50 Stories for 50 Years: Meet Claudia Beaumont, Joint Peer of the Year 2025

Hello PPMA Members and Friends

We’re keeping the momentum going with our 50 Stories for 50 Years campaign, and today we’re excited to share the second article from our special 50th Anniversary edition of the MJ Supplement produced to coincide with our Annual Conference earlier this year. This story comes from Claudia Beaumont, Strategic HR Business Partner at Wiltshire Council and one of our Joint Peer into the Future 2025 winners. In her piece, Claudia talks about how the programme has supported her development, and she shares her thoughts on the challenges, opportunities, and what lies ahead for the profession.

“Unlike others on the programme, I was not a manager – well I wasn’t until recently. In January I began managing our two Associate HRBPs. This has been incredibly fortunate timing with undertaking the Peer programme as I have been equipped with great theories, perspectives and experiences of inspirational leaders, and built networks with wonderful peers across the country. As a ‘blank slate’ of a manager, I am already drawing on this new knowledge to shape my management skills and style.

Particular learnings which have stuck with me from the programme that I will be incorporating into my daily practices are:

10/10/10 approach – putting mistakes into perspective. Will I remember this in 10 minutes? In 10 months? In 10 years? – basically, ‘don’t catastrophise’.
Taking a coaching approach to problem solving – the solutions are in people’s minds.
The importance of ‘finding your tribe’ and the power of personal and professional networks.

Undertaking the Peer programme has opened the door to so many opportunities, and I look forward to saying ‘Yes’ to as much as I can during my tenure as Peer of the Year.

The challenges facing the entire public sector are well-known and wide ranging: budgetary pressures, devolution, changes to employment legislation to name a few. Coupled with the challenging landscape, there are some exciting opportunities such as the potential benefits (and possible risks) of AI, innovation under pressure, and workforce development alongside the increasing national skills agenda.

There are many people far more knowledgeable than me on these specific issues, so rather than provide my surface-level interpretation, I thought I would impart some thinking points for your consideration.

It sounds trite but people really are our greatest asset. Every profession, every sector is staffed, served, created by people (at least until the robots take over!)

We all know the cost of recruitment; therefore, retention and career development should be a priority for every manager. We work hard to recruit and onboard – so why wouldn’t we do all we can to retain and develop the right people? I like the idea of applying an early support/intervention model to the workforce and am excited to be piloting stay interviews in Wiltshire.

There is something wonderful about knowing people, knowing your staff and colleagues – what makes them tick, what is their life story, how did they end up in this role? Knowing your staff will allow you to take an unselfish view of their development.

It will help you encourage progression, lateral moves, secondments etc., even if there may be an impact on the productivity of your team. A true ‘people manager’ should be authentic, genuine and inspirational by really investing in their staff, supporting them to develop as individuals in whichever direction they wish to take, even if this means supporting an external opportunity. This will engender mutual respect and create exciting opportunities to be influential in shaping who someone will become, being part of their story, hopefully as a hero rather than a villain!

There is a reason we work in the public sector. We take pride in what we do and why we do it. This makes our workforce uniquely valuable as we have a heightened sense of purpose and belonging – key drivers of engagement and high performance.

It is important not to forget what is going on in our own service, as well as the wider organisation. We must practice what we preach: invest in our own staff, prioritise our own development as HR professionals, and champion and continually demonstrate our value.

A high performing HR service is vital for the future of local government. We must have a seat at the top table without compromise. This would be my key piece of advice to the higher echelons of every local authority. We are a true strategic partner and critical friend, there to support, challenge, guide and strengthen that golden thread between our workforce and outcomes for our communities.”