North Yorkshire Council

 

Corporate and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee

 

9 June 2025

 

Workforce Report

 

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Human Resources and Business Support)

 

 

1.0       PURPOSE OF REPORT

 

1.1       To update the Corporate & Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee on NYC Workforce data since 1 April 2024.

 

2.0       BACKGROUND        

 

2.1       This second full year workforce report for North Yorkshire Council (NYC) provides an update to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the Council’s changing workforce, presents a range of workforce data, outlines progress on the last year. In addition, an overview of restructures to date and redundancies is provided for committee.

 

3.0       DATASETS

 

            Workforce Demographics

3.1       This section sets out the end of 2024/2025 data for NYC with changes on the previous year reported in the narrative.

Table 1. Headcount and FTE

 

3.2       The whole workforce headcount* has reduced by 355 and FTE has reduced by 211 largely due to ongoing reductions in the schools’ workforce, as locally maintained schools continue to transfer to academies. In contrast, the non-schools’ headcount has increased by 475, and FTE increased by 417. This is due both to an increase in the employment of a core contracted workforce (rather than use of casuals) and the TUPE in house of several Leisure facilities (Harrogate, Richmondshire, Selby and Tadcaster), Waste services in Selby and several smaller children’s and adult’s service contracts (c410).

* Whole workforce is less than the sum of schools and non-schools as duplicates who work in both sectors are removed.

 

Table 2. Directorate headcount

 

3.3       Schools remain the largest workforce sector although down from 35% to 32% due to ongoing academisation. Community Development has increased by 3% to 11% of the workforce due to a significant increase in inhouse Leisure provision across the county. Resources and Central Services and Environment have increased slightly by 1% to 17% and 13% respectively, while HAS and traded Facilities have reduced by 1% to 12% and 6% respectively. There has been no change in CYPS. 

 

3.4       87% of the whole workforce are covered by nationally negotiated NJC for Local Government (Green Book) terms and conditions (an increase of 1.4% on 23-24), or 98.1% when schools are excluded. The proportion on national teaching terms and conditions has reduced by 1.5% this year to make up 12.6% of the workforce. A tiny proportion are covered by national negotiating bodies for Chief Executives and Chief Officers (less than 0.1%) and the specialist education professionals on Soulbury terms (0.2%).

 

Table 3. Terms and Conditions        

 

3.5       In April 2023 28% of the workforce were on different terms and conditions to those negotiated for the new North Yorkshire Council, largely those who were TUPE protected on their previous District and Borough contracts. This reduced to 15% by April 2024 and reduced again to 4% by April 2025. Having most employees on a single set of terms and conditions reduces equal pay risks and makes managing and paying employees more straightforward, reducing the administration costs of multiple employment terms. This change has been achieved by employees choosing to move to NYC contracts and through multiple service restructures to achieve a one council approach.

 

Table 4. NYC v. TUPE terms and conditions

 

3.6       75% of the workforce remain on an established contract, either full time, part time, term time, compressed or annualised. The proportion on a full-time contract has increased from 31% to 38% while those on a term time only contract has reduced from 21% to 7%. The number on temporary contracts has decreased from 7% to 3%, as temporary arrangements pending reorganisations and restructures have been formalised. A further 23% are called on as needed on a casual basis, up from 17%. This reflects the increase in those employed in Leisure where the workforce often has multiple relief contracts to reflect very low numbers of hours in different support and coaching functions at different centres.

 

Table 5. Contract type

 

3.7       The proportion of the workforce on full-time contracts has increased by 1% in the last year. There has been a focus on offering contracts that accurately reflect the hours worked, rather than relying on regular additional hours or casual working.

Table 6. Full time / part time

 

3.8       There has been a small but steady (1.2%) increase in the proportion of men employed at the Council, although the ratio is still around 2 women to each man.

 

Table 7. Men and women

      

3.9       Looking at women and men by Directorate shows no change in the gender split for HAS, Environment and Management Board, a 1% decrease in men in CYPS, and a 1% increase in men in Community Development. Despite targeted attraction campaigns to tackle occupational segregation, progress can be slow in attracting more men into care and more women into traditional male areas such as Waste. 

