The IHBC’s first Research Note (RN) for 2023 (RN2023/1) has been posted on the IHBC’s ToolBox, offering our annual update of ‘Market Intelligence’ on England’s local authority (LA) conservation-related jobs, based on our ‘IHBC Jobs etc.’ service.
… no better intelligence exists regarding this specific market…
Bob Kindred MBE IHBC, Note author and research lead for the programme, said: ‘This new Research Note summarises the job vacancies advertised largely on the IHBC’s web pages in 2022 under the section on ‘Jobs etc’. It provides a detailed picture of long-term trends in the market including job requirements, qualifications and levels of remuneration, together with regional variations.’
… some additional and positive observations…
‘Happily, some additional and positive observations based on the 2022 data include:
- a return to full-time permanent posts after several; years where part-time and/or fixed term jobs such as High Street Action Zones had been prevalent;
- average median salaries increasing by 8.7% – the largest year on year increase since 2001-2002;
- the expectation that applicants would be Full Members of IHBC (or working towards this) with over 73% of employers making this a requirement, the highest level since 2016 (71%).’
IHBC Policy Committee Chair Roy Lewis said: ‘We are indebted to Bob Kindred for this excellent and most useful analysis.’
‘Bob has diligently monitored advertisements for local authority conservation officer posts since 1998 on a continuous weekly basis.’
‘His conclusions are based on a very high proportion of the actual jobs advertised and are therefore highly reliable – no better intelligence exists regarding this specific market.’
The Research Note’s Executive Summary reports:
- The Institute’s continuous data from 1998 (25 years) now covers 2,144 posts.
- The year of 2022 was principally notable for a higher number of advertised full-time permanent jobs than those that are part-time and/or fixed term that had been more notable in recent years (the latter explicit in programmes such as High Street Action Zones).
- Recruitment levels remained approximately the same as 2021 having edged up slightly from 2020 but overall remained well below those in the first decade of the century.
- The average median salary for advertised posts in 2022 was £36,042 marking a rise of 8.7%, the largest year on year increase since 2001-2002 (the average annual increase in the last decade has been less than 4%). In November 2022, according to the Office of National Statistics, the average salary in the UK was £27,756 but for full-time employees this was £33,000.
- The Institute can derive satisfaction from the expectation that job applicants would be Full Members of IHBC (or working towards this) with over 73% of employers making this a requirement, the highest level since 2016 (71%).
- As has been noted for some years, development management advice, appeals and enforcement continued to dominate prioritised job functions with a low but only slightly expanding level of diversification of tasks, possibly reflecting continuing resource constraints.
- Increasing number of posts re-advertised within six months in England may reflect continuing difficulty in filling some posts.
- Recruitment for posts in North Branch continued to be low (two) but surprisingly and unusually, there were only five in the South East and generally at suppressed salary grades….
… NB: although the IHBC is active across the United Kingdom the analysis in this Research Note relates solely to information gleaned about England’s Local Authorities…
Read the IHBC’s ToolBox Research Note ‘Market Intelligence: Local Authority Conservation Specialists Jobs Market 2022’ (RN 2023/1)
See more on the IHBC’s ‘Jobs etc.’ service and sign up for notices HERE
See all the ToolBox resources, and see more Research Notes there
See more background on the 2021 jobs market intelligence Research Note
See more background on the 2020 jobs market intelligence Research Note.
