HR and Employment Services
South West Councils has extensive experience of providing employment support.
Our team of professionally qualified and experienced specialists offer high quality independent Employment Advice free to member organisations including:
- Terms and Conditions for local government staff and school staff including teachers
- Day to day problematic employee relations
We also provide consultancy (at discounted rates to member organisations) on:
- Recruitment and Workforce Development including suport via pyschometric testing and 360° appraisal
- Job Evaluation / Pay and Grading
- Disciplinary and Grievance Investigations
- Pre-Tribunal Conciliation
- Mediation and Conflict Resolution
- Conferences and Workshops
Our services are summarised in a leaflet which can be downloaded Leaflet.
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.
Epaycheck: National Pay Benchmarking Service
A secure pay benchmarking facility, developed for the public sector by the public sector. Launched to local authorities across the country in 2012, the service has already attracted more than half of our councils to register for this data sharing service.
Epaycheck is delivered through a nationwide network of Regional Employers' Organisations who provide the front end service in their localities and actively work with their users to collect, monitor and quality assure the data available to report against.
Senior Pay Executive Summary
The executive summary of a review of chief executive and chief officer roles, released on 4th September, is available on our website. The full report to assist in decision-making, benchmarking, policy development and workforce planning will be available to Epaycheck subscribers shortly.
For more information on Epaycheck .....
Disclosure Barring Online Service
This Service provides a secure online environment with our partners NEREO, to provide a speedy, economical and high quality DBS service based on absolute accuracy and efficiency that will enhance your safeguarding process.
Online DBS enables organisations with a legitimate requirement to ask individuals to apply for disclosures, to gain access top this information quickly and efficiently.
Online Disclosure and Barring System
South West Strategic Migration Partnership
About the issue
Migration is a vitally important issue in the South West of England. It is an attractive destination for migrant workers, who contribute their skills and labour to increasing economic prosperity, and is also home to a number of Asylum Seekers and Refugees, many of whom have left their own families and country behind to escape persecution.
Migration brings a number of benefits to the area but there are also a number of challenges - such as ensuring migrants are able to access local services, can receive appropriate information and are able to integrate into the community.
The South West Migration Partnership Board was formed by South West Councils to bring together key stakeholders and address the various challenges around migration that are faced in the South West. The Board plays an overarching role in developing a strategic approach to migration and in ensuring that elected members are able to take ownership of the issues. It reports to the wider membership of South West Councils on its activity.
Specific work is carried out by two sub groups known as the South West Forum for Migrant Workers and the South West Forum for Asylum Seekers & Refugees.
For more information on Migrant Worker issues click here.
For more information on Asylum Seekers and Refugees issues click here.
To view the South West Migration Partnership’s current business plan click here.
Membership and terms of reference
The Board includes Local Authority Members, the Home Office's Regional Director, and the Chairs of the Migrant Worker and Asylum Seeker and New Refugees Forums. The terms of reference and full membership list of the Board are here.
Links with National Organisations
The South West is represented on a number of national groups which consider migration related issues across the whole country. These include:
• the Home Office National Migration Group and Refugee Integration Group
• the LGA Asylum and Refugee Task Group
Funding
South West Councils receives an annual grant from the Home Office for the work of the migration partnership. The grant funds the achievement of key performance indicators agreed between the partnership and the Home Office and is implemented through the partnership’s Business Plan.
NPRF Network:
The NPRF Network Web-tool can be accessed here