About working for Wakefield Council
Why Wakefield?
A note from our Chief Executive
It’s an incredibly exciting time to be thinking about joining Wakefield.
We’re a stable Council with a bright future, taking responsible decisions so that we are sustainable, and continuing to provide great services to our communities.
We’ve got a fantastic reputation for being well-run. Our emerging Wakefield District Plan will set out our shared aspirations for the next decade, giving us a comprehensive framework to coordinate work across the local public, private and voluntary sectors.
And our Budget is putting us on a path to having a right-sized organisation, no ongoing dependency on reserves, and to make sure we’re able to look to the future with confidence.
We’ve got an incredible workforce. An open and supportive culture where challenge is welcomed. And we’re a place that likes to get things done.
Joining us you’ll have the opportunity to work in a place which is creative and diverse, exciting and ambitious. Making a lasting impact so that our district is a better place to live and work in.
If you think you can play a key role in helping us to realise these ambitions, continue reading to find out more.
Tony Reeves
Chief Executive
About Wakefield
We are a district of over 350,000 people with a diverse range of city, urban and rural communities.
We’ve huge strengths in our health and care, manufacturing and logistics, and arts and creative sectors. All part of our £8 billion economy.
We’re proud of our heritage of making and creating. Our place at the heart of Yorkshire and the Leeds City Region which makes our connectivity by road or rail hard to beat. And our 10,000 local businesses.
We’re home to some great attractions. We’ve got Pontefract Racecourse and Hemsworth Water Park. The internationally recognised Hepworth Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and National Coal Mining Museum. And we’ve got two Super League teams, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and Castleford Tigers.
Our 16 local nature reserves mean we’ve got more than anywhere else in West Yorkshire. 70% of our district is greenbelt. That makes our area a great place both to live and work.
And we’ve a growing regional profile as a key part of the West Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.
About Wakefield Council
We're one of the five metropolitan Councils in West Yorkshire. And one of ten districts within the wider, thriving Leeds City Region.
We’ve got a great team of over 5,000 staff who help us to deliver a wide range of services.
Including:
• Supporting the education of our young people
• Caring for vulnerable children and adults
• Providing support to residents when they most need it
• Investing in our places
• Maintaining local highways
• Keeping our communities safe and clean
We have 63 elected Councillors who oversee how we provide vital public services for our communities.
Labour’s Cllr Denise Jeffrey is our Council Leader.
Decisions are made by our Cabinet, appointed by the Leader and made up of Councillors from our majority political group.
Our cross-party Scrutiny Committees look at how we’re delivering for local people.
They scrutinise work in our Directorates:
- Children and Young People
- Adults and Public Health
- Regeneration, Environment and Economic Growth
- Transformation
These areas sit alongside a strategic Chief Executive’s Unit.
Our values
Our values are at the heart of everything we do.
- we are caring and kind
- we work together effectively
- we are ambitious for our district
Underpinning each value is a set of behaviours.
We are caring and kind
- we listen to and respect others’ views
- we support and enable individuals and our communities
- we include others
We work together effectively
- we share information and knowledge
- we encourage, develop, and support each other
- we communicate openly and clearly
We are ambitious for our district
- we make a difference and deliver on our commitments
- we make improvements and try new ways of doing things
- we reflect on and learn from our experiences and welcome feedback