Staff turnover 'uncomfortably high' at Harrogate council

A combination of uncertainty over jobs and rising living costs resulting in staff leaving for higher salaries has led to a turnover rate of 16% at the council which will be abolished in April.

The rate is calculated from the number of leavers as a percentage of total staff - and is up from 10% in 2020/21.

It comes as the council is preparing to hand over all of its responsibilities to a new unitary authority covering the whole of North Yorkshire in what will mark the biggest change to local government in the county in almost 50 years.

Councillor Graham Swift, deputy leader of Harrogate Borough Council, told a meeting on Wednesday that it was "no surprise" staff were looking for new opportunities - despite them being given reassurances about their roles.

"16% is starting to get uncomfortably high," he said.

"Although all eight councils involved in the local government reforms have made it very clear about the plans and TUPE needs for staff in the future, uncertainty is one of the few things humans manage poorly.

"It is not a surprise therefore that you see some people are not necessarily comfortable in an uncertain world."

The council has over 1,000 staff - and a total of 146 have left over the past 12 months.

The departments which have seen the highest percentage of leavers include organisational development and improvement, Harrogate Convention Centre, and place-shaping and economic growth.

ICT, legal and finance perform the best at staff retention.

As well as the high turnover, the council has struggled to recruit staff because of competition from the private sector.

This has been the case since the start of the Covid outbreak in 2020 when the council introduced a recruitment freeze to keep costs down during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, union officials have also complained that council jobs are unattractive because of pay.

David Houlgate, secretary at the Harrogate branch of Unison, previously said: "Local government pay must be increased to match the cost of living squeeze our members are now experiencing on the back of year-on-year below inflation pay increases.

"Without a decent above inflation pay rise to help workers meet soaring costs, vital council services will struggle to hang on to skilled staff which could put some services at risk.

"Indeed this is already happening."

Almost all council workers except some senior staff have been told they will transfer across to the new North Yorkshire Council under Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (TUPE) regulations.

Those which won't include the current eight chief executives whose roles will be subsumed into one. That top job is to be taken on by Richard Flinton who was appointed into the role this week.

Mr Flinton, who is the current chief executive of North Yorkshire County Council, will receive a salary of over £180,000 and have responsibility for an annual budget of £1.4 billion and a workforce of 10,500 staff.

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter