How can a civil service secondment strengthen your Authority’s transport team?

Government has announced an initial pilot. Mayoral Authorities are expected to receive between five and ten high-performing civil servants (HPCS) for six to nine months. Authorities will be able to request the skills they need. Its stated purpose is to build capacity and capability and speed up the transfer of transport powers to local areas.

If your Authority is developing transport reform plans, this offer can provide time-limited resource. Your Authority will still need to decide which work needs support and how it will keep the benefit once the placement ends.

A secondment cannot replace your Authority’s own transport capability. Six to nine months is not enough, on its own, to build the knowledge, decision rights and working routines required to shape, commission and run a transport model over the years ahead.

The government says Authorities will be able to request the skills they need. Civil servants in the pilot will bring strong skills in areas such as programme management, policy, finance and analysis. Most will not have worked on bus networks, ticketing or transport contracts.

This shapes how an Authority should use them. Secondees can add value from their first week on programme governance, business cases, data and reporting. Transport decisions, such as network design, fares or contract strategy, need deeper sector knowledge.

A placement lasts six to nine months. Time a secondee spends learning transport comes out of that period, and the knowledge leaves when they do. The same time spent training the Authority's permanent staff stays with the Authority.

The most useful secondments are designed around defined work and named Authority counterparts. Before HPCS arrive, the Authority should agree the decisions or deliverables that need support, who owns them and what will be transferred into the permanent team.

A clear brief gives the placement a lasting contribution. It should identify the immediate tasks, the Authority role that will take over afterwards and the outputs that must remain, such as:

Transport knowledge needs to stay with the people who will remain. Train your Authority’s permanent staff first, or alongside the secondees, so they can lead the transport work once the placement ends.

Right of Way provides that foundation. It gives permanent staff practical knowledge aligned to the decisions in their programme. Secondees can join the same courses where it helps them start faster. The early courses cover:

Other courses help teams work through customer strategy, ticketing, fares, technology, procurement and contract management.

The aim is to give each person enough context to engage actively, challenge assumptions and understand when deeper advice is required. Training can be commissioned around the work that is about to happen.

01Match secondees to transferable skills. Request programme, finance, policy, data or governance skills, and keep transport decisions with permanent staff.

02Train your own team first. Build a trained core team, then use secondees to add capacity around it.

03Train both together. Secondees can attend courses alongside permanent staff so both groups start with the same foundation. Some of that investment leaves when the placement ends.

04Decline or defer. Put the time and budget into permanent staff instead. The Authority retains all the capability, but does not gain the extra capacity.

For most Authorities, the first two options together will give the best return. Secondees work where they add value from the start, and the transport knowledge stays with the people who remain.

Government’s offer recognises that new transport powers need people able to use them. Take the opportunity, while also investing in the staff who will remain accountable for transport services.

Use secondees where their skills fit. Train the permanent team in transport, and make knowledge transfer part of every work package. This helps your Authority work productively with Advisers, Operators and Suppliers, and make informed decisions.

Right of Way helps Authorities equip the people who will shape, design and run their transport model. To discuss a targeted programme for your Authority, email contact@intelligenttransportadvisory.co.uk.