Recent reports on the current financial climate are suggesting stormy weather for future employment, with Investec releasing figures on unemployment stating: “The claimant count is the biggest in more than 15 years… it is a sign of things to come over the next year as the economy weakens”. Unemployment is at its highest levels for 15 years and you might imagine this would cause a significant reduction in recruitment within the public sector. Not so for some areas who have seen an increase in demand.
We have seen a marked increase in requests for temporary staff in local government revenues & benefits and housing departments.
We have seen a marked increase in requests for temporary staff in local government revenues & benefits and housing departments. The reason for this is that many councils are experiencing an increase in new benefit claims, and as councils need to reach central government targets in processing times for both new claims and appeals they need the resources in place to hit those targets.
The snow ball effect of this situation has been seen in many other departments across councils. Fraud departments are experiencing an increase in workload as more fraudulent claims are made, council tax teams require more recovery staff as people struggle to make monthly payments and more housing officers are required as more people require social housing after their homes have been repossessed due a failure to make mortgage payments.
The increase in demand for staff in these departments creates a conflict between the reduced spending targets set by the government and the need to hit targets for the speed and volume of claims processed. As the demand continues local government will need to look at how they fund these departments.