 

Table 8. Men and women by Directorate

 

 

3.10     There is often concern in local government about the ageing working population and the challenge to attract young talent. At a time of change and restructure some older workers have elected to retire, and the average age has reduced by 0.4 years since April 23.

 

Table 9. Average age (years)

 

3.11     This more detailed age distribution table illustrates success in attracting new young talent, with a 1% increase in 16-25 years to 6% and a further 1% increase in the 26-35 years to 17%. There has been a corresponding 1% decrease in the 46-55 and 56-65 age bands although more than half (53%) of the workforce are between 46 and 65. We are raising awareness of multi generations within the workforce, and this is helping us to consider the workforce of the future.  As part of this, engagement with our younger workforce (under 25) shines a spotlight on talent entering the workforce. We are working with our Young Persons Network, enabling them to inform future recruitment strategies to attract and retain young people into NYC roles.  People Strategy discussions across directorates included review of age profiles and wider workforce data in Q3 and 4, with conversations on attraction and retention.

 

 

Table 10. Age distribution (%)

 

3.12     It has proved difficult to gather accurate information about the proportion of the workforce with a disability, and data is still incomplete, but a recent initiative to encourage employees to self-identify has produced more comprehensive and meaningful results. In April 2023 just 3.8% of the workforce identified as having a disability. The table above shows that in April 2025 205 employees described themselves as having a disability, over 17% of those who responded. In response to more detailed questions 120 employees described a long-standing health condition, 89 a mental health condition, 55 a learning disability, 47 a physical impairment, and 31 a sensory impairment.

 

Table 11. Declared disability

 

3.13     At 3.9% there has been a steady 0.4% increase each year in those declaring their ethnicity as other than white, ensuring the workforce is more representative of the community served.

 

Table 12. Declared ethnicity

             

 

Pay Grade Distribution

 

Table 13. Employees by NYC equivalent grade (%)

 

3.14     There has been a small (less than 1%) reduction in those employed in the lower pay grades AB to F, and a comparable increase in the proportion in grades G, H and JK. Specifically, the 0.9% increase in roles at grade JK reflect a range of qualified officer professionals including social workers, engineers, surveyors, developers, and accountants. This reflects increased skill levels in the council’s roles and rewarding career opportunities. There is also an increased number of career graded roles creating clear pathways for professional development and progression and assisting with recruitment and retention in hard to fill professions. Senior managers graded SM1 to Chief Executive make up just 3.3% of the workforce. Please see full current Pay Scales for 24 - 25 at Appendix 1.

 

            Some examples of high-volume roles in the different grades include Cleaners at Grade AB, Waste Loaders, Business Support, Drivers and Leisure Attendants at Grade CD and Care and Support Workers and Cooks at Grade E. Grades F to I have senior care and support roles, team leaders and technical roles such as Customer Service Advisors, Planning and Homeless Prevention Support Officers, and Swimming Teachers. JK grade includes Social Workers, Occupational Therapists and Planners. Grades L to N cover the senior professional grades Accountants, HR Business Partners, Lawyers and Engineers. Senior Managers and Assistant Director grades cover Heads of Service managers and above.

 

3.15     The tables below illustrate North Yorkshire Council is amongst the leanest in terms of managers earning over £50k and over £100k as a proportion of the whole workforce.

 

Table 14. NYC Leanness

Turnover

 

Table 15. Turnover NYC 2023 – 2025

 

3.16     NYC turnover has increased very slightly in 24-25 up from 12% in 23-24 to 12.1%, but still below the latest 15.1% turnover for all English authorities and within the ‘normal’ 10-13% range to allow for new talent. Q2 traditionally has the highest number of leavers, reflecting the end of the school year and a common time for schools to join academy trusts and support arrangements to change. In the last year the highest number of leavers fell between July and December 2024 coinciding with the implementation of many service restructures. The most recent Q4 shows a reduction to 2.74%, nearly 1% lower than Q4 23-24. Most restructures are now complete.

