Daventry District Council struggling to recruit as unitary authority looms

A report to the council's strategy group explained the authority was having to review its payment structure to not only bring it in line with the national living wage but also to help attract new employees.

The motion to revise the structure and transfer £150,000 from the recruitment and retention budget to the salaries budget was approved.

"Additional reasons for reviewing pay are recruitment and retention pressures; in particular professional and technical posts have become increasingly difficult to recruit," states the report presented at the meeting.

"Since proposals for local government reorganisation in Northamptonshire have emerged the recruitment position has worsened with very little interest shown in some advertised vacancies.

"There are also early indications that retention of employees will become more of a challenge.

"Other councils across Northamptonshire are facing similar difficulties which are creating greater competition in recruitment and retention.

"Difficulties also exist in the temporary worker marketplace; our primary agency staff provider is unable to secure suitable candidates for many vacancies.

"We are working with a number of other agencies to identify suitable temporary staff sometimes paying higher rates than usual to secure them."