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JOINT STAFFING WATCH SURVEY: DECEMBER 2002

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CONTENTS

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION AND DECEMBER 2002 SUMMARY
SECTION 2: CHANGES IN STAFF LEVELS BY LOCAL AUTHORITY SERVICE
SECTION 3: COMPARATIVE STAFFING LEVELS BY COUNCIL
TECHNICAL NOTES
TABLES

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION AND DECEMBER 2002 SUMMARY

1. This joint Scottish Executive / Convention of Scottish Local Authorities statistical press release provides summary information on the number and full-time equivalent (FTE) number of staff employed in Scottish Local Authorities on 8 December 2002.

2. This report contains information on estimated numbers of staff and FTE numbers of staff within each major local authority service for December 2002. FTE numbers are provided analysed by service, by grade of staff, and for each council by service group. Estimates are also provided for FTE staff numbers employed by local authorities for each quarter from March 2001. In addition to the December 2002 figures, summary figures for September 2002 are provided in Tables 2, 3 and 4 of this report. The full set of September 2002 figures are available on the Scottish Executive website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/government/jswss02-00.asp, or on request from the address at the back of this report.

3. Caution should be applied when interpreting the information supplied in this report, for the following reasons:

• Differences between councils in staffing levels are influenced by a wide range of factors, including need for the services provided, and the ways in which councils are organised to meet this. Councils have put in place different staffing structures considered most appropriate for their own local circumstances. Differences in staffing levels within individual services will, among other things, reflect these different structures adopted.
• The data represented in this report is not seasonally adjusted. Users of this report and, in particular the quarter on quarter changes shown in tables 2, 3 and 4, are encouraged to be prudent when attempting to interpret seasonality in some variables.
• Where authorities provide services through joint arrangements, the staff delivering the service may be grouped with the staff of a lead authority. This is particularly important in interpreting relative numbers of staff in DLO/DSO (Direct Labour Organisation / Direct Service Organisation) services.
• Figures may be revised and authorities may improve their calculation or classification methods ( see paragraph t.4 in the technical notes section at the end of this report).

The technical notes provide further background information.

)Table 1Overall staffing levels at December 2002 (

4. Table 1 shows, for Scotland as a whole, details of full-time and part-time numbers by gender, and estimated FTE numbers by salary band for December 2002. The table shows an estimated 244,393 FTE staff employed by Scottish local authorities in December 2002 ( see technical notes t.4-6).

)TABLES 2-4SECTION 2: CHANGES IN STAFF LEVELS BY LOCAL AUTHORITY SERVICE (

5. Table 2 shows trends in local authority staffing by service since December 1996. The number of FTE staff has increased by 3,477 (1.4 per cent) since December 1996. Since March 2001 the number of FTE staff has increased every quarter, reaching 244,393 in December 2002. These changes will include any seasonal effects and are affected by the types of discontinuity that are described in technical note t.4.
6. Table 3 shows the change in total number of FTE staff between December 2001 and December 2002. During this time the numbers increased by 4,734 to 244,393, a rise of 2.0 per cent. Since the previous quarter, September 2002, the number of FTE staff rose by 726 (0.3 per cent).
7. For specific service groups, as shown in Table 3, the largest increase in staffing levels over the year to December 2002 occurred in Social Work, which increased by 2,042 FTE (5.4 per cent). This increase was due to a combination of recruitment and transfer of staff between service groups. In the same time period, the number of Other Education staff increased by 1,077 FTE (3.4 per cent), mainly due to the recruitment of extra staff in some local authorities. (The way in which teachers, police and staff in other service groups are recorded in the Joint Staffing Watch can differ from other surveys; for more details, see technical note t.6).
8. The largest fall in staffing levels during the year to December 2002 was for Environment Services staff, which fell by 1,057 FTE (25.8 per cent). This decrease was almost entirely due to the reclassification and transfer of staff between service groups at Glasgow City Council.
9. Table 4 shows the breakdown of FTE staff by salary band (excluding teachers, police and fire service staff) at December 2002, and the change since December 2001. Compared to an overall increase of 2.3 per cent FTE for all staff covered by this analysis, there was an increase of 2.0 per cent in Band A staff, 2.5 per cent in Band B staff and 5.5 per cent in Band C staff. Numbers of staff not covered within these bands fell by 1.8 per cent during the same period (see technical notes t.7-t.8 for a detailed description of the salary bands).

)TABLES 5-10SECTION 3: COMPARATIVE STAFFING LEVELS BY COUNCIL (

5. In interpreting these figures it is important to note the general points on interpretation set out in paragraph 3 of the introduction.

