St Helens Borough Council: a year of transformation in local government recruitment

St Helens Borough Council: a year of transformation in local government recruitment

What does a genuine recruitment transformation look like, twelve months on? At St Helens Borough Council, the answer involves a recruitment team that now leads with data, hiring managers who feel genuinely in control and a partnership with Jobtrain that has become a catalyst for wider cultural change – not just a system upgrade.

St Helens Borough Council replaced manual, paper-based recruitment process with Jobtrain’s applicant tracking system in February 2025. Within the first year, the council moved to data-driven hiring, reduced administrative workload, improved the candidate experience and empowered hiring managers across leisure, social care, schools and supported living to recruit more effectively.

Chapter 1 — the partnership today

Watch: St Helens Borough Council reflects on a year with Jobtrain

In this video, we hear from members of the St Helens team – from central recruitment to frontline hiring managers across Leisure, Children’s Social Care, Schools and Supported Living – on what the past year has really felt like and what they’re building towards next.

DR
Diana Read
HR & Recruitment Manager
SR
Ste Rigby
Operations Manager
JS
Jenny Swift
Systems & Analytics Manager
JA
Jane Ascroft
Hiring Manager, Go Active
JF
Jim Flatley
Hiring Manager, Go Active
TS
Tracy Sexton
Hiring Manager, Children’s Social Care
TP
Tracy Pickering
Hiring Manager, Supported Living

0:00 Introduction
0:14 How St Helens Council transformed their recruitment
0:50 Pre-Jobtrain vs now – what feels most different
02:54 Go Active campaign and Values in Practice Award
03:55 Silver medallists and working more efficiently
05:48 What St Helens would tell other local authorities
06:35 Hiring manager experience: speed, visibility, less admin
07:18 Developing a positive candidate journey
11:57 The partnership with Jobtrain
13:38 Jobtrain is…

When you sign up for an ATS with Jobtrain, you don’t just get a great system – you also get the wrap-around support of a great team.

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The Jobtrain ATS platform is at the heart of our recruitment modernisation journey at St Helens Council. Launched in February 2025 we are already seeing fantastic results. The relationship between St Helens and Jobtrain is a true partnership – I have had the good fortune to work with the Jobtrain team at every level and every stage of the project.

This is an intuitive system with enabling features and functionality that is giving us the flexibility and freedom to really bring our modernisation plans to life, helping to transform ways of working that best supports our hirers, candidates and internal teams.

When you sign up for an ATS with Jobtrain you don’t just get a great system, you also get the wrap-around support of a great team. Special mention to Julie Dunning, Kelly Mallett and Georgia Tallents – although I cannot praise the whole team highly enough for their professionalism, customer care and infectious energy and positivity. A genuinely decent and authentic group of people who clearly love what they do.

DR

Diana Read

People Operations Service & Recruitment Manager, St Helens Borough Council

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How has Jobtrain changed recruitment at St Helens Borough Council?

Since going live in February 2025, St Helens Borough Council has seen real improvements across their recruitment operations. Processes are more efficient, recruitment cycles are shorter and the administrative burden on the People team has reduced significantly. Hiring managers now have real-time access to recruitment data and onboarding updates – and candidates experience a more engaging, transparent journey from application to start date.

The council is now making data-driven decisions as standard, using advanced reporting tools to measure success and identify areas for improvement. Features like social media integration and our Job Board Marketplace have helped attract the right candidates more quickly – including for hard-to-fill roles.

Chapter 3 — project spotlight

Reimagining Leisure & Services recruitment

Powered by Jobtrain, a look at St Helens Council and Go Active’s event-led recruitment campaign that resulted in resounding results.


Read the Go Active story

Frequently asked questions about ATS for local government

+Can an applicant tracking system work across a whole council with multiple departments?

Yes. A well-configured ATS can manage recruitment across a wide range of council departments simultaneously – from social care and leisure to schools, finance, NHS and facilities management. St Helens Borough Council uses Jobtrain across this full range of services, with different workflows, approval structures and compliance requirements handled within a single system. The key is choosing an ATS built with the flexibility to accommodate the complexities of a large local authority.

+How long does it take for a local council to implement a new ATS?

Implementation timelines vary depending on the size of the organisation and the complexity of existing processes, but most councils go live within three to six months. St Helens Borough Council completed implementation and went live with Jobtrain in February 2025 having worked through a structured process of scoping, configuration, tailored training and stakeholder engagement.

+What results can local authorities expect from a modern ATS?

Results vary by organisation, but councils that move from manual or legacy systems to a modern ATS will see shorter recruitment cycles, reduced administrative burden on HR teams, greater visibility for hiring managers and a more consistent candidate experience. St Helens Borough Council saw improvements across all of these areas within their first year of using Jobtrain.

+How does an ATS help with hard-to-fill roles in local government?

Modern applicant tracking systems help with hard-to-fill roles by building and managing talent pools of silver medallist candidates, by extending reach quickly and by providing data insights that help recruitment teams understand where previous campaigns have and haven’t worked. St Helens Borough Council has used Jobtrain’s talent pooling and data capabilities to improve outcomes in difficult-to-recruit posts.

+What does good candidate experience look like in public sector recruitment?

In public sector recruitment, a good candidate experience means timely communication at every stage, a straightforward and accessible application process, clear pre-employment and compliance steps, and an onboarding journey that feels joined-up. St Helens Borough Council uses Jobtrain to manage the full journey from application to start date, ensuring candidates stay informed and engaged throughout.