Local councils face a reduction in the number of professional posts, including recruitment roles, due to the coalition government’s drive to cut costs in the public sector.

This is according to Anne Gibson, head of HR and organisational development, Norfolk County Council, and vice president at the Public Sector People Managers’ Association (PPMA).

At the Conservative party conference this week, secretary of state for communities and local government, Eric Pickles, said sharing staff, including planners, and merging services between councils is the future of local government.

Gibson told Recruiter: “The notion of sharing staff between councils is not new. A number of councils have done this in small ways. It will affect the recruitment market by reducing those opportunities. Professionals will be asked to do jobs that affect more than one organisation.

“The immediate challenge will be designing jobs that make sense in the shared service model. The technical skills will not change but professionals will have to work in a broader context.

“Organisations will also look at shared recruitment rather than each organisation doing its own recruitment. There are a number of examples of HR functions being shared across organisations and I think that will increase. Recruitment professionals will have to develop with the model.”