show exceptional aptitude (through both academic and behavioural attainment) and are focussed on a leadership / senior management career within public services. The 2010 campaign successfully recruited five management, three financial management and two Human Resources graduates who started in September 2011. Planning for the 2012 campaign is underway.

5.9Temporary agency workers and resource planning

Resource Planning is being used to forecast the permanent and temporary workforce requirements across Council departments. This has supported the cost reduction of temporary agency workers from £22.8m in 2009/10 to £18.9m in 2010/11, a reduction of 17.1%. For the rolling year toSeptember 2011, temp spend stood at £13.5m. Spend in 2011/12 is anticipated to be circa £13m which would equate to a 43% reduction since 2009/10. Workforce Planning is also underway to promote skills development and talent management.

5.10Management Delayering

The reduction in M4 and above managers (Salary band from £41,616) in post since January 2010 is currently 19% across all departments (excluding Schools). This equates to a paybill saving of approximately £10.0 million. A target reduction of 25% has been agreed, so there is still 6% outstanding (39 posts). Directors have plans in place to achieve this.

5.11Voluntary Redundancies (VR)

The VR scheme launched in November 2010 for all employees in Council Departments received 604 expressions of interestand resulted in 270 voluntary redundancies. This scheme contributed significantly to the overall reductions in headcount and paybill savings.Services are mindful of the impact of loss of experience at senior levels with long term service and ensure effective succession planning is maintained to minimise the impact of this. Another VR programme was launched in October 2011which will see further staff leaving voluntarily by March 2012.

5.12Agency Workers Regulations

The regulations became effective from 1 October 2011 and require agency workers to receive equal pay and certain other terms such as annual leave and hours to be equivalent to a comparable permanent worker after they have worked 12 continuous weeks in the same (or similar) role. As a result of the regulations, the Council is likely to directly employ more individuals on fixed term contracts and reduce its reliance on agency workers.

5.13Sickness Absence

Sickness for the Council overall (6.4 days) and Council departments (7.8 days) both remain below benchmark (8.1 days, 2011 CBI Public Sector average). For Council departments this is a decrease of 1.1 days since September 2010.Earlier referral of cases to the Case Management team and shorter waiting times with Occupational Health have been effective in reducing duration of long term sickness, which continues to fall. A full breakdown of sickness absence by department over the last four quarters is in Appendix 1, Chart F.

5.14Performance Management Development Scheme (PMDS)

In June 2011, 64% of staff had performance agreements in place, a decrease of 19% since last year. This was caused by the PMDS process being delayed in some departments that were going through major transformation changes. A breakdown of the departmental return rates can be found in Appendix 1, Chart G. Work is currently underway to collate the returns for themid year reviews and this will be reported to the Senior Management Board in January 2012. Going forward, employees’ PMDS ratings will be captured electronically to allow for performance-based incremental pay progression from 2013. The Council is currently being reassessed for Investors in People, a quality standard which focuses on improving performance through effective management and development of its people. Feedback is expected back in December 2011.

  1. Part 2: Equalities Workforce Profile

The Workforce Equalities Profile Report provides breakdowns of the County Council’s workforce by gender, ethnicity, disability, caring responsibility, religion and belief, sexual orientation and age as at 31st March 2011. The Council is legally required to monitor workforce equalities, to review any issues and action being taken to address them.However,thisreport has been enhanced as a result of the requirements under the Public Sector Equality Duty which requires Public Authorities to publish relevant information demonstrating their compliance by 31January 2012.

The Council is committed to diversity and equalities in employment and service delivery. A diverse workforce which is representative of the people of Hertfordshire helps to promote the Council as an employer of choice and to deliver services that meet the various needs of the people of Hertfordshire. As part of this commitment, the Council has established a ‘Single Equality Strategy’ which incorporates all protected characteristics.

6.1Key areas of note from this years report

6.1.1An increase in the number of Black Minority Ethnic (BME) employees for a sixth consecutive year from 5.6% (2,040 people) to 5.8% (2,137 people). The Council has been identified as one of the top performers this year in terms of representation of minority groups by CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy) compared to other councils.

6.1.2There are low numbers of BME staff in senior management posts which is being addressed through theSingle Equality Strategy.The Council is working withexisting BME managersto use their input in the development planning process.This will enable employees from protected characteristic groups to move into more senior roles through a Management Development programme.

6.1.3The Councilcontinues to see improvements in the number of females withinCommunity Protection with females now making up 17.1% of the workforce, a 2.5% increase since last year.

6.1.4The number of employees declaring a disability has decreased over the last three years. The Council is continuing to work to increase the number of disabled employees (2.0% / 725 employees as at March 2011) through involvement with the disabled employees’ support group and Work Solutions in HCS. The Council is introducing a new Disability Leave Policy in April 2012 and expect an increase in the number of staff who declare themselves as disabled.

6.1.5A strategy to address the under-representation of the 25’s and under age profile within the Council has been developed. Work taster programmes and employment strategies will maximise employment opportunities through the Graduate Trainee Programme and Apprenticeships.