HR Bulletin March 2019
Training - still important, still available
External training is more and more difficult to justify when money is so tight and time is precious. Fortunately we have a range of quality, cost-effective and readily accessible training on offer from our very own Employee Development team, E learning packages and other service based trainers. Check out CLIVE or contact the relevant training team to discuss options for your team.
Employee Review & Development Process (ERDP)
Managers continuously discuss performance, support and training with staff in various ways. ERDP is not only an annual corporate objective but a very useful consolidation of all these discussions and helps turn them into plans and actions. It’s a very low cost tool to improve understanding and engagement between staff and supervisors and managers. A survey audit of ERDP will be carried out soon and reported to committee in May highlighting departmental activity
Management & leadership (M&L) development coming to Moray
The North East Learning Collaborative (NELC) of which Moray Council is a member have for many years provided management and leadership courses. Courses previously held in only Aberdeen are now on offer in Moray. An intensive 2-day Coaching Skills in the Workplace course will run in Elgin on 4 & 5 April, and 11 & 12 June. Interested managers can find out more and enrol for the course here.
Moray Management Methods Training
Quite a few sessions have run and these have been well received. Participants have reported that they have been very useful. Here is a selection of courses to be held in the near future as below. Managers can learn more about content and enrol if they wish through CLIVE.
Equalities – training for managers: 6 March
Performance management: 12 March
Corporate Management & Governance: 24 April
New Management Training pages on the Interchange
To raise awareness of all the training that is available to managers, new pages have been developed on the interchange. Within the Learning & Development area you will now find Management Training. Here you can access the MMM learning suite, the in house training solutions and any collaborative training currently available to you. The information on these pages will be supplemented and developed as the needs of the managers change. Any feedback or training suggestions would be welcomed.
BREXIT – STAY INFORMED
With Brexit at the forefront of the news, and as we move through March we are considering the initial impact of Brexit on our workforce.
In line with the draft Withdrawal Agreement, an EU citizen and their family members will be able to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to continue living in the UK after 31 December 2020. The EU Settlement Scheme allows the EU Citizen and their family members to continue to live, work and study here in the UK.
This link below takes you to a Home Office Briefing document to ensure that you a fully informed of the process of the EU Settlement Scheme and will provide you with the tools to deal with any staff queries or concerns.
Key dates and actions:
w/c 10 March 2019 We wrote to those staff we identified as impacted by Brexit, providing them with information and sign posting them to the GOV.UK website
A copy of this was also shared with the employee’s line manager for information.
To raise awareness during March, communications are to be circulated across the council in the form of articles on the Interchange, Leaflets and posters.
30 March 2019 EU Settlement Scheme will be fully open and applications can be completed via a short online application. Applications can be made up until 30 June 2021 and individual’s rights will remain unchanged until then, provided that the individual is resident in the UK by 31 December 2020.
Key information about the EU Settlement Scheme:
You need to apply if you are an EU citizen or a non-EU family member of an EU citizen; this includes those with a UK permanent residence document. You do not need to apply if you have indefinite leave to remain or enter, or you are an Irish citizen, but you can if you want to.
You need to be a resident in the UK by 31 December 2020. If you have been a resident in the UK for more than five continuous years you will be eligible for settled status. If you have been a resident for less than five continuous years you will be eligible for pre-settled status.
Any update on the impact of a Brexit no deal will be communicated accordingly.
Backdated Pay and Universal Credit
Universal Credit Payments May Stop or Reduce
If you receive Universal Credit the amount you get changes if your take-home pay changes. This includes awards of backdated pay. If you get additional pay within a Universal Credit assessment period (month), your Universal Credit payment will either be less than you normally receive or your income may be too high to qualify for a payment.
Universal Credit is calculated on your personal circumstances. Because of this we, as your employer, do not know how, or if, you may be affected.
The 2018/19 Local Government pay settlement was agreed on 01 March 2019 and is scheduled to be in place and paid with a backdated award on 28 March 2019. This increase together with the backdated payment means you will either receive less Universal Credit than normal or you may even earn too much to qualify and your Universal Credit claim will close. If your claim closes, you will see a message on your UC Journal telling you about this.
Will Universal Credit Payments Start Again Automatically?
No. If Universal Credit payments stop because you have had additional pay, you must start up your claim again. You should do this as soon as you can to make sure you do not miss out.
How Do I Reclaim Universal Credit?
Log into your UC journal and select the “Reclaim” tab. You will find this at the bottom of the screen. This will take you to a new screen where you will be asked to answer a few simple questions. If you have any problems doing this, contact your Work Coach or visit your local Job Centre Plus.
You can get independent help and advice about Universal Credit from Advice First on tel. no. 0800 3289344.
You can access your UC Journal at www.gov.uk/sign-in-universal-credit
An overview of Universal Credit can be found at www.gov.uk/universal-credit
Should you require advice re any advice on other means tested benefits you can call 0800 3289344.
Employee Conference
Just a reminder to let you know that invites will be issued to staff shortly if they have been selected to attend one of the 3 events to be held in the autumn.
The full programme for this year's conference, which will run from 8.45am (for registration) to 1.30pm, is in the planning stages and attendees will be informed of the schedule nearer the time.
We will, of course issue lists of prospective attendees for you to check in advance of sending the invitations so you can make sure it’s Ok and that service needs are considered - with your support we are expecting those employees who receive an invite, or a substitute will be able to attend.
Please encourage staff who receive an invitation to attend and participate, this is such a good opportunity for them to meet Directors and Senior Managers and speak with them about issues that are important. Of course just as important is the chance to meet with colleagues who have different roles in the Council and work in other services
Employee Opinion Survey
The Employee Opinion survey happens every 2 years and it hardly seems any time since the last one in 2017 and we are already planning this year’s survey. This is a chance for you and your staff to voice your opinions, so please use the opportunity to submit your views and encourage others to do so.
The last survey in 2017 had a response rate of 42%, which was great, but…let’s try and beat it!!
The go live date has yet to be finalised but we will tell you more about it before it goes live.
Managers Briefing for Strategy Talk – Changes to Manager Briefings
Strategy Talks will continue to be published monthly in the staff magazine, Connect. The briefings that we held quarterly with the Chief Executive will now be held virtually – a briefing document will be posted to the SMI site and here on the HR Bulletin on a quarterly basis. This will provide background information to you as managers and complements the Strategy Talk which will be published in Connect.
The purpose of this document is to give you background information about the forthcoming Strategy Talks before they are published (as with the manager briefings previously).
Please ensure that you check the SMI site / HR Bulletin (published on the Interchange within Staff Communications).
Forthcoming Strategy Talks
April – Housing Strategy (click here for briefing)
May – Health & Safety (click here for briefing)
June – Economic Development; Grants and funding (briefing to follow).