The Department for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has commenced consultation with Fórsa and the other unions about a workforce planning process. It is the first workforce planning process to get underway in more than a decade, and follows 18 months of intensive efforts by Fórsa to engage employers on the issue.

Workforce planning is critical to ensuring that the local authority sector is in a position to deliver critical services that communities rely on as the State’s population continues to grow. 

Fórsa’s head of Local Government Rich Carrothers said: “It’s welcome that the department has commenced consultation about a workforce planning process. We also must take the opportunity to future-proof the sector, and to ensuring it remains agile and responsive to our growing population in an ever-changing world,” he said. 

He added that local authority staff must be treated as key stakeholders in any workforce planning process, and that this must be underpinned by fairness, openness and transparency. He added: “Fórsa will ensure that any workforce planning process is meaningful, rigorous and delivers for workers and communities.”

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