Investigating and improving the HR and OD capability in shared councils

This report summarises the findings from a major study which IES undertook for the Local Government Association (LGA) involving 10 council shared partnerships covering 23 councils.

The overall objective was to research and investigate HR and OD capability in shared councils, in order to help to improve the contribution which the functions and policies in these fields make to the success of such shared arrangements.

The work on the project was organised into two phases:

1. an initial ‘diagnosis’, desk research and survey phase, involving:
   • a survey of the partners to collate and compare information on existing HR and OD strategy/process/practice
   • a review of relevant literature and prior research
2. a second more in-depth ‘direction and detailing’, qualitative research phase, involving visits to the 10 partners and case write ups.

This report focuses on the main common findings and themes to emerge across the research visits and analysis of these 10 council partnerships.