Council struggles to find lollipop men and women

It’s a job where you only work for two hours a day but one local authority is struggling to find recruits

There’s currently 17 vacancies for school crossing patrol guides - more popularly known as Lollipop men and women – across West Lothian.

Although not a statutory responsibility, West Lothian Council has provided school crossing patrols for many years. There are 82 sites in the county with crossing patrols.

Jamie Fisher from the council’s Operational services told a meeting of the Environment Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel ( PDSP) that the number of vacancies represents of a fifth of the total workforce. There are also regular requests for new crossing patrols.

Keyroll: Lollipop crossing supervisors

In his report Mr Fisher said: “Over recent months recruitment of School Crossing Patrol Guides has been increasing challenging. Vacancies tend only to be attractive to people who live nearby. The positions average 10 hours per week, 1-hour morning and 1-hour afternoon for 38 weeks per year.”

The job has an hourly rate of £9.34.

The posts are regulated and require Disclosure Scotland PVG checks to be undertaken as part of the recruitment process. This is where problems have occurred as often the process is slow or delayed and potential applicants lose interest or are put off by the process.

Mr Fisher’s report added: “Some prospective candidates are put off due to having to apply online when they have limited digital skills and the current pandemic is also impacting on recruitment due to anxiety around contact with others and staying safe.”

Crossing patrol keeping youngsters safe

Recruitment drives have so far taken in community centres, leaflets drops, social media, and there have even been campaigns written up in Polish.

Mr Fisher said a further campaign can be done covering all recent targeted areas again and flyers created for guides to hand out to people they meet whilst crossing their children.

Arrangements will also be made with HR Services to accept paper-based applications. from those who are put off by the online process.If the campaign fails to fill posts an assessment of all crossing points will be undertaken, and staff requested to move to points of highest risk and where no automated supported crossing is available.Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporting Service

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