A roundtable: Building tomorrow’s local government leadership and sustainable workforce

We brought together an esteemed panel of local government leaders to explore how councils can strengthen recruitment and retention by: 🔷Telling more compelling workforce stories. 🔷Building stronger employer value propositions. 🔷Developing local talent pipelines. 🔷Exploring innovative models like joint ventures. Featuring perspectives from Hackney, Halton, North Yorkshire and national partners, the discussion covers what makes public sector roles attractive, how to engage younger talent and what leaders can do now to build resilient local workforces. 0:00 - Introduction: local workforce capacity, recruitment and resilience 0:53 - What are the main workforce recruitment challenges facing local authorities? 3:34 - What is driving the shrinking talent pipeline in local government? 4:44 - What does the local labour market look like in Hackney? 6:54 - Are council roles just jobs or can they become long-term careers? 7:59 - What recruitment challenges and opportunities are emerging in Halton? 10:03 - What patterns are being seen nationally across public sector recruitment? 12:07 - What does “local jobs for local people” really mean in practice? 14:02 - How is Hackney approaching local jobs for local people? 17:29 - If this is not just an HR issue, where do the strategic levers sit? 21:18 - What are joint ventures, and why do they matter for recruitment? 24:10 - How has the joint venture model changed recruitment in Halton? 26:57 - What has the joint venture approach meant for Hackney? 30:03 - Which KPIs and metrics can show whether these approaches are working? 32:15 - How can local authorities attract and retain more young people? 34:52 - What practical channels are working to reach under-25s? 37:26 - What are the key takeaways and calls to action for leaders?