United Kingdom
I am a dedicated professional focused on continuous improvement, skill development, and collaborative work. Qualified in Level 6 Applied Health & Safety and Prince2Agile Foundation/Practitioner, I help colleagues build capability and engage in ongoing learning. As a Town Councillor for Dunstable (2009–2025) and Mayor (three terms), I focused on the needs of residents and ensured best value for money. Uniting residents with businesses and building on community cohesion was a clear focus of my Mayoral years, alongside recognising the work of volunteers in our town. Throughout the last 10 years I’ve raised over £220,000 for local charities and received multiple community awards. I chair Hospice at Home Volunteers and Dunstable in Bloom, serve as Trustee of South Beds Dial a Ride, and actively support several local organisations. As a member of The Rotary Club of Dunstable, I promote community wellbeing and inclusion. It’s through this varied experience and love for the community I have launched my own consultancy business, Liz Jones Community Consultancy.
Liz Jones Community is an independent consultancy providing high-level strategic support across three core pillars: Strategic Communications, Fundraising, and Community Engagement. Leveraging decades of localised expertise, senior leadership in workforce planning, and a proven civic track record, the consultancy acts as a catalyst for growth. It bridges the gap between organisational strategy and grassroots community execution. Supporting local organisations / businesses, registered charities, community groups and local authorities to reach their potential.
My role within the Capability, Compliance and Transformation team see's me oversee the workforce planning and recruitment of colleagues into the People Safety Team; identifying learning opportunities and working with senior leaders to ensure professional qualifications are undertaken and gained to support the ongoing business requirements. Focusing on ensuring colleagues remain compliant in their mandatory health and safety learning, and supporting on transformational changes and implementing of new cross government reporting platforms over the coming years. Building capability across our team through short and long term planning and use of new digital platforms that are being developed through the Synergy programme.
I've was invited to temporarily take on a new role where I conducted a comprehensive review of workforce planning across People Services and Resourcing within DWP. This opportunity arose from my previous experience in People Safety, and I was tasked with leveraging my skills and expertise to establish sustainable processes. These processes aim to ensure timely reporting and tracking of all workforce movements, as well as promptly identifying recruitment needs to maintain effective service delivery.
Responsible for the communication, engagement and workforce planning for the People Safety team within DWP. Communicating effectively across the team and wider department to help influence cultural changes across 90,000 colleagues over 900 sites to help maintain a safe, healthy, inclusive working environment. Strategic planning to minimise impact of known staff losses, movements and joiners. Working with senior leaders to identify, plan and track recruitment needs, gain approvals and oversee the recruitment process. Lead officer in the annual submission to RoSPA Sector Awards for DWP.
Having concluded my third term of office in the last 9 years as Mayor of Dunstable I can proudly say I have connected with thousands of local businesses, organisations and voluntary groups. I introduced the Town Mayor’s Community Ambassador awards in 2022 and recognised 8 instrumental community leaders for the work they have done in our town over many decades. After 16 years as a councillor I have resigned to focus on my charitable and community work across Dunstable.
I have concluded a third term of office as Town Mayor and have made an impact across my community. Fostering and building new relationships that will last into the future for the town was at the heart of my goal in my final year. I have raised in excess of £12,500 for local charities and organisations, and in addition identified further £8000 for one of my charities via collaborative working with the local Theatre.
I was Town Mayor of Dunstable for the municipal year 22/23. I chose to focus my year on recognising the work of others. I raised £26,000 during my year of office for - Hospice at Home Volunteers Dunstable and surrounding areas - Dunstable Salvation Army - Disability Resource Centre and 7 further organisations benefited I look forward to continuing representing the town as a councillor.
Elected to hold the post of Deputy Town Mayor for the Municipal Year 2021/22