How can SALC better serve your council?
SALC invites parish, town, and city councils, and parish meetings across Somerset to take part in a county-wide survey to help develop a wider picture of what first-tier local councils are experiencing and delivering now that we have settled into unitarisation.
Your insights will help SALC understand:
- The challenges parish, town & city councils are experiencing
- The opportunities emerging for parish, town & city councils in Somerset’s two-tier landscape
- How SALC can best represent and support parish, town & city councils in Somerset moving forward
The survey covers:
- Council make-up: number of councillors, vacancies, staff, GPC, training, and committees.
- Assets: physical as well as services the council might offer.
- Plans: e.g. community, neighbourhood, strategic.
- Collaboration: partnerships with neighbouring parishes and external organisations.
- Funding beyond the precept.
- Projects run by the council.
Whether or not the council is currently a SALC member, we want to hear from you.
The survey should take no longer than 20-30 minutes and please only submit one response per council.
The deadline for submitting a response is 30 April 2026.
SALC Parish, Town & City Council Survey – Fill out form
NALC Star Council Awards winners
In our last newsletter, we shared the good news that the Somerset Association of Local Councils was a NALC Star Council Awards 2025/6 finalist in the category, County Association of the Year.
The winner of the 2025/26 Star Councils Awards were announced at a Parliamentary Reception hosted by Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle. This prestigious event took place in February 2026 at the House of Lords.
Congratulations got to Gloucester ALC, who pipped us to the post by winning this 2025/26 award. You can read about all the winners on the NALC website, here.
SALC is delighted to have been recognised by our peers as a finalist. These 2025/26 Star Councils Awards were genuinely a celebration of excellent work across the city, town, and parish council sector, where every finalist seemed to be a deserving winner.
We are committed to continuing to improve our services to members. Please help us to better understand what you want from SALC’s services by completing the annual SALC parish, town, and city council survey.
NALC County Association of the Year finalists, left to right: Laura Sampson and Sally Longmate, Suffolk-ALC, Melinda Woof, Buckinghamshire-ALC, Loretta Whetlor, Somerser-ALC, Sally Harman, Surrey-ALC, and Chris Haines, Gloucestershire–APTC (2025/26 Winner)
SALC members benefit from NALC membership
We will shortly start issuing the 2026/27 affiliation fee invoices for SALC & NALC membership.
When you join SALC, you also join the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), with access to its own website. Together, we provide an extensive support service to member councils including an ever increasing range of online resources, from guidance notes and template documents, the council’s core governance documents, and The Good Councillor’s Guides.
We provide heavily discounted or free training, including training for the CiLCA qualification. Members benefit from bespoke one-to-one support via the SALC enquiry service (info@somerset-alc.org.uk), council HR support, and access to legal advice from sector solicitors, as well as advice from a range of sector expert partners including the Parkinson Partnership and Breakthrough Communications.
SALC takes an active role alongside NALC in identifying and lobbying on the concerns of parishes, which include a stronger sanctions regime, increased audit thresholds, exemptions from referendum principles, and the eagerly anticipated authority to hold hybrid council meetings. SALC’s Chief Executive, Ewan, represents the County Officers Forum on NALC’s Policy Committee, while SALC Chair, Loretta Whetlor, holds places on both its Scrutiny Committee and Smaller Councils Committee.
Additionally, SALC works closely with Somerset Council to improve overall engagement and partnership working with Somerset’s city, town, and parish councils, and other local partners. Currently, we are actively engaging in Somerset Council’s Community Working Review, and through its Standards Committee, we are developing an extended support package to local councils – read the report here.
Data protection – free resources
The AGAR is set to include a new requirement to confirm councils have appropriate data protection measures in place. While the new Assertion 10 does not introduce new legal duties, it requires that councils demonstrate strong, well-documented data protection practices.
NALC’s data protection roadmap supports councils by providing a structured journey from mapping the data held to identifying lawful bases, assessing risks, and building everyday compliance into operations.
In addition, the ICO provides a number of free videos (which it uses for its own staff) that set out the key principles of data protection. These videos can be shared with councillors and officers to watch. Although the videos refer to “your business” the principles are the same:
Training videos | ICOIt’s important to evidence compliance with data protection requirements and the council must ensure everyone is aware of their responsibilities under the council’s data protection policy. To evidence this, we recommend that clerks keep a record of all training attended by officers and councillors.
NALC’s IT policy template refers to the importance of cyber security training. The council can make use of free training provided by the National Cyber Security Centre:
Cyber Security for small organisations – Overview;
Top tips for staff – Overview. The training is not council specific, but the requirements are the same. Additionally, the Parish Council Domain Helper Service offers parish and town councils
free online workshops to strengthen their cyber resilience.
Digitisation of the AGAR (2026/27)
Smaller Authorities Audit Appointments (SAAA), the body responsible for appointing external auditors for all smaller authorities, including parish councils and parish meetings, is delivering a project to digitise completion and submission of the Annual Governance & Accountability Return (AGAR).
The web-based portal is being developed by Connect for a live trial in May/June 2026 for submission of 2025/26 financial year AGARs. Councils have been contacted directly to participate in the trial.
The system should be available to all councils in 2027 for submission of the 2026/27 AGAR.
