Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible.
My Department oversees workforce planning for the local government sector and it is a requirement that approval is sought for any additional post outside of agreed workforce plan numbers. It is open to the local authorities to submit staff sanction requests and each is examined on a case by case basis.
Most local authorities have a delegated sanction to employ lifeguards on an annual/seasonal basis. Where sanction is required, I understand that all requests from local authorities have been approved.