 

3.17     The most common reason for leaving in 24-25 was voluntary resignation, with 815 choosing to leave the council, down by nearly 30% from 1122 voluntary leavers in 23-24. Retirement was the next most common reason for leaving with 223 retirees, up slightly from 214 in 23-24. There were 49 compulsory redundancies, and 49 TUPE transferred to another organisation. Over one hundred leavers were due to active management of conduct, capability or performance issues with 50 dismissals due to medical incapacity (up from 26 in 23-24), 19 dismissed during probation (up from 17), 17 for gross misconduct (up from 10), 13 due to capability and a further 14 due to a settlement agreement.

 

Table 16. Non-school reasons for leaving (NYC)

 

Top 3 reasons for leaving

 

Other top reasons for leaving (more than 10 leavers)           

 

Absence Management

 

3.18     Days per FTE sickness absence has decreased by 2.5 days to 10 days 24-25 compared to 12.5 days the previous year. The latest ONS sickness statistics are due to be published early June 25 for comparison purposes.

 

Table 17. NYC sick days per FTE 

     

 

3.19     The overall reduction in days lost due to sickness absence is reflected in a reduction in all Directorates except CYPS and Traded Facilities. Community Development and Environment have seen the greatest reductions of 5.2 days and 4.9 days per FTE respectively. The 50 employees dismissed for medical incapacity will have helped to reduce the sickness absence days lost.

 

            Table 18. Sick days per FTE by Directorate 2023-2025

 

. 3.20   Stress, depression, anxiety and related remains the highest cause of sickness absence at 30% up 2% from the previous year. Other Musculo-skeletal absence is also up 2% on 23-24 at 20%. The proportion of time lost to other conditions is very similar between the 2 years although Covid absence has reduced from 3% to 2%.

 

Table 19. Reasons for Sick Absence  

 

3.21     Interventions which support a reduction in sickness absence include monthly calls to managers to proactively offer support with managing long term absences and automated email alerts confirming when an employee triggers on long term absence, including signposting to support and guidance. Hotspot areas are provided with more intense HR support, including face to face drop-in clinics for managers. There are face to face and online options for manager skills training and in areas with high absence levels tailored manager skills sessions to support them to actively manage any ongoing issues. Future planned interventions include more support for managers who have an employee or employees that have triggered on short term absences, we have also reviewed the policy and procedure and streamlined it making it easier for managers and staff to follow.  This is a focussed area for 2025 / 2026.

 

Apprenticeships and Graduates

 

Table 20. Apprenticeships and graduates as of April 2025

 

 

3.22     There were 150 apprenticeship starts in 24-25, up by 5% on the previous year, with 136 completions (an increase of 28 on 23-24), and 13 withdrawals. The Apprenticeship Programme is now fully embedded across the whole council with every directorate utilising a range of apprenticeship programmes. There are at least 300 apprentices on programme at any one time from both Council and Maintained or VA school staff.

 

3.23     A full support programme for apprentices and managers is in place with regular networking sessions, master classes, Q&A sessions and drop-in sessions.

Work is also ongoing to ensure that we can respond quickly and effectively to the numerous Government changes that are currently being implemented as part of the new Growth and Skills Levy. The first change to English and Maths was implemented in February with Employers now able to choose whether an apprentice without these qualifications at Level 2 should complete them as part of their apprenticeship. The overwhelming response from managers is that these qualifications are valued, and apprentices should still complete them if required.

 

3.24     Other changes include shorter apprenticeships, more flexibility on what can be funded through the levy, changes to the assessment process, incentives for some construction apprenticeships, changes to funding for Level 7 apprenticeships and less bureaucracy for Providers. There are no firm timescales yet, but it is likely that the majority of changes will be implemented in the summer when the funding guidance is updated.

 

3.25     NYC currently have 19 graduates on programme at the council (an increase of 1 from 23-24), with 21 new starts since April 2024.

 

Table 21. Monthly Contribution to Apprenticeship Levy Apr 25

 

3.26     The Schools contribution to the apprenticeship levy has increased by just over 5% (£3,437) since 23-24 while the corporate contribution has increased from £128,633 in 23-24 to £200,380 in 24-25.

