Local Government Talent

Local government provides many of our most essential services – care for vulnerable people, education in schools, management of household waste, protection of consumer rights, inspection of food safety standards in restaurants and many more.  There are over two million employees providing these services in local councils, working in around 600 different occupational areas.

Serving your community

Many people who work in local government say that they love the opportunity to contribute positively to their local community.  Whether they work in a front line service dealing directly with the public such as a social worker, customer service adviser or environmental health officer, or whether they work in more strategic roles helping to shape local policies such as a research officer, policy officer or service manager, all local government employees are able to say that they have some effect on people’s lives.

Opportunities

Many councils recruit graduates into jobs in a variety of occupational areas, such as environmental health, planning, legal work, accountancy, IT, HR management, marketing, policy and research.  Some councils run specific graduate management training programmes.

The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) manages the national graduate development programme (ngdp) for local government, a leadership programme for graduates who have the potential to become the chief executives and senior managers of the future.  The ngdp lasts for two years and is based around a series of core placements within a host local council.  This is supported by membership of the Graduate Leadership Academy, which includes a postgraduate qualification in local government management, skills development and mentoring.

The IDeA also operates the official local government talent pool, an online database of graduates interested in working in local government.  The talent pool offers graduates the opportunity to showcase their skills and experience to potential local council employers, who are able to search the pool and invite suitable candidates to apply for jobs within their organisations.

You and your career

Local government is seeking talented individuals from all degree disciplines and backgrounds, who have excellent communication skills, great team working ability and a commitment to providing high quality public services.

Whether you’re part of a structured graduate training programme, or are employed in a specific role, local government offers good training and development opportunities for all its staff.  Some training may be on-the-job or involve going on a course, whilst other opportunities may include study for professional qualifications.

Benefits

In addition to the excellent training opportunities and the chance to influence and improve people’s lives, there are a range of benefits on offer.  They may vary from council to council, but could include some or all of the following:

• competitive salary (starting salary for the ngdp is £21,500)
• generous annual leave entitlement
• flexible working options
• membership of the local government pension scheme
• secondment opportunities or career breaks
• leave entitlement to pursue various types of community involvement
• crèche facilities or childcare vouchers
• access to reduced fares on public transport
• season ticket loan
• reduced price gym membership
• discounted health scheme.

More information

Find out more about local government careers, access current job vacancies and register with the local government talent pool on the LGtalent website.

Read more about the national graduate development programme for local government and how to apply on the ngdp website.