Derek Prior Email & Phone Number

Mitcham, Surrey

Independent advice on employment principles and practice, including employment contracts, custom and practice, mediation, discipline and employment law.

Following my retirement I applied for, and was successful in, obtaining a post for the Office for National Statistics 2011 Census team. As Area Manager for the London Borough of Lambeth I was responsible for the delivery of the Census across the Borough. In the previous2001 Census, Lambeth had one of the lowest response rates in the UK at 79% compared with a National rate of 94%. Lambeth, with its highly diverse cultural and ethnic population, coupled with particularly challenging social… Show more Following my retirement I applied for, and was successful in, obtaining a post for the Office for National Statistics 2011 Census team. As Area Manager for the London Borough of Lambeth I was responsible for the delivery of the Census across the Borough. In the previous2001 Census, Lambeth had one of the lowest response rates in the UK at 79% compared with a National rate of 94%. Lambeth, with its highly diverse cultural and ethnic population, coupled with particularly challenging social problems has some of the' hardest to count' areas in the Country. During the 10 month contract period which commenced in August 2010 I spent the first 6 months developing productive links with voluntary and statutory community leaders across the Borough to secure their commitment to assisting in the community engagement delivery plan, which was established to encourage Census return rates. This involved dealing with local media, giving talks to large and small community groups, providing presentations to political leaders and officials across the Borough. The second phase of employment, from January to March 2011, involved the induction, training and management of around 300 staff employed to manage and control Census questionnaire completion from members of the public. The final phase, from Census day on 27 March 2011 to June 2011 involved the day to day management of staff, ensuring effective deployment of field staff, dealing with performance management issues, including setting delivery targets in accordance with ONS policy requirements and handling questions and complaints from members of the public. At the end of the Census return period Lambeth had achieved a 90% return rate, exceeding the ONS target of 87% to the delight of Lambeth Council who believed that they now had a much improved base to reflect their required future financial settlements. Show less

Management of delivery of the 2011 Census in Lambeth

Responsible for delivery of employment, benefit and fraud related activities in large (100 - 6000) organisations, including budgetary responsibity up to £72m.p.a.

Over a 43 year career in public service I held a wide variety of roles across a number of Government Departments. This included 7 years from 1983 to 1990 on secondment to the Prime Minister's Efficiency unit as an internal management consultant, which involved providing advice and guidance to all Government Departments on efficiency and economy improvements leading to the delivery of excellent service to customers. On returning to my home Department (now Department for Work and Pensions) I… Show more Over a 43 year career in public service I held a wide variety of roles across a number of Government Departments. This included 7 years from 1983 to 1990 on secondment to the Prime Minister's Efficiency unit as an internal management consultant, which involved providing advice and guidance to all Government Departments on efficiency and economy improvements leading to the delivery of excellent service to customers. On returning to my home Department (now Department for Work and Pensions) I spent two years as a policy advisor dealing with revisions to the Incapacity Benefit regulations followed by 5 years as Regional Finance Director with managerial responsibility for a total of 6,000 staff and an overall budget of £127million per year. During the last 20 years of my career I was a London Area Director of The Department for Work and Pensions. This involved me in the senior management of large groups of service delivery staff responsible for the delivery of world class job seeking and benefit payment services to clients through networks of local job centre offices. Key elements of my role included developing and securing effective communications across large groups of staff, including the development of quality training modules and establishing productive and responsive relationships with client and community groups to more accurately tailor services. I have a strong track record for delivering customer focused services within budget and targets. Show less

Teaching

Education record

Education record

Achieved 2GCE A levels, 6 GCE O Levels.

Diploma Specialising, Drama; Art