SYJS provides economic and effective support services to public sector and other organisations in the sub-region.

The SYJS Corporate Strategy 2010-13 provides more detail about the role and purpose of the Secretariat together with its objectives and current priorities.

The Secretariat has an establishment of 46.5 staff, some of whom are part-time.  The nature of its responsibilities means there is a wide mix of professional expertise.

Joint Secretariat employees follow a Code of Conduct which sets out the standards of behaviour for officers.

Our History

South Yorkshire Joint Secretariat was established in 1986 following the abolition of South Yorkshire County Council. Under an agreement entered into by the four District Councils within South Yorkshire, SYJS became a department of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (Barnsley MBC). It was set up to provide support services to the Police,  Fire & Rescue, and Integrated Transport Authorities. The Pensions Authority was created in 1988 and became the fourth main customer. 

The role of the Secretariat has evolved substantially. In the first 10 years, one of the Secretariat’s roles was to supply a number of basic financial functions to the operational services, including Police and Fire payrolls and finance IT systems.

Over the next 8 years most of these functions were transferred to the Police, Fire and Pensions services, and the Secretariat is now almost exclusively engaged in supporting the four Joint Authorities, the 53 members who comprise them, and other key stakeholders such as the District Councils.

At the same time, the Secretariat has expanded its role in areas such as performance, policy support and member development. The independent reviews of the Secretariat in 2002 and 2003 reinforced the credentials of the organisation and established stakeholder support for the two core roles which underpin the Corporate Strategy, i.e. to support to strategic leadership and Governance.

In later years, the organisation has been able to use its skills and experience to support a number of other organisations including:

• The South Yorkshire Lord Lieutenancy
• Robin Hood Airport Consultative Committee
• South Yorkshire Local Transport Plan Partnership
• The Association of Metropolitan Fire and Rescue Authorities

In a submission (April 2005) to the Lyons Inquiry into Local Government, our Clerk and Treasurer set out reasons for the formation of SYJS to support the Joint Authorities.