SUMMER HOLIDAY – MANAGEMENT COVER ARRANGEMENTS

With the summer holidays coming up fast it is important that we keep everyone in the loop regarding holiday cover.

This is just a reminder to make sure that the appropriate management cover arrangements are in place and employees are notified of any changes to ensure they feel appropriately supported and know who to turn to should a situation arise.

DISCLOSURE SCOTLAND UPDATE

As you will be aware Disclosure Scotland made changes to its services on 1 April 2025, this was to implement the changes arising from the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020.

To support you with managing these changes we have created a Disclosure Scotland Information Hub on the interchange. This can be found under the Policies, Procedures and Guidance section. The information Hub provides helpful information and will support you in complying with the legal requirements. You will find information on roles and responsibilities, the new levels and PVG membership requirements, training resources, guidance documents and useful links.

If however, you do have any questions that can’t be answered via the Hub, then please contact HR@moray.gov.uk who will be happy to assist you.

EMPLOYEE SELF-SERVICE CHANGE TO LOGGING IN

There has been an update to the security process for logging onto the HR/Payroll iTrent system including Employee Self Service which was implemented in March. This is to provide greater protection for employees’ personal details against malicious cyber-attacks. As well as the current username and password employees will be required to set up a second memorable password which they will be required to enter 3 characters from when logging in.

An email has been sent to all users advising of the change along with instructions on how to set up the memorable password, once the password is set up employees will be provided with a recovery code which they should save as this be required if they forget their log-in details to re-set their passwords. If employees forget either of their passwords and do not have their recovery code payroll will still be able to re-set their password but they will need to set up a new memorable password as well.

If employees are struggling, they should either call payroll on 01343 563100 or email payroll@moray.gov.uk ensuring they include their payroll and National Insurance number in the email for security purposes.

SICKNESS – EMPLOYEE MEDICAL CERTIFICATES

If an employee is off sick for more than 7 calendar days, they are required to provide a medical certificate (Statement of fitness for Work) from their Doctor.

Most doctor surgeries now provide these electronically by email, if the employee receives the certificate by email they should forward the email to both manager and payroll (payroll@moray.gov.uk) at the same time adding in their payroll number to the email. This means there is no need for the manager or Administrator to have to send it on and the employee’s record is updated quickly.

If the doctor provided a paper certificate, this can be scanned or photographed by the employee and emailed to both manager and payroll as above. However, the scanned or photographed copy must be of the whole A4 certificate and not just part of it and it must be clear and not blurred. Alternatively, the employee can send in the paper certificate.

HR ADMIN DOCUMENTATION – NOTIFICATION OF APPOINTMENT FORMS

Employees should be sent their contract of employment on or before Day One of employment/change in contract. In order to meet this legal requirement HR require the Notification of Appointment form to be completed and authorised on the EE Portal in advance of the employee commencing work in the position or changing their contract. Currently many forms are not being received until after this date. Please look at your processes when employing staff/making contractual changes to ensure the Notification of Appointment form is completed, authorised and submitted in advance.

Submission of forms will be monitored going forward and services with persistently late documentation will be required to improve their own processes.

NOTIFICATION OF APPOINTMENT FORMS – FULL LEGAL NAME

For HMRC purposes the payroll system must contain an employee’s full legal name. Please ensure when completing Notification of Appointment forms an employee’s full legal name (including middle names) is provided.

TALENTLINK HOUSEKEEPING

To ensure that applications automatically archive in line with the ‘Privacy and Cookies’ statements on myjobscotland website and with GDPR regulations, you must close jobs down at the end of the recruitment process.

An audit will be taking place shortly so please can you ensure that you undertake this before August 2025.

You can find guidance on Talentlink processes HERE including how to close jobs, resetting your password, how to set up interviews, etc.

TALENTLINK – NEW DEVELOPMENT

Work is happening behind the scenes to improve the posting and management of vacancies on Talentlink – look out for news here and on Interchange soon!

EQUALITY DATA

The Council collects data on ethnicity, race, religion, marital status, disability, sex, sexuality and gender reassignment status - these are all protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 and the data is collected during the recruitment process.

