How We Work

COSLA’s organisational structure consists of a Senior Management Team (SMT), and eight inter-disciplinary themed teams. 

The SMT consists of the Chief Executive (Rory Mair) and two Strategic Directors (Jon Harris & Barbara Lindsay). The SMT’s role is to focus on driving forward genuinely strategic issues – the high-level priorities, the strategic use of resources needed to achieve them, direction and development of all staff, and performance monitoring.

COSLA’s themed teams are the core of COSLA’s staffing structure. The teams’ themes are a combination of service-driven and process-driven areas. They are not tied to traditional local authority services and functions although specific services and functions will be covered by some teams. 

The remits of the themed teams assist COSLA to develop an effective, pro-active, and holistic approach to policy development on behalf of its members.  Each themed team is led by a Team Leader and contains a mix of Policy Managers, Policy Officers and Support Staff. Although each team has its own remit and areas of responsibility, there will be many policy areas that will require joint working between two or more teams. For that reason, most policy and support staff have a ‘home’ team but will also work with one of the other teams.

Select a team button from the above diagram for more information about its role and remit.