Development of a national recruitment campaign for local government
As part of our Sector Support offer 2024/25, we are developing a national recruitment campaign, co-produced with Solace and the local government sector. The campaign aims to attract new talent and highlight the benefits that a career in local government can offer.
Our Sector Support offer 2024/25, funded by the UK Government, provides local authorities with vital tools and support to deliver critical services to communities while helping to drive change and improvement in all regions. This includes a leadership offer which supports councils to attract new talent and develop greater skills and capability.
As part of this work, we are developing a flagship recruitment campaign, co-produced with Solace and the local government sector, to attract new talent and increase capacity in the sector. This recruitment campaign aims to enhance the good work councils are doing to attract talent by encouraging individuals to find out how they can have a role working in one of the hundreds of services used by and relied upon by communities every day, ranging from adult and children’s services to planning, environmental health, libraries and leisure centres.
A national brand and campaign for local government is now being developed which can be adopted by councils locally, to enhance and complement existing local recruitment activity.
A pilot campaign was co-produced with local authorities in the North East of England to ensure it met the needs of local government in the region. Supported by major advertising on billboards, radio and social media, the campaign highlighted the infinite variety of roles on offer and the exciting opportunities to develop a career in local government, promoted what a difference people can make, while also complementing local authorities’ own recruitment activity.
The pilot took place between January and March 2024, and an external evaluation has taken place. The evaluation found that:
across all channels, the pilot campaign achieved over 17 million impressions and generated 105,626 clicks to the North East Jobs portal
visitors to North East Jobs were more committed to applying and applications increased by 8.96 per cent from the previous February
there was a good level of recall for the campaign in the North East
research respondents said it gave them a more positive image of their local council, and their council as an employer, and were also more open to job opportunities.
How to get involved
We will be engaging with regional networks across England that support councils with recruitment and capacity challenges. This will be done via existing network meetings with the support of our regional teams and regional employer organisations. This will take place throughout the development of the campaign, ensuring councils can feedback on proposals.
The pilot campaign was live between January and March (8 weeks) and achieved over 17 million impressions, and generated over 105,000 clicks to the North East Jobs portal where councils advertise their roles.
An external evaluation of the campaign was commissioned which included focus groups, surveys with over 500 residents of the North East, interviews and data gathering from all councils in the region. The evaluation found that:
31 per cent of residents aged 21-59 in the North East could recall seeing the campaign. The residents who could recall it had a markedly more positive image of their local council, on every dimension researched, than those who did not recall the campaign. This extended to a much more positive perception of the council as an employer too.
61 per cent of residents who could recall the campaign had taken at least one form of action, such as viewing job opportunities with their local council. This dropped to only 19% for those who did not recall the campaign. Those who had seen the campaign were more open to the job opportunities offered by their local council and had increased respect for the people who work for their local council.
The total number of job applications to the North East Jobs portal increased by 8.9 per cent year-on-year, and 4.9 per cent month-on-month. This happened whilst some other regions faced falls in applications.
Visitors to the North East Jobs website during the pilot period were more committed to applying, and there were more applications per unique visitor than in previous years.
We will be engaging with councils in all regions through Spring and Summer of 2024 to further develop the national roll-out of the campaign. The national campaign will be launched in Autumn 2024, when a campaign toolkit will be shared with all councils and support will be provided.
The ‘Make a difference, work for your local council’ campaign was developed in 2023/24 in co-production with the local government sector and Solace. Following the successful pilot in the North East and the evaluation, the LGA will continue to develop the campaign with the sector ahead of a national roll-out. The LGA will be working with Regional Employer Organisations to determine the most effective way to continue to seek councils’ feedback on the national campaign.
The LGA will be delivering a national paid media campaign across all regions, to be co-designed with the local government sector and Solace. In the North East pilot, this included advertisements on radio, podcasts, out-of-home billboards, social media, digital display, and paid search. When the media campaign is launched, all councils will be provided with a campaign toolkit to promote the campaign in their area. Support will be provided from the LGA and the appointed creative and media agencies to help councils implement the campaign effectively in their area.
The ‘Make a difference, work for your local council’ campaign is a national recruitment campaign for local government. It aims to act as an ‘umbrella campaign’ that can compete with other large-scale public sector campaigns like the NHS and Teaching campaigns.
The purpose of this campaign is to support and enhance the work that councils are doing to recruit people into the workforce. It intends to raise awareness of local government as an employer, challenge preconceptions and encourage people to find out more and apply for a role.
The campaign does not intend to replace council’s existing employer brands. If councils already have a brand in place, the national campaign aims to drive people who are currently unaware to investigate jobs in their local council. As evidenced in the North East pilot, councils can successfully use the campaign’s materials whilst retaining their unique identity and can personalise the assets to better reflect their local area. This is similar to other large-scale public sector campaigns, where a national brand and campaign is promoted by employers who also have an established brand and identity.
As part of the campaign toolkit, councils will be supported to use the campaign materials in the most effective way in their area. By promoting the campaign, councils will gain the most benefit from a national brand for local government.
Yes, the national campaign will include more imagery with the ability to personalise the assets to make them bespoke to your local area. We also intend to represent specific professions in the national campaign, and this will be determined in collaboration with the local government sector in the coming months.
The campaign was developed through robust national research with over 2,300 members of the public, and this sample group was representative of the population of England using ONS census data. The demographics, education, employment, and geography of participants were considered when shaping all aspects of the campaign. The campaign meets AA levels of accessibility and disabled people were involved throughout the research and creative testing.
The pilot campaign delivered in the North East was designed to reach as wide an audience as possible across many different channels. The materials used in all channels were diverse and representative, and councils were able to personalise the assets to better reflect their workforce.
Equality, diversity and inclusion will continue to be an important factor for the national roll-out of the campaign. In the co-production of this national roll-out, we will seek feedback from councils and the wider local government sector about how best to continue addressing this in the campaign.
The ‘Make a difference, work for your local council’ campaign is a national recruitment campaign for local government. It aims to act as an ‘umbrella campaign’ to enhance and support the work that all councils are doing locally to attract talent. The campaign has been designed to operate at different spatial levels, including different tiers of local government. Councils will receive a campaign toolkit and support to promote the campaign in the most effective way for their local context.
This campaign aims to provide a national brand and identity for local government careers, to compete with other large-scale public sector recruitment campaigns. No campaign like this has existed for local government before. We know from in-depth research with the public, and from the pilot campaign in the North East, that this campaign can enhance people’s perception of local government, and drive people towards applying for a role in local government.
The campaign will be delivered in all regions as part of the national roll-out. By participating in the campaign, councils will benefit from a national brand and identity for local government that could attract a wider pool of applicants to apply for their jobs.
As part of the LGA’s Sector Support Programme for 2024/25, funded by UK Government, we will be updating the campaign toolkit following the North East pilot. When the national campaign is launched in Autumn 2024 the toolkit will be provided to all councils free of charge, alongside creative support to implement the campaign. The LGA will also be investing in a national media campaign on a region-by-region basis.
The LGA’s Sector Support Programme for 2024/25, funded by UK Government, supports all 317 councils in England. The funding for this campaign does not extend to other UK nations, though we understand that there is an interest in the campaign outside of England.