This information is utilised to make sure that its recruitment processes and employment practices are fair, nobody is put at a disadvantage because of any protected characteristic, and that the Council considers how its employees can do their jobs effectively.

One of the challenges for the Council is that a large number of employees do not fill in the equality data. Although people don’t have to share information about their protected characteristics, it does help the Council to deal with inequality more effectively.

We would like to encourage all employees to ensure their data is up to date, and you can do this via the Employee Self-Serve Portal. You can also update your bank details, address, phone number and view your payslips here. All information given is held confidentially.

Information on how to launch the ESS portal is available on Interchange including how to access the portal and find your way round it.

To read more about Equality Data please visit Interchange HERE

POLICY UPDATE

Discover Our Updated Employment Policies on the Interchange

Policies and Key Highlights:

• Fire Safety Policy
  Has been reviewed to enhance the use, application and effectiveness in outlying responsibilities with regards to Fire Safety. The review included and now encompasses the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s change in approach to dealing with automatic fire alarm signals, with the policy updated to take this into account and ensure compliance. In addition, the role of the site responsible person/ premises duty holder requirement has been updated to accommodate the change in approach. Improvements in monitoring arrangements are also included via the introduction of an Annual Fire Safety Check for all sites.
• Politically Restricted Posts Policy
  This policy has been reviewed and offers information and guidance on which posts have restrictions in relation to their political activities and ensure compliance with the associated legislation and LGPREAS Guidance for Local Authorities. The policy review has improved the language used to ensure it can be easily read and understood, provided further clarification on arrangements for those standing for election and clarified responsibilities and arrangements for maintaining the Politically Restricted Members register.
• Maternity Leave Policy, Maternity Leave (Teaching) Policy, Paternity, Maternity & Adoption Support Leave Policy, and Adoption, Surrogacy and Kinship Care Policy.
  These policies have been updated to accommodate the day one right to 12 weeks leave and any pay, if eligible, if a child is receiving neo natal care.
  Visit the Interchange under ‘Policies, Procedures & Guidance’ to view the updated policies.

MENOPAUSE EVENTS IN 2025

Menopause events for council employees are being planned for 2025. If you would like to attend a café style event, chat with your peers on all thing’s menopause, or have any ideas for other events and would like to help organise them please contact karen.baker@moray.gov.uk.

STAR AWARDS ARE COMING

It will soon be time to open the nomination window for the 2025 STAR Awards.

STAR (Special Thanks and Recognition) Awards formally recognise the outstanding contributions of our colleagues. The Star awards and nomination process will follow the same format as previous years; submitting your nomination must be made using the correct nomination form. We will be accepting nominations from 11th August 2025.

Nomination forms and guidance will be available on the interchange soon or alternatively from OD.

So, get your thinking caps on now and let us know who you would like to be recognised!

STAR Awards 2025 schedule

CORPORATE TRAINING 2025

We are halfway through this year’s corporate training programme already!

After a short break over the summer, we will back with courses such as

• Recruitment Skills
• Discipline: Policy, Practice, and Procedure
• Health and Work
• Project Management with NEREO
• First Line Managers Programme

And many more - you can view the full programme here

If you would like a space on these workshops, login to you CLIVE account and book your spot today. Once you have committed to your slot, it is easy to unbook if you can’t make it but last-minute call offs will be monitored and reported to HoS.

If you have any questions, please contact organisational.development@moray.gov.uk

LIVE on CLIVE

You may have noticed that there has been a lot happening on CLIVE. Hopefully you’ve all had a chance to login and have a look at the new layout. Feedback has been positive, and we ask that you encourage all your team to familiarise themselves with the new dashboard.

There will be some further minor changes happening within CLIVE however these updates will be happening in the background and won’t affect your access to the system.

We have just uploaded some new courses on Psychological First Aid and Trauma Informed Practice, these can all be found at the following:

If you have any questions about CLIVE please check out our page on the Interchange by clicking here, or drop us an email to organisational.development@moray.gov.uk.

