SCROLLING through social media, you might have noticed that you can’t stop noticing adverts for council jobs.

Whether you’re actually looking for work or not, there seems to be a spike in visibility for efforts to try and get people to take on jobs at councils, particularly Devon’s largest.

One possible explanation for that could be the up-coming local government reorganisation, an uninspiring phrase dreamt up in Whitehall that essentially means the biggest overhaul of the way councils work in half a century.

And if you think you don’t care about councils, just remember they oversee the social care your elderly parents might receive, that education health and care plan (EHCP) your child with additional needs requires, they collect your rubbish and recycling, approve or block planning applications and have the task of tackling the county’s mammoth pothole problem.

The forthcoming shake-up looks likely to mean Devon’s 11 councils will be greatly reduced in number to a likely three, or possibly four.

A key driver behind the government’s plan is hoped-for efficiency, often a byword for ‘trying to spend less money’. That doesn’t automatically mean fewer staff, but employees are often one of the most expensive items on any organisation’s balance sheet.

So if you worked in a council, it might be logical to be concerned about what your job prospects look like. That could trigger more people to start leaving such organisations, and therefore lead to a spike in job adverts.

One view is that little would change for most council workers: regardless of how many councils there are, bins still need to be collected, social workers need to visit residents, children still need special needs and disabilities (SEND) assessments, and that requires large numbers of employees.

But some point higher up the organisational pyramid to possible squeezes: Would a notional three or four Devon councils be able to accommodate the numbers of senior staff that exist between the 11 now?

Devon County Council, the largest of Devon’s councils, said more people will likely have noticed its job adverts more frequently recently, but it states that isn’t because it has huge numbers of seats to fill.

“This visibility is intentional and reflects a much more proactive approach to how we promote ourselves as an employer,” a spokesperson for the council said.

“In September 2024, we launched our new Do it for Devon employer brand, which is already having a significant impact. It’s designed to highlight the community‑focused work our staff do every day and to present Devon County Council as an employer of choice for people who want to make a difference.

“Since its launch there has been an increase of applications by 23 per cent year‑on‑year, and a further 12.3 per cent in the past six months.”

The council said it had moved away from the “traditional job boards” in terms of recruitment heavy-lifting, and shifted to digital and social media advertising.

The spokesperson said that the number of vacancies at present were “broadly what we would expect for an organisation of our size”.

The council’s 2025-2029 strategic plan states it has 5,000 staff.

“The difference is that we’re promoting them far more strategically to attract high‑quality applicants, improve diversity, and support a stable, sustainable workforce for Devon,” the spokesperson said.

“We are currently advertising around 87 roles, but it’s important to note that this figure includes a mixture of genuine vacancies and temporary posts, such as maternity cover, sickness cover, and other fixed‑term needs.

“These do not all reflect long‑term vacancies within the organisation.”

The council also tries to deploy existing staff before recruiting externally, which it said “helps us retain talent, support staff development, and manage our resources efficiently”.

Nevertheless, the council has come up against a challenge when trying to hire a permanent replacement for its finance director, Angie Sinclair, who retires in March.

While the council did secure applicants for the role, and made an offer to one candidate, appointment terms couldn’t be reached.

This has meant that Devon’s chief executive, Donna Manson, has had to harness constitutional powers that allow her to appoint someone to the role on an interim basis without the need for approval by councillors.

Ms Manson said Matthew Thorpe, who is deputy to Ms Sinclair, would take the finance director role from March 1 for a period of 12 months.

Benchmarking data shows the prospective salary for the role – £129,348 – is below that of peers in Cornwall and Dorset but higher than Somerset, North Somerset, Gloucestershire, BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole), Wiltshire and South Gloucestershire.

Devon’s appointments, remuneration and chief officer conduct committee heard that an executive search agency had said that only a small field of candidates would be appropriately qualified to take on the position, and that “unless there is a substantial change to what is on offer, that DCC would be unlikely to be able to attract any different or additional applications”.

