CUMBERLAND Council saw a net increase in staff last year, councillors have been told.
Members of the authority’s business and resources overview and scrutiny committee received an update on recruitment and retention at The Copeland Centre in Whitehaven on Tuesday (May 5).
The report outlined an update on the council’s approach to recruitment and retention and it included details on starters and leavers over the last 12 months and recruitment activity.
According to the report, during 2025/2026 464 permanent employees exited the organisation and a total of 701 new starters were inducted.
Jacqui Green, the council’s assistant director for human resources and organisational development, told members that 464 leavers sounded quite high but it was actually a little bit lower than the benchmark of other similar local authorities.
She told members that those who left included two thirds who had resigned, five per cent were dismissed and 21 per cent had retired – which she said was quite high but the council did have an ageing workforce.
The report stated that supported internships were a direct talent pipeline into the organisation, particularly for under-represented groups. Cllr Gareth Ellis (Wetheral, Conservative) asked what this meant and whether it was just race based.
Ms Green said it was a broad terminology and it was not just race based, and she wondered whether it could have been better worded.
Cllr Sam Pollen (Egremont, Labour) said he felt that the number of dismissals was quite high and Ms Green said there was nothing to compare it with.
Cllr Andrew Semple (Cockermouth South, Labour) said that, as a member of the planning committee, he was aware of a need for planning officers and he wondered where he could find details of council vacancies?
Cllr Pollen suggested that councillors should be actively sharing details of vacancies via social media.
Cllr Joseph Ghayouba (Bransty, Labour) said he was impressed with a series of ‘day in the life’ videos which explained what staff did in their roles and he added: “They are really in touch with how a modern organisation should be doing things.”
And Cllr David Moore (Gosforth, Conservative) said retention of staff could be related to how people perceived the council. He said the need to make £5million in savings usually meant reducing staff numbers and there was uncertainty about proposed changes.
Jo Atkinson, the council’s director of corporate and transformation services, said any proposed redundancies would be the subject of a formal consultation.
Cllr Pollen observed: “All councils, including Cumberland Council, are in a challenging situation.”
Cllr Ghayouba said that exit interviews could be useful in providing information on the reasons why people were leaving and Ms Green said: “It’s voluntary at the moment so it’s not recorded.”
According to the report, the new starters included 70 people in Family Action, an external organisation, transferred into the council under the Transfer of Undertakings – Protection of Employment Regulations (TUPE), in April 2025.
It added: “There has also been a 40 headcount increase from external apprenticeship recruitment in September 2025, as well as a number of new starters because of permanent recruitment replacing agency workers. Seasonal and bespoke recruitment has also seen the headcount change positively and negatively.
“The council’s overall annual turnover rate is 10.5 per cent. This is slightly lower than the reported average of 11 per cent to 13 per cent in local government.”
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