Summary of conclusions and recommendations
1.In the coming decades, public services will see a significant increase in demand which will not be met with a corresponding increase in the supply of staff. (Paragraph 16)
2.Changes in the needs of the UK population will mean long-term growth in demand for public services which will outstrip the growth of the potential workforce. This presents a long-term challenge which requires long-term, strategic solutions. To ensure a truly sustainable workforce, these solutions will need to go beyond attempts to recruit and retain more staff: flexibility, creativity, and imagination will be key. (Paragraph 26)
3.The Government does not yet have sufficient, reliable data on the public services workforce, nor projections for future demand. Developing this capability will be essential in developing effective workforce strategies for the future. (Paragraph 32)
4.The Cabinet Office should work with all Government Departments, and particularly the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to promote best practice on developing and sharing workforce data at a local and national level. (Paragraph 33)
5.The potential of many staff to deliver services is largely untapped. There is a need for far more imagination and flexibility in how public services staff are deployed, the tasks they can undertake, and the decisions they are empowered to make. (Paragraph 42)
6.The Government should set the clear expectation that engagement with service users and people with lived experience must be embedded in the design and delivery of services, strategies, and workforce planning, and should strongly encourage regional and local bodies to do the same. The Government should outline best practise to ensure that such engagement is meaningful and rewarding for those service users consulted. (Paragraph 47)
7.The Government should prioritise developing training programmes in partnership with service users and organisations which support service users, to ensure they are preparing the workforce to meet user needs. Service users and people with lived experience should also be involved in the delivery of training. (Paragraph 48)
8.Where new technologies are used in the delivery of public services, substantial attention will need to be paid to safeguards against bias. (Paragraph 59)
9.Technology has great potential to ensure the sustainability of the public services. Government departments should conduct horizon scanning exercises to examine how technology can improve forecasting and planning, improve efficiency, and reduce demand for the public services within their portfolio. This must not be limited to short-term cost saving measures but should consider service-user experience and improving public services in the long-term. Horizon scanning should consider digital literacy, inclusion and bias, and basic infrastructure issues, and should bring forward feasible, realistic opportunities for technological innovation. (Paragraph 60)
10.Greater investment in preventative services would reduce demand for public services, supporting the workforce to address the high level of demand services currently face and resolving issues before they become complex and entrenched. This must be recognised and embedded as a key part of future workforce planning. (Paragraph 64)
11.At all levels of service design and service and workforce planning, providers should prioritise preventative services. (Paragraph 65)
12.The voluntary sector can add immense value to public service delivery through their local and specialist expertise. Current approaches risk alienating and excluding third sector providers from public service delivery, and are a significant waste of talent and capacity. (Paragraph 74)
13.There is a need for a fundamental shift in how the public sector works with voluntary partners. Voluntary sector bodies should be more fully included in, and flexibility introduced into commissioning to ensure that the work of voluntary partners is not artificially limited by inflexible processes. (Paragraph 75)
14.Many of those who deliver crucial public services feel overworked. This has a direct impact on staff turnover and creates a vicious circle which ultimately affects service users. (Paragraph 82)
15.Discrimination, in the form of increased barriers to promotion and a lack of support for staff, remains at unacceptable levels in the public service workforce. This will continue to act as a barrier for the recruitment and retention of talented people. (Paragraph 95)
16.The public service workforce cannot be sustainable until the experiences of staff are broadly positive. Due to chronic overstretch and cultural issues which include persistent discrimination and a lack of recognition, this is not currently the case. (Paragraph 100)
17.Without action to address pay, it will continue to constitute a significant barrier to the sustainability of the public service workforce. (Paragraph 108)
18.There should be a comprehensive review of how pensions operate across the public services workforce. The goal should not be uniformity but flexibility to enable those coming to—or moving between—public service roles to do so without a financial penalty. (Paragraph 118)
19.The Government should encourage public service employers to offer a broad range of flexible working options by default, with this provision being unavailable only if it would have a negative impact on service users. (Paragraph 125)
20.The lack of a cohesive national brand to public service work is a missed opportunity for the Government to convey careers which have a positive social impact in a way that will attract candidates. (Paragraph 137)
21.Teach First has demonstrated the potential of imaginative branding to attract people into public service work. Prior to recruitment campaigns, public sector employers should conduct in-depth research to establish what messages will resonate most with potential candidates. Guidance on developing compelling messaging should be agreed centrally and distributed widely. (Paragraph 138)
22.There is huge potential for apprenticeships to widen the talent pool by increasing diversity in the public services workforce. The Government should therefore be providing further support and encouragement to public sector bodies to incentivise their use. By removing the apprenticeship target, and ceasing to search for and combat challenges, it is doing the opposite. (Paragraph 155)
23.The Public Sector Apprenticeship Target and associated reporting requirements should be reinstated. Further consideration should be given to additional funding for apprentice salaries. (Paragraph 156)
24.Local authorities should invest significant resources in developing local talent pools to support people with lived experience of using local services to enter public sector careers. These would create diverse pipelines of talented staff to deliver public services they have themselves experienced. (Paragraph 163)
25.The Government should impose a duty on all public sector employers to set ambitious targets for recruitment timeframes. (Paragraph 166)
26.There is an increasing desire for broad careers in and beyond public services. In order to improve the status of public services, boost staff recruitment and secure better retention, it is essential that the public sector adapts to support these preferences. (Paragraph 176)
27.Cultural and financial barriers prevent public services staff from accessing sufficient training and development throughout their careers. The public sector’s approach to training fails on two fronts: it will not retain people and it will not give them the skills they need for the future. (Paragraph 182)
28.Prior learning and relevant skills are not adequately recognised within the workforce. This is a result of inflexibility in regulatory models and in training routes; and presents a barrier to development. (Paragraph 195)
29.To boost retention and support staff to progress into more senior roles, the Government should work with regulators to develop straightforward and practicable ways to recognise, assess, and record prior learning and experience using a competency approach. Competencies should be set nationally and quality assured across different employers. They should be truly portable. (Paragraph 196)
30.The Government should prioritise, encourage, and resource the development of more imaginative training, including joint training between services. (Paragraph 197)
31.We encourage the Department for Health and Social Care to build upon the ambitious approach taken with medical degree apprenticeships and to develop further training and development opportunities to better support progression in the social care workforce. (Paragraph 198)
32.When developing the Leadership College for Government proposed in the Levelling Up White Paper, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities should gather, promote, and cascade best practice on how public services have developed leadership pipelines, such as in education, law enforcement and local authorities. (Paragraph 205)
33.The Government should ensure online training is accompanied by training to use digital tools so that public servants have the digital skills needed to access online training. Such training will need to evolve as new technology becomes available and will need to be accessible to people throughout their careers. (Paragraph 210)