Bedford County Council

Due to difficulties attracting and retaining talent, Bedford Borough Council relied on agency staff, making up 52% of their social care workforce — a common story throughout the UK. There was a significant churn, where agency staff would come, go, then leave. This lack of continuity in service left the children with no friendly, familiar face when at their most vulnerable.  

Bedford Borough wanted a high quality, committed workforce. With the help and expertise of Guidant Global’s dedicated account team, headed up by Selena Ayling, Bedford were able to create a workforce development strategy to meet this demand — ensuring that children under the Borough’s care received the best possible service available, and ultimately helping them to have the best start in life.  

Bedford, like many local authorities, is tackling the challenge of retaining a high-quality permanent workforce. They needed to make themselves attractive to potential new employees in order to attract ambitious and dynamic talent. 

The key priority was to ensure that children receive consistent, high-quality support when they need it the most. The council recognised the need to improve candidate experience and talent attraction – while safeguarding the Council’s employer brand. 

There was a high reliance on agencies — previously 52% of the social workers were agency staff and due to the low retention rate, there was no continuity of service. This was failing the children and needed to be addressed.