Newark and Sherwood District Council struggling to recruit maintenance staff to work on improvements to council housing

Newark and Sherwood District Council says it is struggling to recruit maintenance staff to work on improvements to council housing.

The local authority is now looking at ways to bridge the gap in skills shortages as further pressures are expected to hit the service, writes Matt Jarram, of the Local Democracy Service.

The council’s cabinet is set to discuss some of the problems affecting the service on July 12. A report prepared for the meeting explains some of the challenges ahead.

It states: “There is a shortage of talented and experienced candidates in the asset management field across the sector at present.

“This shortage is likely to continue and only get worse in the years to come as demand for these skills grows from an increased priority of safety and decency of our homes. The scarcity is now driving up wages beyond the council’s reach in many areas.”

The council said that in 2020 it went out to the market for recruitment of a new investment manager.

The job role was re-evaluated before being advertised and was increased by one grade.

However, despite wide advertisement, sharing the advert widely on LinkedIn and working with recruitment agencies, no applications were received.

Feedback from the agencies noted that it was a very difficult time to recruit as there were few applicants and the salary was significantly below the market rates.

Similarly, a vacancy for a gas surveyor was advertised in December 2021 and January 2022 and secured no interested candidates.

After a review of works orders issued last year, there has also been a significant increase in work in plumbing and joiner work.

The trades team has two multi-skilled vacant posts which it has been difficult to recruit.

The council says the government’s commitment towards decarbonisation is increasing pressure on landlords to bid for grants to kick-start decarbonising housing stock by 2050 while also tackling fuel poverty.

In 2019, the Carbon Trust calculated the council needs to spend £81m on decarbonising the rented housing stock, which equates to over £2.9m spend per year from now until 2050 if the council were to commence a programme immediately based on limited data.

Currently, the council says this is “a significant amount of work well beyond the current resources we have”.

The local authority says a key start however would be to appoint an investment and decarbonisation manager, replacing the investment manager post, with the potential to lead in this area and planning for future investment.

The council is therefore proposing a number of changes to meet the demand.

It is proposed that the investment manager has a revised job description to include responsibilities required to lead on decarbonisation investment for the council’s housing stock.

The gas surveyor role to be changed to a gas coordinator, with the technical expertise element and boiler assessments covered by the council’s current gas auditors for an additional fee.

It is also proposed for two multi-skilled posts to be changed to one joiner and one plumber for a better fit for the repairs work coming through.

This will lead to a small increase in the salary budget in both these posts.

It is also proposed to provide additional staffing in the form of one senior investment surveyor and one repairs and voids manager to cover the “increasing service delivery demand and investment in stock.”

Overall, the proposal is to delete six posts, revise one and to create seven new posts. The additional cost of these changes in 2022/23 (excluding unresolved pay awards) is £92,606.