Guest Blog Post - Mind the Gap. The Leadership Behind Safety Compliance
Mind the Gap. The Leadership Behind Safety Compliance. Why the Town Clerk’s role matters more than you think by Emma Payne
Health and safety compliance is often presented as a technical issue. It is framed around technical inspections, and risk assessments. That framing is incomplete.
In local councils, compliance is a leadership issue. The Council holds corporate responsibility with Councillors acting as decision makers. The Clerk sits in the centre, enabling the system to function through advice, structure and implementation.
In practice, this can create tension. Councillors are accountable, yet many describe themselves as volunteers or amateurs. That may be true in terms of technical knowledge, but it does not remove the risk or the responsibility. This is where the Clerk’s leadership becomes essential.
Most councils already have the building blocks of compliance in place. There are policies, risk assessments and, if you’re lucky, external contractors. Guidance is widely available. Yet it is not aways accessed due to capacity, competence or cost.
As a result, gaps emerge; responsibilities are unclear, decisions are delayed.
These are not technical failures. They are failures of leadership between members and officers.
The Clerk does not hold corporate responsibility, but the role cannot be neutral. We advise without controlling, influence without mandate and deliver without owning the ultimate risk. That is a leadership position, even if it is not always recognised.
The essence of the Clerk’s role is not technical expertise. It is ensuring that compliance is visible, understood and acted upon. If compliance is not consistently prioritised, it is quickly deprioritised
2 . Competing demands take over. A key part of the Clerk’s role is translating complexity into something councillors can act on. Health and safety guidance is often detailed and complex
3 . Councillors do not need that level of detail. They need clarity and advice. They need to understand the issue, why it matters, what is required and what will happen if no action is taken.
Another common point of failure is uncertainty. In many councils, it is not always clear who is responsible for what. This is particularly evident in buildings shared with community groups or tenants. Questions arise around responsibility and oversight.
If this is not clearly defined, compliance will fail. The Clerk plays a central role in removing that ambiguity by establishing clear policies, roles and agreements. It is about creating a structure that people can follow with confidence.
This is more complex where buildings are occupied by community groups or tenants.
Many are volunteer led. They may lack the knowledge, capacity or awareness to manage compliance, or may not realise that responsibility sits with them.
The Clerk’s role is to make this clear and workable. Agreements should set out responsibilities in plain language, supported by simple guidance and proportionate support. That may include inductions, signposting to contractors or shared solutions.
The aim is not to take back responsibility, but to make compliance achievable. This must be matched with light-touch oversight. At its core, it’s about enabling others to succeed whilst maintaining accountability.
Even with clear policies, compliance does not happen without systems. Many councils underestimate this. They assume that once a policy is in place, compliance will follow. It does not. The Clerk’s role is to build systems that work and are resourced.
4. Perhaps the most delicate aspect of the role is the relationship with councillors. It is not uncommon to hear councillors describe themselves as volunteers and therefore reliant on officer advice. That is reasonable. However, it does not remove their governance responsibilities.
There is also a more subtle dynamic at play. Councillors are elected. They can bring experience, confidence and a strong sense of ownership of decisions. Whilst this can be a strength, it can also create tension when professional advice challenges existing views or introduces uncomfortable risks.
5.Clerks must navigate this carefully. We are not there to override members but to ensure that decisions are informed and evidence based. That sometimes means presenting advice that is not immediately welcomed or persisting with an issue that others would prefer to move past. It may also mean addressing where individual views conflict with council decisions.
Effective leadership is measured by how well you maintain that balance. Respecting the democratic mandate of councillors, while ensuring that governance standards are upheld and risks are not ignored. There will be moments when challenge is necessary. It is part of the professional duty of the role.
There is often an assumption that Clerks need to be technically proficient in all areas of health and safety. This is neither realistic nor necessary. What is required is a working understanding of the key risk areas and the ability to recognise when specialist input is needed. Clerks must be confident in commissioning expertise and interpreting advice. The value of the role lies in coordination, not technical depth.
Many compliance challenges come down to money. Surveys, remedial works and ongoing monitoring all require funding, often at a time when councils are operating within tight financial constraints. Every pound is scrutinised.
Compliance is largely invisible to residents. There is no immediate public benefit to point to until you close the village hall because you’ve got an adverse legionella test.
This makes it harder to prioritise against visible projects, even when the risk is significant.
The Clerk has a role in addressing this tension. It is not good enough to present costs. This includes setting out the current level of compliance, the inherent risks, what is required, the costs and the consequence of inaction. The Clerk shapes the context of decision making.
A simple test is to consider what would happen in the event of a serious incident.
Could councillors demonstrate that they understood their responsibilities, received appropriate advice, and had systems in place? If the answer is no, the issue is not compliance. It is a lack of leadership.
If the Clerk adopts a passive approach, the consequences are predictable.
Councillors remain unclear, compliance becomes fragmented and risk increases over time.
Leadership in this context is about clarity, consistency and professional integrity. It requires the confidence to present difficult information and ensure it is acted upon.
Health and safety compliance in local councils rarely fails because policies are absent. It fails because responsibility, understanding and action are not aligned.
The Clerk cannot take on the legal responsibility held by councillors. However, the role is pivotal in ensuring that responsibility is understood and translated into action.
We are not in charge. But without our leadership, the system does not work.
1 Kotter, J.P. (1995) Why Transformation Efforts Fail
2 Schein, E.H. (2010) Organizational Culture and Leadership
3 https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg417.htm
4 Pollitt, C (2013) The Evolving Narratives of Public Management Reform: 40 years of reform white
papers in the UK
5 Wilson, D. and Game, C. (2011) Local Government in the United Kingdom