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20
Aug 2021
Harrogate council ends recruitment freeze but hiring staff now a ‘real challenge’
Harrogate Borough Council has ended a recruitment freeze more than a year after it was introduced to keep costs down during the covid pandemic.
After halting hiring in May 2020, the council has now begun recruiting again for vacant roles including lifeguards and receptionists as the freeze is “no longer sustainable”.
However, some non-critical posts will still be kept on hold as services continue to make a gradual return from lockdown.
Cllr Graham Swift, deputy leader and cabinet member for resources, enterprise and economic development, said it is “encouraging” that recruitment is now underway but he admitted it will be challenging due to local government reforms which will mean the council is abolished by April 2023.
Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, he said:
Under the reforms, North Yorkshire’s district councils and the county council will be scrapped to make way for a new unitary authority which will take over control of all council services.
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There are questions over what the major changes will mean for the 10,000 local government staff across North Yorkshire but until then recruitment will remain a challenge as councils try to fill posts which could soon cease to exist.
As well as the recruitment freeze, the borough council also shrunk its workforce by around 60 jobs and redeployed staff into under-pressure services as part of its Covid response.
Leisure centres were particularly affected by this with staff numbers at one stage being a third down earlier during the pandemic and services yet to make a full return due to ongoing staffing shortages.
Cllr Stanley Lumley, cabinet member for culture, tourism and sport, said recruitment was now a “real challenge” with leisure centres currently having around 27 vacancies as a result of the recruitment problems which span across the country.
He said:
At Wednesday’s meeting, council leader Richard Cooper also repeated warnings that services including leisure centres and bin collections could face disruptions due to staff self-isolating as covid cases remain high across the district.
He said:
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