'Time bomb' warning issued by Derbyshire council over staffing issue

Derbyshire Dales District Council is facing wide-ranging workforce problems

A Derbyshire council is struggling to recruit and retain staff ahead of an impending mass retirement “time bomb”, despite offering “golden hellos”. Just under half (112 employees) of Derbyshire Dales District Council’s 230-person workforce is aged over 50, with many people retiring from age 55 onwards, which has left it facing a significant challenge in the future, the authority says.

However, Paul Wilson, chief executive of the district council, said: “Increasingly it is proving extremely challenging for the district council to attract and retain quality employees in certain professional disciplines. Almost every area of the council’s key activities has in some way been impacted by the workforce challenges we are encountering.”

He said: “The salary we are able to offer is not competitive in the market out there”, referencing HGV drivers who can earn more in the private sector. Mr Wilson said the pressure was increasing on staff covering absences while lengthy, unsuccessful recruitment drives are carried out.

He said “welcome payments” or “golden hellos” had been utilised which are not a “long-term solution” but said it is “very difficult for us to survive without that”. This has involved employees accepting job offers receiving a bonus of £2,000 – 50 per cent on appointment and 50 per cent after six months in post, which has to be repaid in full if the employee quits within two years.

The council is to consider increasing these “welcome payments” to £5,000, in line with the neighbouring Peak District National Park Authority. It has applied “market supplements” – temporary salary increases for accepting job offers – in 11 cases, and is considering “golden handcuffs”, extra payments to retain staff.

The market supplements involve employees receiving a higher rate of 9-15 per cent in salary over three years in order to make roles more attractive. He writes in a report discussed last month: “Whilst state retirement age has now moved to 66+, there is a significant risk that we will face the retirement of increasing numbers of long-serving, skilled and knowledgeable colleagues over the next 5–10 years as employees may choose to retire early and access their pension (possible from the age of 55 years bearing in mind the actuarial reduction).

“This ‘demographic time bomb’ is however not unique to this district council and is an issue across the local government sector.” Mr Wilson detailed that 36 members of staff are aged 60 or over and are “probably thinking about retirement plans”, while just under half of all senior managers are aged over 50.

He said: “This is a significant risk to the loss of corporate knowledge and demonstrates the need for effective succession planning.” Mr Wilson said there is a “significant lack of younger people” at the council, with just 10 per cent (23 employees) of the workforce aged under 30 and one per cent (two employees) aged under 21.

He detailed “significant challenges in attracting candidates with the necessary expertise and experience in a number of key areas” including planning, finance, audit, legal, policy & regeneration, sports development, business support and clean and green. Mr Wilson said: “In a number of cases, vacancies have been advertised numerous times – on each occasion incurring additional costs, delay and impacts upon productivity.”

The council spent £169,000 on temporary staff to fill gaps in the finance team in 2021 and has budgeted £333,200 in the authority’s development management service this year. Mr Wilson wrote: “It is difficult to ignore the cumulative impact of, and tangible link between, below inflation national pay awards for the last 10-14 years and our ability to offer competitive salaries in what is a diminishing pool of talent and interest in local government as a career.

“Whilst this problem is by no means limited to local government, as a small district council with limited resources, we are very much at the ‘sharp end’ and it is proving increasingly challenging to recruit and retain staff in a highly competitive market.”

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