 

Recruitment and Labour Market

 

Table 22. Labour Market Employment % 2022 – 2024

* % of individuals claiming out of work benefits

 

3.27     Unemployment is rising nationally and in North Yorkshire, including youth unemployment. North Yorkshire’s overall unemployment rate has risen by 0.5% to 2.5% in the last 2 years, while NY youth unemployment has risen by 0.7% to 4%. North Yorkshire’s unemployment rates remain 1.8% lower than national rates. Nevertheless, the labour market remains challenging across all sectors/job types.

Table 23. Recruitment activity 2024-25

 

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

full year

Adverts

664

848

613

795

2920

Applications

3,068

4,365

4,242

4,480

16,155

New starters

519

789

706

659

2,673

Applications/advert

4.6

5.1

6.9

5.6

5.5

Attraction

1,117,053

1,205,743

978,050

951,304

4,252,150

Advertising spend

£9,745

£2,072

£1,405

£35,620*

£48,842

Cost per hire

£18

£15

£18

£17

£17

Days to hire

31

30

27

25

28

Agency spend

£1,390,742

£1,850,810

£1,883,616

£1,687,521

£6,812,689

Agency FTE

29

34

49

41

38

Care leavers starters

8

7

8

8

8

Supported Internships

4

0

5

4

 

Volunteers

4,203

4,228

4,208

no data

 

Volunteer hours

42,098

42,607

45,774

no data

Work experience

21

40

6

13

80

Redeployees

29

30

42

18

 

*Recruiter licence and journal subscriptions

 

Table 24. International recruits 2024-25

Starters

72

Social Worker Adult

24

Social Worker Children

8

Educational Psychologists

5

Care & Support Worker

21

Reablement Care Worker

6

Senior Care Worker

3

Project Engineer, Highway Engineer

1

Data Specialist, Technology Support Engineer

1

HR Advisor, Catering Events Manager

1

 

3.28     Recruitment activity has been a little lower overall in 24-25 with adverts down nearly 10%, and applications down 7.7% but new starters up by more than 16%. Applications per advert is slightly higher than last year at 5.5. Cost per hire has reduced from £20 to £17 and the time to hire has reduced from 30 to 28 days. Volunteering hours have increased by 9%, work experience has nearly doubled, and the number of redeployees supported almost trebled. International recruitment has covered a range of new roles.

 

3.29     Agency spend has increased by nearly £0.5 m. to £6.8m. Significant work continues in this area to work with Directorates to ensure as minimal spend as possible.  Every directorate has reduced agency spend, some significantly with the exception of CYPS with £3.9m compered to £2.1m (almost double).  The two major pressures for this are Educational Psychologists Assessments (see below information) and also ‘bespoke’ high need complex children demand increases.

 

 

 

 

            Table 25. Hard to fill posts

Job Type

Key Points

Movement

Care Workers:

Whilst the growing demand for Care Workers continues there has been an increase in the number of applications, alongside a decrease in the number of vacancies. The Make Care Matter recruitment hub conducts significant outreach, reaching over 2,000 people weekly and collaborating with DWP (Department for Work and Pensions), Skills4Care and Reed in Partnership etc. There has been an increase in applications and an increase in international recruitment within the broader care market, which is helping to fill vacancies, however the challenges around sustainability persist. Provider services are largely fully staffed; but the key difficulty remains with reablement owing to the need to drive and the predominantly part time working pattern. The international workforce is available to fill these requirements, however, HAS are unable to offer full time hours to meet the requirements for sponsorship. The MakeCareMatter recruitment fund has supported 27 displaced skilled workers to find sponsored employment and the programme is moving into a 3rd year.

  Improved

 

 

Social Workers:

Children and Young People’s Social Worker vacancies have remained low in Q4 24/25 with 3 agency workers.

Harrogate, Scarborough and Craven areas currently have no vacancies within their FAST services.

CYPS have 3 current agency workers in place due to sickness, resignations, and maternity leave within the team. There are currently 9 Social Worker vacant full-time positions across the County, with an ongoing need to assess future pipeline and to secure resilient staffing levels.  The region of Scarborough is typically the hardest area to recruit to given demographics and where we have concentrated the recruitment of international sponsored migrants. More recently Selby has experienced challenges with staff retention.

