Debbie Barnes

By Debbie Barnes Lincolnshire County Council CEO

Debbie Barnes is the CEO of Lincolnshire County Council

As one year comes to an end and another begins, this is often a time for reflection. For some of us this is a chance to think about work, question whether our job is fulfilling and decide if we should look for a change.

At Lincolnshire County Council we truly believe that our employees are our greatest asset and in return, we do our best to ensure that they enjoy a supportive work environment. Recent improvements mean that we now offer:

• Hybrid working which has enabled many colleagues to enjoy a better work-life balance
• An attractive package of pay, employee benefits, and a wide range of health and wellbeing support
• Career development and apprenticeships which we are building on and developing

Our services are very diverse and it’s easy to take for granted what we provide, from maintaining the footpaths and roads where you live to providing vital support for children, families and vulnerable adults.

We’re proud of our record of encouraging communities to thrive and doing this in the most efficient way, ensuring that your council tax is used wisely.

Take a look at our Corporate Plan to get an idea of how our whole purpose is to support local people in a wide variety of ways.

As an organisation employing around 4,500 employees we’re always looking for new colleagues to join us.

A flavour of the services we provide can be seen in our main achievements of the year:

A programme of improving special school provision continues to benefit many communities including Boston, Lincoln, Bourne and Horncastle

• Tattershall’s new Household Waste Recycling Centre officially opened
• Work on major road projects in Spalding and Grantham continues
• Lincoln’s new De Wint Court Extra Care facility was opened
• The first business moved into our new Hub at the South Lincolnshire Food Enterprise Zone
• Construction has begun on a new children’s care home on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council
• VisitEngland named Lincoln Castle, The Collection and Usher Gallery among England’s best attractions
• A new carers’ support service launched
• Preliminary works have been taking place for North Hykeham Relief Road
• Huttoft Boat Shed and Café opened
• A new wedding venue opened at the Usher Gallery

We offer opportunities in a huge number of career paths. We are particularly keen to recruit to the care sector which involves supporting vulnerable people of all ages. This can be an especially rewarding career with great prospects. If you think this could be for you, please take a look at our adult care and children’s services job pages on our website. There you will find all kinds of useful information about what this area of work is all about as well as our latest vacancies.

We also have many colleagues carrying out important functions behind the scenes, for example accountants and lawyers.

We support our employees by developing skills and knowledge that will encourage them in their chosen path.

At Lincolnshire County Council we have over 70 different apprenticeships currently available for employees across all directorates and at different career stages.

These are no longer just for 16-19 year olds. Although we actively want to employ young talent, we have employees of all ages who are upskilling through an apprenticeship.

So if you feel excited by what we have on offer, why not take the next step?

Find out more at by looking at the jobs and careers section on Lincolnshire County Council’s website.

Join us and help us to build the county you want to work in and make a real difference for the people of Lincolnshire.

Wishing you a great Christmas and a happy new year!

Debbie Barnes is the Chief Executive Officer at Lincolnshire County Council. She was appointed in December 2019 and had been the director for children's services and interim head of paid services prior to this.

By Debbie Barnes Lincolnshire County Council CEO

It is undoubtedly fair to say that we will all be glad to say goodbye to 2020, for obvious reasons.

We go into the Christmas break with cautious optimism that the coronavirus vaccination programme will be successful and that 2021 could see a return to some kind of normality.

I officially came into post as chief executive of Lincolnshire County Council at the start of the year – and what a baptism of fire it has been!

I would like to acknowledge and celebrate the resilience and flexibility of staff across the council during such challenging times.

It’s been difficult for everyone, and I’m so proud of our teams who have really pulled out all the stops to ensure that we keep delivering high quality services for our communities.

With most of our employees now based away from our offices, we have had to adapt to a whole new way of working and find innovative ways to support those most in need.

It has been particularly inspiring to see how different teams are using technology to reach out to people especially through the use of video conferencing, social media and online groups.

I’ve also been deeply impressed by members of our staff who have been thrown in at the deep end, willingly moving into different roles to keep our critical services going.

They have left their usual positions to work in residential children’s homes, waste transfer centres and Covid testing sites amongst others, to make sure we have been able to continue to support those in most need of our critical services.

I would also like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to the many unsung heroes who have supported  the vulnerable in our communities – I have been humbled by the acts of kindness from friends, neighbours, community members and volunteers, and we should be very proud of the way we have supported each other up and down the county.

While we may feel as a nation that we are getting closer to the end of the pandemic, which is great news, we still have some challenges ahead of us.

It is to be expected that we will play a crucial part rebuilding the economy. At Lincolnshire County Council, we have always prided ourselves on providing efficient and effective value for money services over the years – and this will continue.

We have already launched an ambitious programme of work which, among many things, is harnessing technological innovations as well as ensuring we make best use of our buildings and all our assets. This will enable us to make the most of our budget, and I am optimistic. While this has been the most demanding few months – I believe it has brought out the very best in people – pulling together across organisations to support each other and the most vulnerable in our society.

Our task now is to harness this energy and keep this spirit going.
I’m looking forward to a new era at the council where we can put the pandemic behind us and carry on using the creativity we have unleashed to the benefit of Lincolnshire’s future.

Debbie Barnes is the Chief Executive Officer at Lincolnshire County Council. She was appointed in December 2019 and had been the director for children's services and interim head of paid services prior to this.