Public administration: future trends

The public sector is undergoing radical change over the next five years and faces a range of challenges. Many central departments and local authorities have announced a recruitment freeze (with some exceptions, for example the Civil Service Fast Stream, which re-opens on 19 September 2011) or are recruiting fewer people. Many organisations are reducing their staffing levels.

Cost-saving measures may lead to organisational restructuring but the sector has an ageing workforce and many older staff are in the process of taking voluntary settlements, which means that some functions have seen increased hiring activity even though the total number of employees has fallen. The sector is also good for doctoral graduates with family or other commitments resulting in them only wanting to work part time.

Many public sector roles are changing and require multi-skilled staff able to meet the wider demands of the department, not just the specific job, and some skills are becoming hard to access. Doctoral graduates are particularly suited to roles dealing with research and development, which includes positions within the Research Councils and within policy functions in central government and related bodies.

There has also been an internal examination of skills within public administration, which has led to a number of initiatives. Local Government in England piloted ‘Total Place' , to examine how local services could be delivered at lower cost by collaboration, sharing services and evaluating current practices for efficiency. This is being taken forward and it is expected that more collaboration with bodies in the charitable and private sectors will take place to deliver services. This will need new expertise and new approaches to working with diverse organisations, in raising funds for initiatives and in managing challenging projects - all areas that are suited for doctoral graduates.

Many councils are adopting a strategic commissioning approach and some are planning much more outsourcing. Many are planning to set up shared management and shared services with other authorities or with local partners. A few are considering transferring staff to employee-owned social enterprises. All of this change means that the sector is looking for significant innovation.

Other issues faced by the sector include; demographic changes amongst service users (an ageing population, or one with rapidly increasing ethnic and national diversity means that services need to adapt); increased media and public awareness of services, particularly those which do not meet expectations; and the difficulties for public services caused by increased unemployment.

Forthcoming European Union initiatives that could affect councils include: a review of the working time directive, which may seek to provide greater clarity on on-call arrangements; guidance on including social considerations in public procurement programmes and a European focus on gender equality, which could impact on the approach taken to tackling equal pay issues - although the sector is already better than many in this regard, and an average of 40% of top earners in local government are women.

Skills needs

Public administration, particularly local government, does face some significant occupational shortages, both as a consequence of hiring difficulty and because of the loss of experienced personnel. Identified areas of shortage include a very significant hiring issue with recruitment of social workers - most UK councils find it difficult to recruit and retain social workers, particularly children's social workers. There are also difficulties recruiting adult social workers, mental health social workers and occupational therapists, with many choosing to work for agencies rather than directly for public sector organisations. There are shortages of specialists in planning, environmental health and building control, although there are signs that these hiring issues may be easing.

In addition the sector reports a shortage of specific management skills in procurement, process improvement, change management and performance management.