The pace of expansion at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local government is showing no sign of slowing, according to the latest workforce data produced by the department.
Earlier this year Civil Service World reported that the department had charted a 17.4% rise in full-time equivalent staff during the year to March. Figures for August reveal a year-on-year increase of 27%.
According to data published on Friday, MHCLG had a grand total of 1,909.7 full-time equivalent staff on its books as of August 31. The figure compares with 1,499 for the end of August the year before.
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The latest data shows that although the grand total of full-time-equivalent staff at MHCLG has increased since August last year, fewer non-payroll staff are on the departments books: The most recent figures include 43 non-payroll FTE staff, down from 49 last year.
Commenting on March’s figures, an MHCLG spokesman told Civil Service World that the ministry was a “growing department” and that the increases in staff numbers were due to the response to the Grenfell tragedy in June last year, which has claimed 72 lives, and the government’s increased focus on increasing housebuilding rates.
The latest data – which equates to a 10% increase in headcount – in just five months underscores that the department’s expansion was not a completed project at that time.
A breakdown of the core department’s headcount by grade showed that the biggest growth over the past year took place among Grade 6 and Grade 7 staff, whose ranks swelled by 145 FTEs, or 31% over the 12 months.
Proportionately, executive officer ranks grew the most – with 36% growth, representing an additional 73.9 FTE staff.
The latest Office for National Statistics data on the civil service, published last month, showed that as of March 31 the civil service had 331,392 full-time staff, an increase of 3.2% on the previous year, while there was also an increase of 447 part time employees, or 0.5%.
Taken as a whole the hiring drive depicted in the ONS figures represented a growth in numbers of 2.5%, up from the 0.3% recorded the previous year, however the total headcount figure for the civil service was still 18% lower than in 2008.