News

WIGAN COUNCIL

Number of staff: 2,566 in social services departments.

Typical salaries: From £19,092-£26,625 for a social worker, £29,100-£31,434 for a social work team leader and £33,009-£35,358 for a group manager.

Number of clients: About 20,000

While some organisations over-hype their willingness to let staff work flexibly, many public sector organisations live up to their word. Wigan Council is one such place. Since it introduced a flexible working policy a couple of years ago, numerous staff have taken it up. According to Anne Westhead, a human resources manager with the council's social services department, 40 applications were approved over a six-month period this year. "The main types of flexible working are condensed hours or days worked," she says. "Some are temporary arrangements to deal with a situation that has arisen; others are more permanent."

The social services department produced a booklet outlining its flexible working practices, which is often used at recruitment fairs. Westhead says it is an essential recruitment and retention tool and increases staff morale.

Another recruitment tool used by the council is one-off golden hello payments of £1,000 for some roles, such as qualified social workers in children and families. Those employees are also given incentives to stay with the council in the form of a yearly retention bonus of £1,000.

Steve Peddie, assistant director of development and performance in social services, says management performance and accessibility are crucial. When the department was awarded its two-star rating in 2003, the workforce said that senior managers were more visible than they had been three years previously. Partnership working had also improved, with many social services staff saying they found collaborating with the health sector less threatening than before.

The department is part of the government's Innovations Forum of Excellent Councils regarding its service for older people, which Peddie says is another indicator that the council is a good place to work.

Front-line worker: Anne Carpen,
senior occupational therapist

Anne Carpen moved into the borough in 1999 specifically because the authority offered flexible working. Joining on a 37-hour week, she later dropped down to 29 hours a week, starting work at 8.30am and leaving at 3pm with a half hour lunch break. She has also been able to do term-time working over the past three years.

Without this flexibility, she would not be able to continue working for the council and thinks her career options would be limited. "I have a child with a learning disability so I have to be flexible around his needs," she says.

As it is, she has a fulfilling role that has allowed her to develop her skills. "I have gained a lot myself in terms of paediatric experience, liaising with social workers and health staff."

Carpen also spends time talking to architects, engineers and surveyors about how service users' homes can be adapted to suit them. "You need very good communication skills, written and verbal, in this job because we have to co-ordinate the whole process to enable people to remain in their own homes."

As Carpen's 17 co-workers in the OT department are all on flexible working patterns as well, the team spirit is excellent, she says. "I certainly don't think the grass is any greener anywhere else."