Reform UK councils have failed to introduce recruitment freezes

So, how are they getting on? It’s two months since the local elections which swept Reform UK to power in a dozen councils. That figure includes Leicestershire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire – those are councils where they do not have an overall majority but have succeeded in forming the administration. I haven’t included Doncaster, where there is a directly elected Labour Mayor, though a majority of the councillors are Reform UK. Under the Council’s Constitution, if there is a policy difference between the Mayor and the councillors, it is the councillors who prevail. If the Mayor’s budget is voted down, the councillors can vote through an alternative budget. The councillors can also set a “policy framework” which the Mayor has to follow. A bit messy and, anyway, whether Doncaster’s Reform UK councillors choose to exercise their power is another matter.

Let us leave Doncaster to one side and consider where Reform UK has indisputably taken charge. There have been a few teething problems. A couple of inexperienced councillors have floundered in media interviews when asked about their plans – when they hadn’t yet got any. The odd one or two have had the whip suspended for infelicitous posts on social media. A council leader decided it wasn’t for him and stood down, leaving an 18-year-old as acting leader. There have been mistakes over the rules – a councillor elected who was ineligible; fielding three Reform candidates for an election when there are only two vacancies. None of this is surprising. It is unprecedented to have so many people who had not been councillors at all, suddenly thrust into leadership positions. However, these novice embarrassments do not matter very much. Sneering too much will merely reinforce among Reform UK supporters a sense of how smug and entitled the establishment is.

What matters much more is, once they have settled in, whether they will achieve anything. Will Reform Councils deliver a Council Tax cut next year? Pulling up and down different flags is fine as a symbolic start. By now, Reform Councils should be making changes of substance. They were elected with the message that Conservative councils were Conservative in name only. Just like Labour councils, they were woke and wasteful, and would increase Council Tax by the maximum possible without going over the threshold for a referendum. I have much sympathy for that critique. Claims that municipal extravagance has already been eliminated are absurd – as many voters know full well from personal experience. The claim that savings are impossible where councils are providing a statutory service is a non-sequitur. Is it seriously being contended that these services are operating at optimum efficiency?

It is also still early days. We are at the stage where private meetings will be taking place about next year’s budgets. The council leaders and Cabinet Members (who should be setting the budget) will be meeting with the chief executive, finance directors, and department heads (who usually do set the budget and treat the councillors as teachers would treat pupils.) So will all that radical campaign rhetoric evaporate in stuffy ugly Council offices amidst the jargon and spreadsheets?

As John Junor used to say in the Sunday Express:

“Who is in charge of the clattering train?”

Reform UK sending in volunteer auditors, the DOGE effort, is all very well. I remember a prototype effort from a group of residents in Lambeth. They checked a sample of three blocks on the Wyvil Estate in Vauxhall and found that Lambeth Council paid its contractors for more than twice the number of concrete repairs that were actually carried out. Lambeth was paying an average £4,000 for kitchen replacements, priced under its Decent Homes contracts at £2,000-3,000. Contractors for repairs at Cressingham Gardens Estate were charging for works that had not been carried out. No doubt Reform will make equivalent findings. There will be some tightening up. A change in the culture – at least for a while.

But the big savings will come from policy decisions.

If you take charge of a spendthrift operation, bedevilled by debt and overmannning, one obvious, immediate option would be a recruitment freeze.

One of the first announcements made by George Osborne in 2010, when the Conservatives came in, was a freeze in civil service recruitment. Between 2010 and 2015 the civil service headcount fell by 72,000 – or around 15 per cent. (Something that neither the Conservatives nor the Lib Dems are keen to admit is that during the 14 years of Conservative Government the most distinctively Conservative policies were applied during the Coalition years.)

When I was first elected as a councillor in Hammersmith and Fulham we took over from Labour and had a recruitment freeze. There was the flexibility that a special case could be made before a panel, including the Council leader. But that would invite scrutiny over whichever section of the Council was making that special pleading. What was it for? What did it achieve? How productive was it? The panel was not unduly busy.