PRE-RETIREMENT COURSES

Are your retirement savings on track? Do you know how much income your pension savings may provide? And have you thought about how much income you might need when you retire?

Financial education specialists ‘Affinity Connect’ would like to personally invite you to attend an interactive full day course around the key aspects of planning for a financially secure future.

etirement might be up to 10 years away but it’s never too soon to start planning. This course is perfect for anyone thinking about retirement or already at the planning stages.

During the course you’ll learn how to:

• Help you plan for the lifestyle changes ahead
• Maximise the benefits of your State and workplace pensions
• Make the most of your tax-free cash
• Understand the income options available from your pension
• Achieve your retirement goals

Affinity is also offering an updated course- ‘Taking Control of Your Finances” on the following date:

The enhanced course continues to cover the core learning outcomes you’ve come to expect, including:

• Understanding personal taxation and take-home pay
• Budgeting and reviewing financial outgoings
• Managing borrowing, improving credit scores, and reducing debt
• Creating savings strategies and understanding investment risks
• Gaining clarity on pensions and planning for retirement

Booking links for the above courses:

Planning for Retirement (Online) - https://affinityconnect.event-registration.co.uk/events/moray-council/retirement/2-hour-30-minute-course-online

Planning for Retirement (Face-to-Face) - https://affinityconnect.event-registration.co.uk/events/moray-council/retirement/1-day-course

Your Financial Wellbeing - https://affinityconnect.event-registration.co.uk/events/moray-council/your-financial-wellbeing/1-hour-30-minute-course-online

You can also find more information on how to join a course here - Planning for the Future

FREE TRAINING RESOURCES

To help with the delivery of the corporate development programme, Organisational Development have sourced FREE learning resources.

These resources range from short learning bytes CLIVE to fully funded courses (delivered by The Skills Network) and will cover a wide range of topics looking at leadership, IT skills, and personal development.

These resources are designed to be accessed at any time, a time that suits you best, and all you need is an internet connection to complete them. These will range from 30 minutes to several weeks to complete. It all depends on what course you sign up to.

This month we have course covering the following:

• Microsoft how to guides,
• Leadership,
• LEAN management techniques, and
• Productivity.

These, along with other courses, can be found at the following page. We will be updating these regularly, so keep an eye out for new courses.

Also, if you know of anything that would of interest to staff, please drop Organisational Development an email with your suggestions.

CAREER READY – #PowerOfAnHour

Career Ready, a programme designed to connect disadvantaged young people with the world of work, unlock their potential and level the playing field, is looking for volunteers.

Moray Council have been supporting this programme since 2014 by creating opportunities for interested staff to volunteer as a mentor.

Becoming a Career Ready mentor is a fun, flexible way to inspire a young person, unlock their true potential, and guide them through the early stages of their career journey. There is no denying that being a mentor is a commitment. It requires monthly contact (about an hour a month) with the young person over the 18 months and the support of a 4-week summer internship.

Although an hour might not seem long, a one-hour mentoring session is proven to have a long-term positive impact on both a young person and their mentor.

• 91% of students say Career Ready raised their career aspirations.
• 87% of alumni said Career Ready had a positive impact on their life.
• 89% of mentors report their mentoring and coaching skills as excellent or good at the end of the programme, compared to 40% at the start.
• 98% of Career Ready students’ progress onto positive destinations in education or employment.

We ask that anyone interested in becoming a mentor, contact us so that we can begin to fulfil our commitment to the next programme which is due to start in October.

For further information please contact: organisational.development@moray.gov.uk

TIME FOR TALKING

Time for Talking (the Councils Employee Assistance Provider) are open 365 days a year for any support that may be required. They offer counselling, psychological, mediation and legal support, through a 24-hour helpline, a digital app, online resources and self-help programmes.

You can contact them via their website www.timefortalking.co.uk, by phone on 0800 970 3980, by app (downloaded from the app store or google play) or chat online to a counsellor through their Live Chat using the password TfTnow

All chats are totally confidential; people don’t need to give their name or email address unless they want to.

More information can be found at Time for Talking