The new digital AGAR will be free and accessible to all councils, with no need for special software and no extra charges beyond standard audit fees.
Awareness training and support will be provided in the second half of 2026 to all councils, with reminder training prior to the end of the financial year in January, February, and March 2027.
Make Work Pay, changes to employment rights, and NLW
The Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025), introduced under the Government’s Make Work Pay plan, is making changes in the field of employment that council employers should be aware of. In addition to the ERA 2025 there are bills, amendments to codes of practice, and consultations.
SALC members can find a timeline of the most relevant imminent changes on the Resources & Guidance page in the website knowledge hub.
From 1 April 2026, councils must ensure
all staff aged 21+ are paid at least £12.71 per hour, in line with the National Living Wage. Any council paying staff less than the NLW, which will be the case for those paid the current SCP2 rate of £12.65, should take action to avoid any period of non-compliance
(the NJC agreement for SCP2 is for staff other than the clerk).The National Joint Council (NJC) employers are considering the trade unions’ 2026/27 pay claim, but no settlement is expected before the end of March and it tends to be the case that agreement is reached later in the year and backdated to April. For guidance, email
info@somerset-alc.org.uk
The Future of Local Democracy
“Town and parish councils are essential place-based, locally-driven institutions that can reflect and voice diverse community cultures that are crucial for supporting local action”.The Local Policy Innovation Partnership (LPIP) report,
The Future of Local Democracy – Devolution and the Need to Empower Town and Parish Councils explores the roles and capacities of this smallest scale of government as it seeks to deliver meaningful democratic action at the ‘hyper-local’ level and recognises that raising the profile of the sector might attract even more diverse and skilled councillors and staff to deliver the growing needs of the community.
The report is interesting reading for parish councils of all sizes, especially as we all move further into the effects of local government reorganisation and devolution.
Flooding and Planning
The impact of planning applications on flood risk is a perennial topic for of concern for parishes, particularly this year as Somerset has experienced a wet winter in the first months of 2026, when some places in the south west received rain every day for the first fifty days.
SALC’s 6th February Market Town Clerks’ Forum raised the idea that Somerset Council and Somerset Rivers Authority Officers convene to improve our collective capabilities –
if we cannot do this in Somerset, where could it done? On 28th April, there will be a timely
“Flooding and Planning” webinar, hosted by
Flooded People UK – if representatives of your council would like join this, please contact Bel Deering, Somerset Rivers Authority Community Engagement Officer, on
Bel.deering@somerset.gov.uk Somerset Rivers Authority has also recently published its spring timetable of catchment Flood Network meetings:
- River Tone Catchment on the evening of Tuesday 24 March in Taunton
- River Brue & Axe Catchment on the evening of Thursday 9 April in Bayley, Wedmore
- River Parrett Catchment on the evening of Tuesday 14 April in Langport Town Hall
Royal Garden party 2026
Somerset is pleased to allocate invitations to two councillors and their guests to this year’s King’s Garden Party on Tuesday 12 May:
Councillor Steven Parker has helped Otterhampton Parish Council to develop and deliver its “Growing Together” project, bringing together creativity, arts, crafts, and gardening, culminating in a sustainable annual Flower, Arts and Crafts Festival. Steven writes: “The Parish Council will be delighted and honoured to have its work recognised in this way.”
Councillor Mark Lithgow has been one of the leads behind Wellington Town Council’s Kings Arms Community Hub, which opened its doors at the end of September. Mark writes: “I was only a small cog in the project at the beginning. It was mainly the hard work by our excellent town council officers that brought the project to fruition. I am honoured to accept this to represent our Town Council.”
Our sincere congratulations to these special guests and their councils.
New CiLCA support course starts 27th May
The qualification, managed by the Society of Local Council Clerks, was recently re-launched with registrations on the new Brightspace platform open from February 2026.
Training for the CiLCA qualification is now a mandatory requirement for registration, and in Somerset training is delivered by SALC’s Sam Winter, who is an SLCC recognised trainer.
A new in-person CiLCA course is planned to start on 27th May 2026.
You can read more about the qualification and the course on the SALC website, here.
Once you have read the information on the website, if you have any questions or want to talk through anything with Sam, email sam@somerset-alc.org.uk to set up a conversation.
If you are a clerk or council officer who is keen to become qualified, please complete the Training Needs Analysis form from the website and email it to sam@somerset-alc.org.uk for review prior to any booking.
The CiLCA qualification is a highly respected and valued level 3 qualification for clerks that’s frequently sought after by active and aspirational councils when recruiting. Being CiLCA qualified not only evidences a clerk’s competence but can assist the council in gaining the General Power of Competence.
Bookings software for councils – FREE event
On Thursday 16th of April at 11am SALC will host a FREE webinar by LemonBooking.
The LemonBooking software is used by a growing number of councils across the UK to manage bookings and take payment for halls, meeting rooms, sports facilities, parks and other open spaces.
The event will provide a demonstration of the software’s functionality, showing you how your council could benefit from its use. There will also be time for question & answers
SALC member councils are also being offered 10% off the software with a SALC code – available from info@somerset-alc.org.uk
The event is open to councillors as well as officers. If no representative from your council can attend, members will be able to watch a recording via the SALC website.
Ahead of the event, please register to attend via this link.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
