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NEWS RELEASE
JOINT STAFFING WATCH SURVEY: SEPTEMBER 2001

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The September 2001 Joint Staffing Watch Survey was published jointly with the December 2001 Survey, which is available on the Scottish Executive website at www.scotland.gov.uk/jointstaffingwatch, or on request from the address at the back of this report. The December report includes details of the changes in staffing levels over time.

TECHNICAL NOTES

Background to the Joint Staffing Watch

t1 A key purpose of the Joint Staffing Watch Survey is to provide meaningful information on overall local authority staffing levels by service and salary band, and to provide comparative information, particularly on relative levels of senior staff numbers, and of numbers of staff in central and corporate management roles. In particular, the surveys:

• Identify staff numbers within each of 17 separate service categories.
• Provide full-time equivalent staff numbers in each of five salary bands, designed to separately identify senior managers, middle managers and equivalent professionals, clerical staff and staff employed under manual terms and conditions.
• Provide estimates of full-time equivalent staff numbers based on actual hours worked, rather than by applying an FTE conversion factor to part-time.
• Identify staff in authorities' DLO/DSO services as a separate category, rather than grouping DLO/DSO staff with the services they mainly support.

t2 This press release shows full details of staff numbers by salary band for each council within each of the main local authority services. While these detailed tables provide useful comparative information, they must be used with care. Relative percentages based on small total numbers can be misleading. Differences between authorities in staffing levels by grade and service may be due to a number of factors, including different needs for the services provided, and different arrangements within the authority for providing for these needs (for example through different types of joint arrangement). Authorities, themselves, are best placed to address detailed queries on what may lie behind any of the differences shown.

Response to the Joint Staffing Watch

t3 A number of authorities/joint boards experienced difficulties in supplying estimates for the JSW.

t4 As in the previous quarters, local authorities are keen to ensure that the figures supplied for September 2001 are as accurate as possible and are subject to careful scrutiny. This process can lead to some revisions to earlier quarters' data. Such revisions are incorporated in the figures contained in this report. For example, in March 2001 Aberdeenshire introduced a new employee recording system. For the March and June 2001 reports, Aberdeenshire figures from previous quarters were revised to maintain accuracy of trends. However, it has since become apparent that the new employee recording system was not working correctly until September 2001 and so figures have been re-revised to provide consistency over time. Also, Aberdeen City introduced a new payroll system in early 2001, which has impacted on the accuracy of their reported figures: - it should be noted that for the purpose of this report we are using figures from the last reliable return (December 2000).

t5 In addition, variance can be caused by changes in the classification of staff by service, or by the transfer of function. This can be seen for DLO/DSO departments, for example, where staff are reclassified to/from other service groups, or where the service is no longer provided by staff who are on the payroll of the authority. Further, some authorities noted temporary changes in staff levels especially for supply teachers and DLO/DSO staff.

t6 Variations in definition can lead to apparent differences between the figures produced in the Joint Staffing Watch (JSW), and those published elsewhere. For example, the teacher figures recorded in the JSW include pre-school teachers, whereas those included in the School Census do not; figures for pre-school teachers are collected and published elsewhere. In addition, the School Census covers the number of teachers working during a certain week, whereas the JSW covers those in paid employment. This difference affects the way in which supply teacher cover is recorded (e.g., if a permanent teacher on sick leave is replaced by a supply teacher, the School Census would include just one teacher, whereas the JSW is concerned with the number of staff employed by local authorities, and would, therefore, include both).

The salary bands

t7 The purpose of separately distinguishing staff numbers by salary band is to provide a clearer description of relative staffing structures. For most of the staff covered, the salary bands used are based on points on the local government employee pay scale. The use of salary bands based on points on this pay scale allows comparisons to be made over time, unaffected by any general increases in pay. The salary bands used in the surveys do not relate directly to salary pay scales under which staff are appointed by local authorities. Where overlap occurs between pay scales and bands used for this survey, staff, as a result of incremental progression, may move into a higher band as recorded by the survey. Care, therefore, requires to be exercised in interpreting movements in band numbers as recorded under this survey.

t8 The salary bands used are defined as follows:-

Band A1: Chief Officers and staff paid at or above spinal column point 66 on the local government pay scale. In June 2001, these staff were earning 49,761 per year or above.

Band A2: Other chief officers and staff paid between spinal points 50 and 65 on the local government pay scale. In June 2001, these staff were earning between 34,242 and 48,582 per year.

Band B: Staff paid between spinal points 31 and 49 on the local government pay scale. In June 2001, these staff were earning between 21,036 and 33,483 per year.

Band C: Staff paid between spinal points 3 and 30 on the local government pay scale. In June 2001, these staff were earning up to 20,397 per year.

Other: This covers staff mainly employed under local authorities' manual terms and conditions of service.

The Scottish Executive / The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities

December 2002

Enquiries on the Joint Staffing Watch Survey should be addressed to:

Catherine Arris
The Scottish Executive
1-G10, Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
Tel. (0131) 244 0439
Email: catherine.arris@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

The latest version of the Joint Staffing Watch can be viewed on the Scottish Executive website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/jointstaffingwatch

Tables and Charts

Table 1: Estimated number and full-time equivalent number of staff employed by Scottish local authorities: September 2001
Table 2: Recent trends in local authority staffing: Full-time equivalent staff numbers by service
Table 3: Changes in reported total full-time equivalent staff by local authority service
Table 4: Changes in reported total full-time equivalent staff by salary band
Table 5: Total full-time equivalent staff by service : September 2001
Table 6: Total full-time equivalent staff per 1,000 population by service : September 2001
Table 7: Full-time equivalent staff by salary band in September 2001
Table 8: Full-time equivalent staff per 1,000 population by salary band : September 2001
Table 9: Number and percentage of non-manual FTE staff by salary band : September 2001
Table 10(a): Corporate Services: September 2001
Table 10(b): Central Support Services: September 2001
Table 10(c): Planning and Economic Development: September 2001
Table 10(d): Other Education Staff: September 2001
Table 10(e): Social Work: September 2001
Table 10(f): Housing: September 2001
Table 10(g): Roads & Transport: September 2001
Table 10(h): Arts, Sport & Leisure: September 2001
Table 10(i): Libraries, Museums & Galleries: September 2001
Table 10(j): Environmental Services: September 2001
Table 10(k): DLO/DSO: September 2001
Chart 1: Total Full-time equivalent staff per 1,000 population: September 2001

Download Tables in Excel spreadsheet format

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