Public Practice Placement Fees

Established by the Mayor of London, Public Practice is a non-profit organisation
that recruits built environment professionals for roles within local government.
The aim is to support local government with the skills to enable it to genuinely
thrive; by improving leadership skills through training and support to enable
candidates to navigate the complexity of this sector.

Public Practice run a successful recruitment support programme – known as
the Associate Programme – where built environment practitioners, in the
middle stages of their career and looking for a career change, are placed into
public sector organisations looking for new skills and expertise.

Having successfully secured placements via the Associate Programme in the
past (a number of whom were subsequently recruited permanently), OPDC
applied to the Programme in December 2021 to fill two vacancies: a Principal
Urban Designer and an Infrastructure Manager.

Both roles were successfully filled by OPDC, by candidates identified by
Public Practice, during February 2022.

Authorities are required to pay a one-off placement fee to Public Practice upon
entering into a contract with a successful candidate. The placement fee is
£5,000 for each 12-month placement and an additional £2,000 for a
permanent recruitment.

DAR 363 secured approval for expenditure of £10,000 to Public Practice for
these two roles as, at the time of recruitment, it was anticipated that both
candidates would join OPDC on a 12-month placement basis. However, in
May 2022, the Infrastructure Manager joined OPDC as permanent employee
which incurred an additional fee of £2,000 over and above the expenditure
approved in DAR 363. The cumulative spend this financial year is £12,000.

This decision seeks approval for expenditure of £2,000 for the additional
professional fee (being the difference between the £5,000 twelve-month
placement and the £7,000 permanent recruitment fees).

OPDC applied to the Associate Programme in December 2021 and
participated in the following stages of the recruitment process:

• Initial expressions of interest – including a job description of the available roles
• Candidate assessment day
• Meetings with ‘matched’ candidates
• Confirmation of offers

As previously highlighted, placement fees to secure successful candidates range
from £5,000 to £7,000, depending on placement type and duration.
 

The objective of the recruitment campaign was to secure candidates to fill two
vacancies: a Principal Urban Designer and an Infrastructure Manager.

The outcome has been an increase in OPDC’s in house skills and experience in
technical infrastructure planning and delivery as well as urban design and place
making.

The recruitment of both posts supports OPDC’s vision to deliver its regeneration
objectives for Old Oak West.
 

The Director of Projects led the recruitment campaign, working closely with the
Director of Development, the Head of Design, and the Human Resources team.

Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, OPDC must
have ‘due regard’ to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, and
victimisation as well as the need to advance equality of opportunity and foster good
relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do
not.1

The Public Practice application process is specifically designed to attract and
assess a diverse range of candidates using innovative and inclusive recruitment
methods. The process is thorough and takes up to six months. Public Practice
commits to:

• Removing as much bias as possible during the recruitment process, which is why most of the recruitment campaigns are anonymised.
• Valuing colleagues who are adaptable, take initiative and believe in the mission and inclusive ethos.
• Caring about whether candidates can do the job and become a collaborative colleague; and
• Placing an emphasis on ensuring consistency and fairness in the assessment of
  candidates.

No-one involved in the preparation or clearance of this for, or its substantive
proposal, has any conflict of interest.

The expenditure will be met from the 2023/23 Delivery Directorate Budget.

There are no legal implications arising from this decision.