)Chart 1 and Tables 5-6Full-time equivalent staff numbers by local authority service (

5. Tables 5 and 6 show for each authority, FTE staff, and FTE staff per 1,000 population respectively, for December 2002. Chart 1 also shows total FTE staff per 1,000 population for December 2002. Differences in staffing levels can occur because of different levels of need for local authority services, and because of different ways in which authorities arrange to provide these.

Tables 7 - 9Full-time equivalent staff by salary band ( )

5. Table 7 shows reported numbers of total FTE staff (excluding teachers, police, and fire service staff) by salary band for each council for December 2002, while Table 8 shows these expressed per 1,000 population.
6. Band B and Band C staff cover the main groups of professional, technical and clerical staff in authorities, engaged in delivering services. Levels of staff in the 'other' category, which covers mainly staff employed under manual workers terms and conditions of service, tend to vary depending on the scale of authorities' Direct Labour/Direct Service Organisations (DLO/DSO).
7. Table 9 shows, for each authority, the number and proportion of non-manual staff within each of the non-manual salary bands, showing authorities ranked by the population of the authority. While there is an indication of a relationship between population and proportion of staff in higher salary bands, there are some variations between authorities of similar size.

Staff by salary band by service within each council

15. The set of detailed tables from Table 10(a) to Table 10(k) provide, for each authority, information on the number and proportion of FTE staff by salary band, within each of the main service categories. They allow comparisons to be made between authorities in the proportions of senior, middle ranking, clerical and manual staff within each service.
16. In assessing the information in Tables 10(a) to 10(k), it is particularly important to be cautious in drawing conclusions from percentages when the total number of staff is very small. For example, the relatively high percentage (20 per cent) of Corporate Services staff in Orkney in salary band A1 in fact represents only one person from a total of five FTE staff. It is also important to note that differences between authorities within any one service may, in part, reflect differences in the ways in which the authorities are organised to provide these services. For example, in a number of cases, authorities show zero senior manager (i.e. salary band A and above) staff in Arts, Sport and Leisure, and in Libraries, Museums and Galleries. In such cases, these services may be part of a combined service department, and senior manager numbers included within a different service category.

TECHNICAL NOTES

Background to the Joint Staffing Watch

t1 A key purpose of the Joint Staffing Watch (JSW) 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 (FTE) 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 FTE 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. Note that the figures in the tables may not sum due to rounding. 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 Some authorities/joint boards experienced difficulties in supplying estimates for the JSW. The December 2002 data for Dumfries and Galloway Police are estimates based on the figures provided for the previous quarter, September 2002.

t4 As in the previous quarters, local authorities are keen to ensure that the figures supplied for December 2002 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.

t5 In addition, variance can be caused by changes in the classification of staff by service, or by the transfer of functions. 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 that are on the payroll of the authority. 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 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 December 2002, these staff were earning 50,261 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 December 2002, these staff were earning between 34,742 and 49,082 per year.

Band B: Staff paid between spinal points 31 and 49 on the local government pay scale. In December 2002, these staff were earning between 21,536 and 33,983 per year.

Band C: Staff paid between spinal points 3 and 30 on the local government pay scale. In December 2002, these staff were earning up to 20,897 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
April 2004

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

Siân Morgan
The Scottish Executive
1- F, Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
Tel. (0131) 244 0439
Email: DDEnvironment.Statistics@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

Table 1: Estimated number and full-time equivalent number of staff employed by Scottish local authorities: December 2002
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 : December 2002
Table 6: Total full-time equivalent staff per 1,000 population by service : December 2002
Table 7: Full-time equivalent staff (i) by salary band (ii) in December 2002
Table 8: Full-time equivalent staff (i) per 1,000 population by salary band (ii): December 2002
Table 9: Number and percentage of non-manual (i) FTE staff by salary band (ii): December 2002
Table 10(a): Corporate Services: December 2002
Table 10(b): Central Support Services: December 2002
Table 10(c): Planning and Economic Development: December 2002
Table 10(d): Other Education Staff: December 2002
Table 10(e): Social Work: December 2002
Table 10(f): Housing: December 2002
Table 10(g): Roads & Transport: December 2002
Table 10(h): Arts, Sport & Leisure: December 2002
Table 10(i): Libraries, Museums & Galleries: December 2002
Table 10(j): Environmental Services: December 2002
Table 10(k): DLO/DSO: December 2002

Chart 1: Total full-time equivalent staff per 1,000 population: December 2002

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