An advert is due to appear in the Northern Scot on Friday 3rd November directing the public to the Council website for Remembrance Sunday information. Please see the attached Remembrance Sunday information should there be any enquires.

Please see below information that is about be released regarding the garden waste permit increasing and the first decisions to be made about the budget savings for next year’s budget.

Garden Waste Permit: Moray Council has agreed the charge for brown garden waste bin collection permits for 2024/25 will increase to £50. After being frozen for two years, the charge decreased to £36 in 2023/24 but increasing costs to deliver the service has seen the 39% uplift for next year. The collection of green and garden waste is not a statutory requirement for local authorities, with a number of authorities not providing a collection service for green waste and others ceasing their collections from next year or increasing their charges. Results from the Council’s first phase of budget consultation, undertaken online in September, showed 60% of participants were willing to see an increase in the garden waste permit charge, with 43% of them agreeing a moderate to significant increase was acceptable.

Leader of Moray Council, Cllr Kathleen Robertson, said of the increase: “We’ve been saying for some time now that next year we’re facing the toughest budget setting challenge we’ve seen for many years. While I was pleased we were able to support reduction in the charge for garden waste permits this year to explore if there would be an increase in uptake, unfortunately there was no evidence of this. It’s simply not possible to continue to deliver the same level of service without an increase next year. In the same way that household costs have risen, so have our operating costs.

“I hope it’s a given that this decision, as with all our budget decisions this year, hasn’t been taken lightly. Our engagement with residents shows people are willing to see increases to their garden waste permit to avoid a reduction in service, so we’re taking that feedback on board.”

Garden waste permits will be available to buy from February 2024 with details on how to apply and pay in instalments released soon.

Next Years Budget:

Moray Council has begun setting out its vision for the 2024/25 budget. Using feedback from the first phase of engagement with residents in September this year, elected members have been meeting to flesh out the details of next year’s council budget. With the backdrop of £15m of reductions to find over the next two years, the local authority has announced the first of its decisions to increase charges, reduce services or change how services are delivered in Moray. Over 2,300 responses were received for the initial survey. Over 1,500 people completed the survey in full with 60% of participants willing to see increased charges to avoid service reduction. And 43% of them agreed a moderate to significant increase was acceptable. A further phase of engagement will take place from week beginning 30 October on other service specific proposals with details to follow.

Decisions made to date will save just over £2.7m and alongside an increase in cost of garden waste permits includes:

• • An uplift in charges to fully recover the cost for the burials service, saving £165,000 a year. As supported by 65% of survey respondents. 
• • Withdrawing from the school catering Food for Life scheme, saving £70,000 a year. Just under 55% of survey respondents supported a reduction in this service. 
• • Introducing dynamic pricing in schools to respond to market trends, keeping the cost of a meal within the free school meal allowance but saving £5,000 a year. Just over 60% of survey respondents supported this action. 
• • Reduction in street lighting maintenance due to the introduction of LED lights resulting in less faults being reported, will save £25,000 in the first year. Just under 40% of survey respondents supported some reduction in this service.

While none of these changes impact the workforce, a number of proposals have been discussed that could see a reduction of 24 posts, five of which are currently vacant.

A consultation is taking place with employees potentially impacted and will be reported back to full council in December to inform elected members ahead of any further decisions being made.

Please be advised that there is still an issue with Lagan emails as nothing has been received since 11:30 this morning from customers, ICT are aware and are investigating.

Please be advised that we are currently experiencing a delay in receiving emails, ICT have been made aware of the issue. We will provide an update in due course.

Following a recent news item shared to the DD news pages re-an update to the National Entitlement Card – Moray Council page which saw a new left-hand menu option called “School Meal Support” being added, I’ve also arranged with the help of ICT for a link to the “Free School Meals and Clothing Grants” page to be added as a new left-hand menu option for customers visiting the School Meal Support Link School Meals, Uniforms and Payments – Moray Council.

Hopefully this means that customers accessing the NEC pages for help with School meals will be able to find the correct contact details which should also benefit Customer Service staff.

Kindest regards

Donna / Customer Service Team Leader

Please see attached document for updates.

Annual Leave Calendar & Guidance sheets for 2024 are now available for all staff to view under “The Team”.

Leave guidance has been altered in a number of areas to reduce the need for these to be amended annually.

I appreciate that the dates on the leave guidance for 2024 requests have passed so staff are asked to collate in your groups and submit to the appropriate mailboxes as detailed on the leave guidance sheet. All approved 2024 leave requests should be added to leave charts by 1st December 2023.

Kindest regards
Andy Donegan / Customer Development Manager

We have made a change to the scripts at the page which asks 'Is there anything else I can help you with? Please ensure all Notes are complete'. When you get to this part of the script an interaction note box will automically open for you to complete your notes before finishing off the script. Please make sure you add your notes in.

Further to mandated system upgrades agreed in July, the Pay360 system shall be updating on Wednesday 18th October between 07:00 and 07:30.

This action will be transparent with no expected impact to service and shall be monitored closely after the upgrade. Please contact your Seniors in the first instance should there be any concerns.

Following a recent successful interview, Julia will be leaving her role as an Advisor at Elgin Reception to take up a new post at Elgin Library (Julia’s last working day at Reception will be 02/11/2023).

I appreciate that in these days of different working styles, not all Customer Service staff will have had the opportunity to meet Julia but on behalf of myself and the whole Customer Service family, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank you Julia for your efforts since joining us and to wish you well in your new post.

Kindest regards

Donna

Customer Service Team Leader

Please see the following Contact from Mr Frank Stitt Update.

Update 09:30: SharePoint is now back up and running, if anyone has any issues then please let us know.

Please be advised that there is an issue accessing SharePoint this morning, ICT have been made aware and are looking in to it. An update will be provided in due course, apologies for any inconveniences this may cause.