Staffordshire County Council has introduced a voluntary benefits scheme to help it hold on to its best staff. Like other local authorities, the council has problems finding certain specialist staff and it hopes the scheme will help to turn the situation around. Elaine Fisher, employment relations officer, said: "There are pockets of jobs which I think every local authority finds difficult to recruit for." Fisher said the authority, which employs 33,000, has an annual staff turnover of 12% and hoped that by refreshing its benefits it could reduce this. Under the scheme from Youatwork, staff will be able to claim discounts on electrical equipment, travel, insurance, airport parking, CDs and DVDs.