SALC has identified two sector-specialist firms of solicitors that can
support city, town, and parish councils with the devolution of assets & services from Somerset Council.
Somerset Council has engaged the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC) consultancy arm to advise it during the current phase of devolution to larger market towns, having focused on the greatest opportunity offered by Bridgwater, Frome, Taunton, and Yeovil for the current financial year. It is important that local councils obtain their own independent advice during these negotiations, so please do get in touch at info@somerset-alc.org.uk if you would value introductions to solicitors with experience of devolution in Somerset and other counties.
On a related matter, Somerset Council has written to city, town, and parish councils regarding reduced levels of service for highways maintenance and bin collections. To support precept setting, SALC has requested that Somerset Council provides further clarity to all councils about the statutory highways maintenance that will still be delivered, along with parish-level detail identifying the bins sited on Somerset Council land that will still be collected without additional charges.
The SALC office has now issued the membership invoice for the 2024/25 SALC/NALC affiliation fees.
We will be grateful if clerks will include the invoice on the council’s next agenda.
SALC charges its fee on a reducing amount based on pence per elector (based on data provided by Somerset Council).
For the first 2500 electors, SALC charges 0.2891 per person
For the next 2000 it charges 0.0687 per person
The remainder of the electorate is charged at 0.012 per person
NALC charges its fee at 0.0794 x the total electorate (capped at £2037).
If your council is not a member of SALC and would like to join us, please complete the form on the SALC website, here. If you would like to request our CEO, Ewan Jones, to visit your council, he will be pleased to receive invitations to ceo@somerset-alc.org.uk
Parish and town councils are stronger together, and through membership of SALC & NALC we can be assured of a confident sector voice heard throughout local and central government.
SALC is working with Somerset Council’s Stronger Communities team to organise a “Somerset Parish Conference” during November, in combination with this year’s SALC AGM.
This year’s conference will highlight the good work being done by local community networks across our county, and celebrate the best examples from SALC’s Community Health and Wellbeing programme. These examples of ‘joined up’ work with our local voluntary sector, health and social care partners, will offer inspiration for how city, town, and parish councils can help to improve the wider health and wellbeing of their communities during the 2025-26 financial year and beyond.
We be in touch very soon to confirm the date and venue.
NALC has made community safety one of its big campaign themes in 2024. As part of this NALC is developing a new community safety webpage that will include case studies setting out what local (city, parish, and town) councils can do and are currently doing to make their places feel safer.
NALC would be grateful if member councils will complete the short forms community safety case study document survey to help NALC collate and gather these short case studies. The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.
The deadline for completion of the case study survey is 23:45 on Friday 20 September 2024.
The Joint Panel on Accountability and Governance (JPAG) will soon begin updating the Practitioners’ Guide for 2025. The panel is keen to collect as much feedback from practitioners (clerks & RFOs) as possible. Please see the consultation, here
Over 1,000 parish and town councils have signed up to the Civility and Respect Pledge and many of them are in Somerset.
Porlock Parish Council has recently taken the pledge and Johnathan Jones, Porlock’s Clerk & RFO, tells us:
“Council life at times can be challenging and as individuals we do not always see eye to eye and that is all part of a healthy democracy. The Civility and Respect Pledge isn’t an overnight transformation, it’s a journey that we will go on together, we’re at the very beginning of this change.
It is widely recognised that cultural change is needed not only at a local level but across the sector and that signing up to the pledge is the right thing to do. It won’t be easy, but it is one the council recognises the value and importance of and is willing to embrace”.
The more councils that sign the pledge and add their details to the national map on the NALC website, the more weight the civility & respect project will have in lobbying the government to look again at local government ethical standards.
One of the key aims of the project has been to deliver affordable training support for councillors, clerks, and employees who experience difficulties with bullying and harassment, and to start to address some of the causes of poor behaviour.
The project is working with Nimble, an online e-learning platform, to host the first 4 bespoke e-learning modules created specifically as part of the civility and respect project. Each module can be watched in your own time.
Please see the SALC website Training Event page for bookings info:
This e-learning module has been developed by county associations in the South West region and is designed to support councillors and staff to understand the principles of conduct expected of all councillors.
This introductory e-learning module considers the opportunities and risks associated with social media from a civility and respect perspective & explores a range of proactive and pre-emptive strategies.
This introductory e-learning module will consider different leadership styles in the context of your role at the council, exploring which styles we personally ‘default’ to and which styles can work effectively for different situations.
This introductory e-learning module seeks to develop a better understanding of where our behaviour comes from and considers what resilience means for us in the context of our roles within the council.
Councillors from SALC/ NALC member councils who are interested in representing NALC on the Improvement and Development Board’s Civility & Respect Taskforce are asked to email a short expression of interest to Hazel.Broatch@nalc.gov.uk explaining why they would want to be involved and what they feel they would bring to the taskforce.
The purpose of the taskforce is to advance civility & respect and reduce standards issues within the sector.
The new duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, which is set out in the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, is due to come into force on 26 October.
The Act places on employers a positive legal duty to prevent sexual harassment of their workers. They must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of workers in the course of their employment (the ‘preventative duty’) (s.40A(1)). There is no detail in the legislation as to what will amount to reasonable steps, but the Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has recently consulted on its updated guidance on how employers should comply with the new duty on them to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. You can read more about the preventative duty on the EHRC website, here.
The guidance makes clear that whether or not an employer has taken reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment is an objective test and will depend on the facts and circumstances of each situation.
If a claimant is successful in an action for sexual harassment and is awarded compensation, an employment tribunal must consider whether the employer has complied with the preventative duty. If it considers the preventative duty has been breached, an employment tribunal can increase compensation by up to 25%.
