About us

Richmond upon Thames and Wandsworth are neighbouring boroughs in south west London. In 2016, the two councils entered a shared staffing arrangement and for seven years the strong relationship between the boroughs has been cemented with a single Chief Executive and senior management team. They lead a workforce of over 3,000 staff (excluding schools) to deliver high quality services to residents.

Each council retains its sovereignty and governance, including responsibility for setting its own budget, determining priorities, and developing local policy and programmes that matter to residents.

Two boroughs working together

In many ways they are contrasting boroughs. Wandsworth has a young and ever-changing population and is home to some of inner London’s biggest developments and estate regeneration. From the Alton Estate in Roehampton, on the brink of major regeneration, to Nine Elms in Battersea, where a new community is growing alongside Apple’s London Campus and the US Embassy – it is home to strong, diverse communities.

Richmond houses world class open spaces, heritage gems and sporting legends and has an older and more stable demographic. However, one of the main challenges is to work with developers to speed up the supply of new homes in an outer London borough where land is in short supply.

The boroughs also have a lot in common, including iconic landmarks, rich histories and exciting, diverse cultural scenes. They share a determination to address climate change and have strong strategies and action plans in place. Both are also committed to making a fairer borough for their residents – investing in services, supporting the most vulnerable and helping people impacted by the cost of living crisis.

Serving our residents

Residents are always at the heart of what Richmond and Wandsworth do. Both have a well-evidenced history as excellent councils with exceptional levels of resident satisfaction.

While as an organisation we look to the future, to challenge the status quo and pioneer innovation in public services, these fundamentals will always be what drive us and hold us to account.

Our values

The work we do is varied and different jobs require different skills but whatever your role is, your work will be influenced by our commitment to our values. These values emphasise the need for all of us to show leadership, to be confident, imaginative and creative.

Think bigger

Our work is important and challenging.

It takes a mix of vision, idealism and ideas to do it well.

We use our imagination and creativity to see further, solve problems and make positive change.

We find time to plan ahead. We're ambitious.

We're not afraid to do things differently or challenge the status quo.

Embrace difference

Our energy and empathy, our strength and ideas come from our mix of different minds.

Whoever we are, whatever gender or sexuality, ethnicity or cultural background, whatever health conditions or impairments we may or may not have, however we think and whatever we believe, we support each other to bring our unique perspectives and experiences to work.

We don't stand by, we stand up for each others' differences and call out bad behaviour when we see it.

Connect better

We’re a big team working across two boroughs.

The way we connect, share and collaborate with each other and our partners makes the difference for our residents.

We’re open to ideas and inspiration from different places, across our organisation and beyond.

We build bridges and break down barriers inside and out.

We’re ready to adapt and adjust to get the most out of working with each other.

Lead by example

Whoever we are, whatever we do and whatever role we play, we can all show leadership.

We all bring different skills and experience, but we’re united by the pride we take in our work and by the standards we set on behalf of our residents.

We’re always ready and ready for anything.

We’re dependable, we strive to improve and we support each other.

Whoever we are and whatever we do, we’re prepared to step up and take responsibility.

Put people first

Our work is all about people.

About how we, as people, do the best we can to help the people of Richmond and Wandsworth to thrive.

We put ourselves in the other person's shoes.

We treat each other with compassion and respect.

And whatever we do, we focus on what it means for the people we work with and the people we serve.