North West Employers' Activities to Support the Strategy
Since publication of the Pay and Workforce Strategy in 2002, North West Employers has embraced the five themes to concentrate many of our activities in those areas. Additionally, in conjunction with the Regional Director of Local Government Practice based in the Government Office in the North West, we established a Regional Implementation Team to progress regional implementation of the strategy.
As a member of the Regional Implementation Team, North West Employers has undertaken several specific pieces of work:
- The design of a model workforce planning process and template was undertaken. The model was initially crafted with District Councils to establish a less time-intensive process, yet one which would deliver a consistency of approach at a local, sub-regional and regional level. The process, which embeds workforce planning into the service/business planning, financial planning and risk assessment processes, has now been accepted as a workable model by most authorities in the North West.
- To support the workforce planning process locally, North West Employers secured funding from Lancashire and Greater Manchester Learning and Skills Councils to provide physical support to the process locally.
- Funding was secured from the Learning and Skills Council to pilot a new skills audit tool in the ten Greater Manchester Authorities which could supplement workforce planning activity by assessing available skills and competencies amongst the workforce.
- In connection with recruitment and retention difficulties, North West Employers facilitated workshops to identify good practice in this area, using Children’s Social Workers as an example. Arising from this initiative, funding was obtained to map out current practice and identify innovative approaches to developing a future workforce, eg induction process, career pathway models, competencies for new social work roles. The project outcomes and milestones 2005-6 involve producing a map of current practice/innovation from authorities and producing a web-based resource/ideas bank to be shared across Greater Manchester authorities, but also available to other ‘Children’s Service’ authorities within the north west.
To view North West Employers’ achievements and successes in connection with the implementation of the Pay and Workforce Strategy, click below.
North West Employers Supporting Activities