Equal

 

 

Educational Psychologists:

2 Trainee Educational Psychologists have been appointed within the last quarter, in Craven and Harrogate areas. 4 of 5 sponsored migrants have arrived. Agency spend remains high in these areas due to demand for assessments, which cannot currently be met with staffing numbers. The aim for the academic year of 2025/26 following the successful recruitment of both domestic and international Educational Psychologists will start to reduce agency spend.

Improved

 

 

Planning:

In Q4, Planning reopened recruitment with a focus on attracting higher-level Planning Officers. This initiative successfully resulted in 2 new hires at this level. Additionally, direct approaches led to 2 more appointments at the principal and senior levels. Currently, there are 3 agency workers in Development Management, originally scheduled to be phased out by the end of Q4, however, extensions have been requested for 2 of the agency workers (April and July 2025). Moving into Q1 25/26, our recruitment efforts will shift towards filling entry-level Planning Officer positions, with the goal of filling all vacancies. There is a significant interest in the planning profession at entry level, therefore growing our own talent is critical to success workforce planning.

Improved

 

 

Learning & Development

 

Table 26. Delivered learning events 24-25

 

3.30     Learning and Development Solutions continue to support all directorates with increased engagement following a number of large-scale restructures. HAS activity increased by 55%, Health and Safety increased by 19%, and Domestic Abuse training doubled. A standardised Career Pathways approach has been agreed albeit recognising the scope for flexibility. Work is ongoing with a range of service areas, including Property, Health and Safety, Housing etc. to ensure development options reflect NYC’s People Strategy ambitions of attracting, retaining and engaging its employees as well as promoting staff mobility.

 

3.31     The NYC Leadership Academy continues to provide access to leadership and management development solutions from those aspiring to a management role, through to those who are considered our leaders of the future. In addition, on the back of the Culture Workshops that took place in 2024, a range of “Leading into 2030” masterclasses are being delivered on specialist subjects: communication, customer excellence, difficult conversations, data and AI, leading at scale, measuring performance, networking, partnership working, political awareness, innovation and leading through complexity and stronger teams. Further evaluation and summary findings from the masterclasses will be published following the initial phases conclusion in 2026.

 

3.32     Work is ongoing with the NYC Oliver McGowan trailblazer project. L&D have appointed a supervisor who will oversee co-delivery partners with lived experience. Tier one delivery will commence in the summer months.

 

3.33     Significant progress has now been made in developing the training matrices for all staffing groups, identifying the core training offer for all employees in their role within the council. The core offer is supplemented by Targeted Development, ensuring that all employees can access development that is relevant to their personal development needs and their role. 

 

Table 27. Gender pay gap

 

2023

2024

Mean gender pay gap

7.7%

1.98%

Median gender pay gap

8.8%

0%

 

3.34     This is the first year for reporting the gender pay gap of the new North Yorkshire Council, reflecting the pay month March 2024. Previous reported figures related to North Yorkshire County Council.

 

3.35     There is no median pay gap. The mid pay point for both women and men is the same at £15.17 per hour. The mean or average gender pay gap is 1.98% with men’s mean pay at £17.16/hour and women’s mean pay at £16.82/hour. Both the mean and median pay gaps are an improvement on the figures for North Yorkshire County Council, largely due to new services being provided which have traditionally seen more men than women in relatively lower paid roles, such as Waste and Parks and Grounds.

 

4.0       NYC RESTRUCTURES AND REDUNDANCIES

           

4.1       Restructures following the approval of business cases have continued in 2024 / 2025.  This has been an extensive exercise with Unison engaged throughout and making a positive contribution on the success of the restructures.  In 2024 / 2025 around 2600 people have been affected by a restructure.   The majority of services have completed and are now live with their new structures with a small number still  ongoing in 2025.

 

4.2       Redundancies as a result of the restructures from April 2024 to end of March 2025 are currently at 33 (numbers of staff who have left the council during this period).  This is a total cost of £2.35m (Redundancy £582k and Pension strain cost £1.77m)

 

4.3       The savings from deleting just the posts where staff have been made redundant to date is an annual saving of c£1.4m.   More posts will have been deleted through the holding of vacancies as part of the service restructures and also the service savings plans.   The overall savings from restructures will be mapped through service plans.