Let’s check how Reform UK councils are doing on this score:

Derbyshire County Council is advertising for 228 jobs. They include two “project managers” – each paying £43,055 – £46,439 per annum:

“Lead, plan and manage the delivery of change projects using the agreed lifecycle framework, in accordance with the specified scope, quality, budget, timescale and resource objectives.”

Durham County Council is looking for a “Quality and Improvement Officer” £31,586 – £35,235.

Kent County Council asks:

“Are you passionate about shaping people policies that drive change?”

Why not apply to be a People Policy Adviser? £45,672-£51,489 a year.  It offers a chance to “work closely” with “trade union representatives.” Woo hoo!

Lancashire County Council offers lots of jobs with impenetrable titles. For instance, the chance to be a “Policy Information & Commissioning Officer” at an annual salary of between £35,235 – £39,513. Doubt that will butter many parsnips.

Leicestershire County Council is advertising for a “Prevention Manager” – as a “hybrid worker”, the salary on offer is £42,498 – £46,344 per annum. Just part of a big recruitment drive.

Lincolnshire County Council feels it is imperative to have a Public Health Intelligence Systems & Data Officer. God alone knows why. (£29,093 – £31,586.)

North Northamptonshire advertises for a “golf assistant” – £24,790 – £25,183. Imagine a libertarian utopia where golf courses were provided by the private sector rather than the big state…

Nottinghamshire County Council has an opening for a youth worker (£36,837 – £39,751 pro rata). “Developing links with the local community” and coming up with “fun and engaging things to do.” Imagine how much more fun the downtrodden youth of Nottinghamshire could have with a lower Council Tax bill?

Staffordshire County Council offers £16.93 to £19.20 per hour to be an Investigations Officer. It’s supposed to help whistleblowers. Why doesn’t the Council just get rid of “gagging clauses?”

Warwickshire County Council is after a Head of Transport Delivery. Maintain “strong relationships with stakeholders.” Show “an understanding of the inter-connectivity of your work across the Council.” Salary: £78,509 – £86,554 per annum. Kerr-ching!

West Northamptonshire Council’s vacancies include a Principal Regeneration Officer (Housing Delivery). The officer “will work collaboratively with a range of internal and external stakeholders.” £55,036-£58,879 a year.

To get a sense of the madness consider that many of these councils have already increased their headcounts on the previous year. Kent has a total staff of 9,949, up from 9,742 last year. In Lancashire, its 13,609. Up from 13,321 a year ago. Lincolnshire has 6,081 employees, up from 5,740 a year ago. Nottinghamshire has 7,588, up from 7,544. North Northamptonshire has 2,852 staff up from 2,719 a year ago.

Do these Reform UK council leaders imagine they were elected with a mission to cram in even more bureaucrats into their County Halls?

Of course, it’s not just the jobs with silly titles. What if there is a library with six librarians, when only two or three are really needed for the workload? Or highways recruiting more staff to fill potholes, when getting a JCB PotholePro could mean more potholes being filled with fewer staff? Or more children’s home staff/social workers being recruited when many of the children don’t need to be in the children’s homes?

A recruitment freeze is not the only rather obvious “early win” that has been missed. How many Reform UK councils have announced they are cancelling their membership (and six-figure sub) of that woke talking shop, the Local Government Association? None so far.

Thus we have a discouraging start. This should not be a signal to Conservatives to respond with cynical shrugging. There is now some competition at local government level as to which party can provide Conservative policies – less bureaucracy, lower Council Tax, civic pride, efficient services, good asset management, value for money. Perhaps Reform UK is fluffing it so far. Maybe they will get into their stride in a year or two. Regardless of that, it is well overdue for Conservatives in local government to implement Conservative policies – whatever anyone else might manage.

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