JOINT STAFFING WATCH: JUNE 2002
August 2003
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Contents
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION AND JUNE 2002 SUMMARY
SECTION 2: CHANGES IN STAFF LEVELS BY LOCAL AUTHORITY SERVICE
SECTION 3: COMPARITIVE STAFFING LEVELS BY COUNCIL
TECHNICAL NOTES
TABLES
JOINT STAFFING WATCH SURVEY: JUNE 2002
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION AND JUNE 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 at 8 June 2002.
2. This report contains information on estimated numbers of staff and full-time equivalent numbers of staff within each major local authority service for June 2002. Full-time equivalent numbers are provided analysed by service, by grade of staff, and for each council by service group. Estimates are also provided for full-time equivalent staff numbers employed by local authorities from March 1999. In addition to the June 2002 figures, summary figures for March 8 2002 can be found in tables 2,3 and 4 of this report. The full set of March figures are available on the Scottish Executive website at www.scotland.gov.uk/jointstaffingwatch, 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 the technical notes, including paragraph t.4, at the back of this report).
The technical notes at the back of the text section of this report provide further background to the information covered by this report.
)Table 1Overall staffing levels at June 2002 (
4. Table 1 shows, for Scotland as a whole, reported details both for full-time and part-time numbers by gender, and estimated full-time equivalent numbers by salary band for June 2002. The table shows an estimated 242,192 full-time equivalent staff employed by Scottish local authorities in June 2002 ( see technical notes t.4-6).
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)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. Since 1999, numbers rose briefly from 236,963 in March 2000 to 237,225 in June 2000 before falling until March 2001. The number of FTE staff since March 2001 then continued to increase to 242,192 by June 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 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff between June 2001 and June 2002 during which time numbers rose by 4,614 to 242,192 (FTE).
7. For specific service groups, as shown in Table 3, the largest increase in staffing levels over the year to June was for Non-teaching Education staff which increased by 1,992 (FTE), due to a combination of recruitment and the reclassification and transfer of staff. However, in the last quarter the number of Non-teaching Education staff fell by 626 (FTE). A large proportion of this decrease (60%) was due to a fall in the number of seasonal staff employed by Aberdeenshire Council. Between June 2001 and June 2002 the number of Social Work staff increased by 1,309 (FTE) with increases recorded by most authorities. Between March 2002 and June 2002 the number of DLO/DSO staff increased by 1203 (FTE). This increase was largely due to seasonal recruitment in many Local Authorities. The largest fall in staffing levels during the year to June 2002 was for Arts, Sports and Leisure staff (down by 724 FTE). The majority of this decrease can be attributed to reclassification and transfer of staff between service groups. (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. Table 4 shows the breakdown of (FTE) staff by salary band (excluding teachers, police and fire service staff) at June 2002 and the change since June 2001. Compared to an overall increase of 2.6 per cent (FTE) for all staff covered by this analysis, there was an increase of 4.4 per cent (FTE) in Band A staff, an increase of 4.4 per cent (FTE) in Band B staff and an increase of 4.9 per cent (FTE) in Band C staff. Numbers of staff not covered within these bands fell by 0.8 per cent (FTE) during the same period. These changes are largely due to the transfer and reclassification of staff, as described in paragraph 7 ( See technical notes t.5, and notes t.7- t.8 for a fuller description of the salary bands).
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)TABLES 5-10SECTION 3: COMPARITIVE STAFFING LEVELS BY COUNCIL (
9. 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 (
10. Tables 5 and 6 show respectively, for June 2002 for each authority, full-time equivalent staff, and full-time equivalent staff per 1000 population. Chart 1 shows total full-time equivalent staff per 1,000 population. 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 (
11. Table 7 shows reported numbers of total full-time equivalent staff (excluding teachers, police, and fire service staff) by salary band for each council for June 2002, while Table 8 shows these expressed per 1,000 population.
12. Band B and Band C staff cover the main groups of professional, technical and clerical staff in authorities, engaged in delivering services.
13. Levels of staff in the 'other' category, which covers mainly staff employed under manual workers terms and conditions of service, tend to vary mainly with the scale of authorities' Direct Labour/Direct Service Organisations.
14. 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 evidence 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 full-time equivalent 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 the tables, it is particularly important to be cautious in drawing conclusions from percentages in cases where the total numbers of staff are 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.
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TECHNICAL NOTES
Background to the Joint Staffing Watch
t.1 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.
t.2 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
t.3 A number of authorities/joint boards experienced difficulties in supplying estimates for the JSW.
t.4 As in the previous quarters, local authorities are keen to ensure that the figures supplied for June 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. For example, 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 the report we are using the June 2002 data for March 2002 and December 2001. The December 2000 data has been used for all periods up till and including September 2001. For Education (teachers) we have had to vary this due to issues surrounding the accuracy of both the September 2000 and December 2000 surveys. Therefore, June 2002 data is used for September and December 2001 and March 2002 and June 2000 data is used for September and December 2000 and March and June 2001.
t.5 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 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.
t.6 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
t.7 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.
t.8 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 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 June 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 June 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 June 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
August 2003
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: DD Environment.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
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TABLES
Table 1: Estimated number and full-time equivalent number of staff employed by Scottish local authorities: June 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 : June 2002
Table 6: Total full-time equivalent staff per 1,000 population by service : June 2002
Table 7: Full-time equivalent staff (i) by salary band (ii) (iii) in June 2002
Table 8: Full-time equivalent staff (i) per 1,000 population by salary band (ii) (iii): June 2002
Table 9: Number and percentage of non-manual (i) FTE staff by salary band (ii) (iii) : June 2002
Table 10(a): Corporate Services: June 2002
Table 10(b): Central Support Services: June 2002
Table 10(c): Planning and Economic Development: June 2002
Table 10(d): Other Education Staff: June 2002
Table 10(e): Social Work: June 2002
Table 10(f): Housing: June 2002
Table 10(g): Roads & Transport: June 2002
Table 10(h): Arts, Sport & Leisure: June 2002
Table 10(i): Libraries, Museums & Galleries: June 2002
Table 10(j): Environmental Services: June 2002
Table 10(k): DLO/DSO: June 2002
Chart 1: Total full-time equivalent staff per 1,000 population: June 2002
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