A national recruitment campaign for local government
As part of our Sector Support offer 2024/25, we have developed 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 have developed a flagship recruitment campaign, co-produced with Solace and the local government sector, to attract new talent and increase capacity in the sector.
The ‘Make a Difference, Work for Your Local Council’ campaign aims to enhance the good work councils are doing to attract talent by encouraging individuals to explore career opportunities in local government that have a direct and lasting impact on the lives of residents.
The campaign highlights the variety of job opportunities available that enable people to be a part of meaningful change, whether in children's social care, environmental health, planning, finance, or another vital role in the sector.
The national rollout has included the creation of new imagery, videos and audio with individuals working in these areas, featuring real-life voices from the sector that represent the communities’ councils serve.
Jobseekers can explore hundreds of roles available to them through the new campaign website www.localcounciljobs.gov.uk, which includes a postcode search to help people find their ideal job at a local council.
Campaign Toolkit
Councils can take part in the campaign by downloading the comprehensive campaign toolkit; the materials can be adapted for local use. The toolkit provides access to all the digital and print materials to help boost local recruitment efforts and participate in the national campaign. This includes access to creative assets, such as social media content, posters, videos, banner stands and logos, and guidance on how to use the materials.
Impact of the Pilot Campaign in the North East
An initial pilot of the campaign was successfully run in the North East of England from January to March 2024, supported by the North East Regional Employers' Organisation.
With impressive results, an external evaluation has found that across all channels the pilot campaign achieved:
more than 17 million impressions and generated more than 105,000 clicks to the North East Jobs portal
a 9% year-on-year increase in applications
research respondents reported a more positive perception of their local council as an employer and expressed increased openness to job opportunities.
The North East pilot campaign won the ‘Best Innovation in Recruitment’ award at the LGC Workforce Awards 2024, in recognition of the collaboration between councils in the North East, NEREO and the LGA.
How to get involved
We are engaging with regional networks across England that support councils with recruitment and capacity challenges. This is done via existing network meetings, with the support of our regional teams and regional employer organisations.
Further information
If you would like to find out more or need support with the campaign, contact us at [email protected]
Frequently asked questions
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 continued to develop the campaign with the sector ahead of a national roll-out. The LGA has worked with Regional Employer Organisations to determine the most effective ways to obtain continuous feedback on the national campaign from councils. This has included in-person and virtual events, and discussions at regional network meetings.
The campaign toolkit provides free digital resources and guidance to enable councils to promote the campaign locally, while also increasing the impact of the campaign across the nation.
This toolkit includes materials to run your own tried and tested campaign and boost recruitment efforts, including photography, video, radio, template social media posts and other ready-made assets – while giving you the freedom to create bespoke elements for your own council.
The LGA is delivering a national paid media campaign across all regions from November to end of January 2025, co-designed with the local government sector and Solace and working with an expert media agency.
This includes advertisements on radio, podcasts, out-of-home billboards, social media, digital display, and paid search that are targeted to reach our key audiences. When the media campaign launched in November, all councils were provided with a campaign toolkit to promote the campaign in their area.
Ongoing support will be provided from the LGA and the appointed creative and media agencies to help councils implement the campaign effectively in their area. If you would like support, please email [email protected].
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.
An evaluation of the campaign will take place in March 2025. The evaluation will assess the impact of the campaign through various measures of success including analysis of recruitment data from councils, media statistics from the paid media campaign, council survey responses and resident polling.
We will share learning from the evaluation report with the sector in April 2025.
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 has continued to be an important factor for the national roll-out of the campaign. In the co-production of the national roll-out, we have sought 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 can utilise the campaign toolkit 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 have invested in a national media campaign on a region-by-region basis and updated the campaign toolkit, following the North East pilot. Whilst it has not been possible to fund individual authorities’ activities, the toolkit has been provided to all councils free of charge, alongside creative support to implement the campaign.
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.