 

4.4       Since the commencement of the new council and merging of teams there have been around 87 restructures, with a few still ongoing. The main purpose of the structures was to bring the teams together, harmonisation of job roles and terms and conditions to ensure equal pay and that roles are transparent and fair.

 

4.5       Teams are now embedding and starting to work more efficiently together across the whole council, however there are some limitations due to the significant ongoing work to converge systems and processes, ensuring the effective delivery of services. 

 

4.6       Most areas are in the process of undertaking a Post Implementation Review (PIR) to measure impact and performance. As teams are newly formed and new systems and processes are starting to embed performance measures are being established.  This work is key to services over the next 12 months.

 

5.0       HYBRID WORKING

 

5.1       The way we work has seen significant change over the past 5 years from covid through to the reorganisation of 8 councils.  This has brought with it increased use of hybrid working.  Within the marketplace for workers, hybrid working is seen as both an attraction and a retention tool.

 

5.2       The majority of our workforce do not work from home but work in a variety of locations directly delivering services either in service users homes (reablement workers, housing workers), in residential establishments (children’s or elderly people’s homes) council buildings (public facing customer service, cleaners, cooks, teachers, fitness coaches and swim teachers) or site visits (environmental health, planners, surveyors).

 

5.3       Approximately 15-20% of the workforce occupy a support function (professional or administrative) or management role that can be undertaken from home or an office, and in practice there is generally an expectation of staff in these roles being in an office base at least 1 to 3 days per week.  This is dependent upon service need and team circumstances and there is no one size fits all.

 

5.4       At NYC we do not have ‘Home Working Contracts’, however, where staff are able to, they can work from multiple locations and for some this may include their home.

 

5.5       Where services can work in a hybrid way (which may include home and/ or NYC buildings across the County) teams are asked to undertake a separate hybrid working team checklist to establish how they work as a team and individually to ensure that the services are delivered in the most effective way whilst ensuring teams connect on a regular basis. This will vary across services.

 

5.6       The hybrid working team checklist is reviewed and monitored by SLT’s to ensure consistency of practice and delivery performance. They are also reviewed at team meetings and individual 1:1’s and IPM conversations.

 

5.7       As a new council there is an ongoing property review underway to optimise the use of space across the estate, including the use of operational buildings as well as space in main office buildings. The review will also look at ensuring efficiencies can be made alongside the service and team working arrangements, including being able to work together in office space.  Optimising workspace involves teams working together in shared areas and working with property services to achieve the most effective workspace solutions. 

 

6.0       CONCLUSION

 

6.1       2024-25 has been another very busy and challenging year for NYC with most services now having been through reorganisation and restructure and several new facilities brought back in house. Against a range of performance indices NYC is performing well and maintaining stability and continuity during a period of intense change. Sickness absence rates, voluntary resignations and the average age of the workforce are all down, while ethnic diversity, employment of those with a disability and employment in the 18-25 and 26-35 age ranges has all increased. 96% of the workforce is on the same standard terms and conditions, and senior management leanness (2.49%) is the 2nd lowest amongst comparable councils locally and nationally. In a challenging labour market cost per hire has reduced from £20 to £17 and the time to hire has reduced from 30 to 28 days. Nearly 1500 training events have been delivered and the graduate and apprentice programmes remain strong. There is a zero median gender pay gap with men and women receiving the same median £15.17/hour (2024).

 

7.0       IMPLICATIONS

 

7.1       There are no Legal, Financial, Equalities or Climate Change implications associated with the report recommendation.

 

8.0       REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

 

8.1       The past two years have seen significant change through the council and the impact on the workforce.

 

9.0

RECOMMENDATION  

     9.1

 

Members are asked to:

i.      Note and comment on the report.

ii.    Identify any potential lines of inquiry for further consideration and agree to add these to the Committee’s work programme.

 

 

 

Trudy Forster

Assistant Chief Executive (Business Support)

County Hall

Northallerton

 

29 May 2025

 

Report Author – Emily Wren, Principal HR Advisor

Presenter of Report – Trudy Foster, Assistant Chief Executive       

 

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS: None

 

APPENDICES:

Appendix 1 – NYC Pay Scales 2024-25

 

Note: Members are invited to contact the author in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.