If your SALC member council would like guidance on steps to prepare further the new duty, contact info@somerset-alc.org.uk and we will be pleased to assist.
Growing responsibilities in our member councils is creating demand for a wider range of training for councillors and council officers.
For example, many are aware that the Public Sector Equality Duty applies to city, town, and parish councils when carrying out public functions, but how deep does consideration of the needs of those with protected characteristics such as physical disabilities and neurodiversity really run? How does it affect decision-making, or the ways that council and committee meetings are conducted?
Somerset Council has long provided training in the consideration of equalities to its members and officers, and SALC will now be making this available to clerks and councillors. We will similarly be offering safeguarding training to council officers who engage with members of the public.
Growing responsibilities also drives an increased need to better understand the real priorities of our communities. SALC is working with the Community Council for Somerset to make its expertise in developing community plans available to councils that wish to focus their efforts on the things that matter most to their residents. We will also be developing new training to help officers and councillors manager their projects more effectively.
Please do get in touch at info@somerset-alc.org.uk if your council has a training need that has not previously been met. We are sure that we can help to find a way to connect you to expert sector-specific training.
Delegates are invited to join this year’s Somerset Armed Forces Covenant Partnership Conference on Wednesday 23rd October, at The Canalside Centre, Marsh Lane, Bridgwater TA6 6LQ.
The event is jointly organised by Somerset Council and NHS Somerset, and will attract delegates and representatives from across the public, private and voluntary sectors. Organisations and individuals with an interest and stake in the welfare and support of the armed forces community are invited to attend the day which will run from 10.00am (arrival from 9.15 for marketplace) until 4pm.
The conference will:
To secure your place please complete this booking form by Monday 30th September
Following on from the enormous success of D-Day 80 on 6th June 2024, which commemorated the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy 80 years ago, the Pageant Master, Bruno Peak, is focusing his efforts on celebrating the 80th Anniversary of VE Day, on 8th May 2025.
Please read the letter, here, for details about the current Guide To Taking Part, which is also available to download from the VE Day 80 website
We have reported in previous newsletter items the reasons why local councils are encouraged to move their online presence to a .gov.uk domain.
We know that not everyone finds explaining the ‘what and why’ of .gov.uk domains so easy, so the Helper Service has created a short presentation with voice-over to introduce the subject. Running at about 4 minutes, it includes:
The link to the video is here: About .gov.uk Domains. Please do share with your members. It can be included as a link in an agenda or played at a meeting to introduce the topic of .gov.uk domains – we hope councils find it a valuable tool.
The Cabinet Office has secured funding in this financial year only for 1000 councils to receive a discount of £100 +VAT to offset the initial costs of a .gov.uk domain. If your council intends to move to the .gov.uk domain, then hurry because it’s expected that all funding will be allocated by February 2025.
SALC has approached the Parish Council Domains Helper Service team to offer basic presentations to our member councillors and clerks. Keep a look out on the SALC website Training Events page for details.
Don’t forget that SALC has secured a deal with Parish Online to bring SALC member councils a 30% discount on new .gov.uk websites.
SALC is pleased to support the National Association of Local Councils as it announces the launch of its new website on 7th October.
This upgraded platform promises a faster, more intuitive experience across all devices, offering improved user interactions, modern design, enhanced content, better search functionality, and mobile-friendly access.
From the 7th October launch date, SALC/ NALC member councils, including councillors, clerks, and council staff, will be able to create accounts to gain exclusive access to resources and support tools.
We recently announced that the Somerset Association of Local Councils Ltd (SALC) is seeking expressions of interest from councillors serving on councils in membership of the association. We have received some enquiries, but there is still time for more councillors to express an interest.
If you are keen to help shape SALC’s service and forge partnerships across Somerset, we are keen to hear from you.
Six director vacancies will be up for election at the next AGM, as follows:
Area | Term of directorship |
North (Sedgemoor) | 1 year term |
North (Sedgemoor) | 3-year term |
South (South Somerset) | 2-year term |
South (South Somerset) | 3-year term |
East (Mendip) | 3-year term |
West (Somerset West & Taunton) | 3-year term |
Elections to the board of directors will take place at the annual general meeting, which is anticipated to be hosted alongside the Somerset parish conference in November this year.
A briefing session will take place ahead of the AGM, where you can find out more about what it means to become a SALC company director, including the role description and time commitments.
To place an expression of interest and receive updates about the briefing session, please email the company secretary at sam@somerset-alc.org.uk
The Mobile Boost scheme that provides equipment to residents and businesses to help them benefit from a better mobile phone signal has relaunched with a £430,000 investment through the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership’s (HotSWLEP) Growth Deal.
The scheme offers vouchers of up to £1,300 towards technology to help improve indoor mobile coverage and connectivity. The scheme is available to businesses and homes in Somerset, Devon, Torbay, and Plymouth.
The following link provides more detail and includes a video featuring a Blackdown Hills resident describing the benefits of the scheme: Mobile Boost scheme re-opens – Connecting Devon and Somerset
Do your residents know where to find consumer advice if they have a problem with a product or service? Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service has suggested that city, parish, and town councils include a link on their website to Citizens Advice where residents can report issues and get advice, as well as a link to their own online consumer guides.
If you would like to include these links on your website, Trading Standards have suggested the following text – or you can write your own.
Do you need consumer advice?
Citizens Advice can provide free, confidential and independent advice to help you with a problem you may be having with a trader or business. Visit Citizens Advice online https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ or call their consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133.
For immediate, comprehensive advice on a range of consumer issues, visit the Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service website
Company No. 11942896 registered in England and Wales