“Local government reorganisation provides both uncertainty and opportunity,” a report before the committee said.

Over in East Devon, Councillor John Loudoun (Independent, Sidmouth Rural), whose portfolio includes oversight of the workforce and personnel, acknowledged that local government reorganisation “brings uncertainty for staff at all grades”.

“That’s a natural reaction,” he said, “as nobody knows what the shape of Devon’s councils will be.”

However, he suggested the pressure could be felt differently depending on seniority.

“The reality is that the lower you are in the structure, the more likely you are to still be needed, as we will all still need our bins emptying, and our council bills to be sent out and decisions on planning to be made,” he said.

“For many it might well just be a different organisation on your name badge, but for those higher up in the structure, when you are merging organisations there could be fallout there.

“But, again, we will still need managers at a senior level, so whether a chief executive becomes a deputy or an assistant, that could be possible as we will still need people at the top.”

Cllr Loudoun said he had not seen an obvious impact of the spectre of LGR on workers seeking to leave the council.

Vacancies at the end of 2025 rose by just one to 67.

“Our headcount level remains fairly consistent, as does our turnover,” he said.

“We have about 550 people, so other organisations would probably have a bigger churn.

“We also have an ageing workforce so some churn is to be expected.”

Cllr Loudoun said two years ago East Devon analysed its salaries and made efforts to “make ourselves slightly more competitive within the local government family”, meaning it had been able to attract and retain staff more readily than some other councils.

That being said, he acknowledged that with budgets increasingly constrained due to drops in government funding, every vacancy is reviewed with those deemed essential the priority for recruitment.

“I think it should be a natural state for any organisation to efficiently manage its resources,” he said, adding that such scrutiny would likely be increasingly the case amid “incredibly challenging finances”.

Cllr Loudoun also noted that the council championed apprenticeships, and the notion of “growing our own”, so it worked hard to hire people and ensure that training and career progression is available.

Interestingly, East Devon was arguably a beneficiary of local government reorganisation across the border in Somerset, with some staff seeking to join the council after the amalgamation of local authorities.

And for Mid Devon District Council, there is an upbeat feeling around its staffing at present.

The council said there had been “no significant spike in turnover and staff are not citing LGR as a factor”.

“Employment at the council, in terms of full-time equivalent (FTE) and as a proportion of our budgeted FTE, is currently at the highest level compared to the last three years,” a spokesperson for the council said.

Mid Devon said it continued to advertise to fill vacancies through so-called in-house channels, such as social media, email bulletins and its website, with specialist job boards used when required.

Furthermore, the council is working hard to engage with young people that it hopes could become employees.

“The council last year welcomed more than 20 students for work experience and initial figures show that we will have similar levels later this year,” a spokesperson said.

“Work experience has led to apprenticeship opportunities at the council and subsequent permanent appointments – therefore our proactive approach is not limited to advertising roles digitally but also considering how else we can ‘grow our own’.”

Data from the council shows that spending on agency staff fell nearly 10 per cent last financial year to £633,491, however, it is “tracking above year-on-year comparisons for the current financial year that ends in April.

“Whilst the number of agency workers is usually higher in manual services such as Street Scene, these higher agency costs have arisen from workers in corporate roles such as finance, legal and planning,” a report presented to the council’s cabinet this month said.

“Skill shortages and the specialist nature of these roles is resulting in services needing to engage with external parties to ensure service delivery continues.

“Efforts to explore different approaches that can be taken to reduce the reliance on agency staff continue, including the upskilling and training of existing staff, as well as wider workforce planning strategies.”

With council staff already hard-pressed, the spectre of LGR inevitably adds uncertainty.

It doesn’t seem like council employees are rapidly leaving in their droves, though.

However, with unemployment hitting its highest for around five years at 5.2 per cent, and joblessness among the young spiking to 16.1 per cent – its highest in more than a decade – it may well be a case of better the devil you know.

Bradley Gerrard

LDRS