Edinburgh lollipop patrols: Council will try to make job more attractive to improve recruitment

Councillors called for a review of wages and conditions to tackle the problem. And officials said they would look at the possibility of combining the role of a crossing guide with other functions to make the job more attractive.

Edinburgh currently has 173 school crossing sites across the city, around 143 of which are staffed. Officials presented the council's transport committee with proposals to delete 17, some of which had not had a lollipop patrol for 15 years or more. In some cases, pedestrian crossings had now been installed and in others there were new traffic restrictions which meant they would no longer match the criteria for a patrol.

Kirklees Council has confirmed that lollipop ladies and men will still be seen outside the district’s schools after claims their roles were under threat.

A report said that due to the low level of job applicants, the number of lollipop staff had remained roughly the same despite repeated rounds of recruitment.

But Lib Dem councillor Sanne Dijkstra Downie said she was concerned about the plan to scrap 10 per cent of the city's school crossing sites. She said a similar move had been discussed previously but not taken forward.

"We accept there may well be reasons why some locations that have historically had crossing guides are no longer a priority, but the driver behind this proposal is that the council has struggled to fill these vacant positions.

"If that's the case, it is our view we need to look at why that is an we need to look at our recruitment processes, how they can be improved, whether some of the terms and conditions, hours and so on are still fit for purpose."

And she welcomed comments from Gareth Barwell, the council's executive director of place, suggesting there were options to remodel the role.

Mr Barwell said the council could not just decide to put the post of school crossing guide onto a higher grade. "If there were a need for that role to be higher paid,they would have to take on more responsibilities." And he pointed out the job involved "very bespoke hours".

But he said if the council wanted more school crossing patrol provision, it could look at how the role could be augmented to create a more desirable contract of employment, potentially involving other functions around the school.

"The fact we're discussing this again tells me we need to try harder and think of other ways to do this."

The committee agreed the issue should be explored further at a workshop of councillors and officials.