Events & Training
We offer a range of support to equip Members and Officers with the knowledge and skills they need to meet the needs of their communities.
Training and Event schedule, click here...
Forthcoming events are:
- Oct 24, Giving Appraisals
- Oct 29, Pension Administration
- Oct 30, Facilitation Skills
- Nov 8, Understanding Disciplinary and Grievance Investigations
- Nov 14, Coaching Master Classes Day
- Nov 15, SW Coaching and Mentoring Pool: Group Supervision
- Nov 20, Pension Managers' Conference
- Dec 4, Managing Capability: Health and Performance Issues
- Dec 11, Mediation for Line Managers
- Dec 20, SW Coaching and Mentoring Pool: Group Supervision
- Jan 22, Coaching Supervision
- May 16, Annual Office Managers/PAs, EAs and Administrators Conference 2019
- Jun 25, South West Coaching and Mentoring Conference 2019
- Oct 3, South West Challenge 2019
Coaching Pool
With coaching programmes featuring strongly in organisational strategies and change programmes, we have qualified and experienced coaches, who can provide individual coaching packages but we have also established the South West Coaching Pool to help organisations build internal coaching capacity and to enable managers to access coaches from other partner organisations with a range of different experience and expertise.
For more information click here.
South West Councils: Working for the South West
South West Councils
Bringing together local authority Leaders from the County, Unitary and District councils in the South West
South West Councils News
Bringing together news and information from across local government in the region.
To read the latest newsletter click here...
Working for the South West
Click here for more information on our collaborative working for the South West.
Epaycheck: National Pay Benchmarking Service
Epaycheck is the national online pay benchmarking service developed for local government by local government. It enables participating councils to share and compare pay and reward data for all Chief Officer roles and a range of other job families of sector-wide interest.
Focused reports are produced periodically using data from Epaycheck. These reports are available at no additional cost to authorities subscribing to the service, the annual subscription fee for which is currently a modest £200.
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We hope that this report demonstrates the value, quantity and depth of the data available on Epaycheck. Users in subscribing organisations can also log in to Epaycheck to access all the information in ‘real time’, including new pre-set public reports providing full data on each job family at the touch of a button.
For further information on the Epaycheck system please click here. For any queries about the report or any aspect of Epaycheck, please contact your Regional Administrator, michele.evans@swcouncils.gov.uk.
Mediation
Mediation is a very positive and cost-effective way of resolving conflict in the workplace and is highly recommended by ACAS in the resolution of grievances and other workplace conflicts.
We can support you through:
- Undertaking independent mediation and conflict resolution for you delivered by our team of trained and experienced mediators. This can be officer to officer mediation, officer to Councillor or Councillor to Councillor.
- Helping develop your policies and approach to mediation
- Delivering training to your managers to encourage them to adopt a mediation approach in the workplace
- Training internal mediators
What is Mediation?
Mediation is an optional informal process offered to staff in dispute to help them reach an agreement on positive actions that will help to improve working relationships. It can also be used to support a positive return to work at the end of long formal procedures where staff may still be required to work together following a difficult disciplinary or grievance hearing for example. Mediation helps individuals to move on from the ‘process and outcome’ of past difficulties and establish a ‘new start’ in terms of their future working relationships.
Mediation is a voluntary and confidential process and individuals must participate willingly, as it requires them to face the other party with whom they are in dispute.
Mediation is not a mechanism to address capability issues and should not be used to avoid managerial responsibilities.
Undertaking Mediation
Our experienced team of trained mediators can provide mediation services for you, please contact HR@SWCouncils.gov.uk or call 01823 270101.
Mediation Training
SW Councils can also deliver one day training for managers giving them a practical overview of the skills and techniques needed for dealing with workplace conflict and an understanding of how mediation can be used to prevent and resolve issues (details here).
We can also support you in training in-house mediators with a three-day ILM endorsed Mediation Course (details here).
More information about mediation can be found on our website including research and case studies looking at best practice, the value of mediation in resolving conflict between Councillors and officers, and issues arising from employee personal problems.
“Mediation is an important tool that enables us to resolve natural dissonance without losing focus and momentum or descending into less healthy conflict” Penny James, Chief Executive, Taunton Deane Borough and West Somerset Councils