More young people in local authority careers campaign

A recruitment campaign has been launched to address workforce shortages in local authorities, and aims to encourage young people aged between 18 to 27 to take up jobs in local authorities.

The Find Your Path campaign focuses on attracting young people to roles such as those delivering services such as local highways, waste and recycling, green space and access, as well as people-based roles.

Developed with the Department for Transport (DfT), the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT), Colas, the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) and the Midlands Highway Alliance Trust (MHA), aims to highlight the benefits and opportunities of working in local government sectors, and the range of jobs on offer.

This follows research by ADEPT’s Future Highways Research Group (DHRG) that has revealed that 11 per cent of local authority staff are aged 30 or younger, a lack of diversity, high vacancy rates across important roles, and urgent skills gaps in environmental and technological domains.

Sessions with young people took place to better understand their career aspirations and perceptions of local government in order to have a clear direction for the campaign. These discussions revealed that most young people do not know what local authorities do, are not interested in jobs with them, and are also unaware of the range of jobs in these careers available.

The eight week pilot campaign is to run in five local authority areas: Barnsley, Hounslow, Oxfordshire, Plymouth, and South Gloucestershire, and will be developed by Eleven Agency. This will focus on innovative recruitment strategies to showcase the opportunities and roles available within local government. 

Future of roads minister, Lilian Greenwood, said: “Young people are key to securing the future of our highways sector.

“We’re supporting ADEPT’s recruitment campaign, to help the next generation of young people access careers in this important field of work.

“A skill workforce is key to ensuring everyone can benefit from smooth and safe local roads — with the right people we can make the most of the extra £1.6 billion boost to highways maintenance funding.”