The IHBC’s first Research Note (RN) for 2025 (RN2025/1) has been posted on the IHBC’s ToolBox, offering our annual update on ‘Market Intelligence’ on England’s local authority (LA) conservation-related posts from our ‘IHBC Jobs etc.’ service.
Bob Kindred MBE IHBC, Research Note author and research lead of the programme, said: ‘This new Research Note summarises the job vacancies advertised largely on the IHBC’s web pages in 2024, under the section on the IHBC’s ‘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.’
‘The main points to note are that, firstly, the number of posts advertised annually continues to slowly decline, probably a reflection of the state of local government finances. It will be interesting to see whether there is a further decline in vacancies advertised in 2025.’
‘Secondly, the dominance of London in terms of salary levels has returned (having fallen back significantly and somewhat unusually in 2023). This of course has a certain influence over the overall figures, but the average median salary in England in 2024 was barely any different from 2023 and therefore one can only assume that this will represent a real-terms cut when making allowance for inflation.’
Bob Kindred writes:
- The Institute’s continuous data from 1998 (27 years) now covers 2,275 posts.
- For the third year in a row, 2024 saw a decline in the number of advertised vacancies. Down 13% on 2023 and by more than a quarter by comparison with 2021-22.
- Recruitment levels were broadly consistent in each quarter of the year but remained well below vacancies in the first decade of this century.
- Ninety-three percent of the vacancies were for full-time posts on the permanent establishment
- Over the last three years there has been a distinct decline of fixed term posts with a similar decline in specifying part-time-hours.
- No fixed-term posts in 2024 were evidently supported by centrally generated grant-aid for specific projects.
- The average median salary for advertised posts in 2024 was £38,091 marking a rise of a mere 0.5% over the previous year.
- The equivalent average full-time salary [in the UK in 2024] according to Office of National Statistics calculations was £37,430.
- Sixty-eight percent of local government recruiters in 2024 expected job applicants to be Full Members of IHBC (or working towards this status), a percentage identical to 2023.
- Reactive development management advice, appeals and enforcement has continued to be the dominant prioritised job functions for the last two decades with limited prioritisation of more proactive tasks a likely reflection of continuing resource constraints.
- In 2024 there was a return to the long-term trend of salaries being higher than the national average in London and the South East and notably lower in the West Midlands.
- Only one post in North Branch was advertised in the whole of 2024 as was the case in 2023 covering Cleveland, Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland and Tyne & Wear.
NB although the IHBC is active across the United Kingdom, analysis in this Research Note relates only to information gleaned about English Local Planning Authorities.
See the IHBC’s ‘Market Intelligence: Local Authority Conservation Specialists Jobs Market 2024, (RN2025/1)’ HERE and more on IHBC’s ToolBox and our Research Notes.
See more on the 2023 update, issued in 2024, HERE
The IHBC’s Toolbox is supported by our CREATIVE Conservation Fund: Helping conservation people
