CONGRATULATIONS to Vale Royal Borough Council in Cheshire. It is the winner of The Times Best Councils to Work For awards. Along with 20 other councils it represents all that is best in working practices at local authorities across the country.

Who says these are the best? Their staff. These awards are the culmination of a rigorous survey of employee opinion provided in confidence directly to researchers at Best Companies Limited. Sponsored by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and Local Government Employers, councils were invited to have their working practices scrutinised through a series of questions designed to reveal what employees really think of their place of work, colleagues, managers, chief executive, pay and benefits.

The results provide a detailed insight into the feelings of the country’s council workers and reveal the very best places to work. Best Council statistics also provide a snapshot of how local authorities measure up to the private sector in the way they treat their staff and who they employ.

We congratulate the heads of the councils that allowed their employees to take part in this survey. Not all organisations welcome outsiders knowing their business and signing up to the rigours of the survey means that staff can speak openly and honestly about their workplace.

On the following pages are profiles of the top 20 best small and medium-sized councils to work for, as well as aspecial award to the Best Big Council to Work For. Each profile highlights the working practices, pay and benefits offered to each council’s staff. Together they form an overview of all that is best in workplace engagement.

Best analysis

The methodology used is based on a system developed by Best Companies Limited for the British workplace. The survey identifies the happiest and most productive workplaces by looking for strengths in eight key areas or “factors”:

- Leadership: how staff feel about the head of their council and its senior managers.

- My Manager: workers’ feelings towards their immediate boss and day-to-day managers.

- My Team: people’s feelings about their colleagues.

- My Council: feelings about the council people work for as opposed to the people they work with.

- Wellbeing: how employees feel about the pressures of the workplace and their home/work-life balance.

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