Robs Weekly Round-Up

04 November 2022

Dear colleagues,

I hope this week’s message finds you well, and that those of you who may be reading it on Monday morning enjoyed your time off over the half term break.

I am pleased to be able to share that on Tuesday of this week the local government trade unions accepted the national pay offer for 2022/23. The pay offer will see all colleagues receive an extra £1,925 this year. This equates to a 10.5% increase for colleagues at the start of our pay scale and averages out for all colleagues at around a 7% increase. The increase will be backdated to April 2022 and colleagues should see the increase in their November salary payments. This year's award includes a 4% increase to allowances that will also be backdated. The national pay offer also included an increase to annual leave.  We are reviewing how this affects the Council’s annual leave scheme, which may not be applicable to all staff as it is based on a minimum leave requirement which some staff already receive.

I am very proud of the positive and constructive relationship this organisation has with the unions that represent our staff and know we all share the goal of getting the best possible deal for colleagues. I am also proud that while this deal will see many councils removing their lowest paid grade from April next year, we took this step back in 2019, together with increasing the salaries to the equivalent of the Real Living Wage back in July 2022.

Cost OF Lliving Hub iconThat said, I know that the increase will not fully cover the increased cost of living for many colleagues. As an employer the Council continues to do all it can to support colleagues. As part of this support a special Learning Café webinar ‘Managing the Cost of Living Increase’ will take place on Tuesday.

Delivered by Better With Money, the hour long online session will look at how to manage the increase in the cost of living and how to reduce money stress. The event takes place at 12pm via Microsoft Teams. Attending the session is considered part of your working day and you do not need to take leave or make up any time. You can sign up via iDev and a recording will also be available to view afterwards.

The impact of the increased cost of living is central to all of our future planning, especially the development of our Annual Delivery Plan and Budget for 2023/24. The Council’s Annual Self-Assessment Report was approved by Cabinet and considered by Audit and Governance Committee in October and will now go to Full Council next week. The Self-Assessment reflects our positive progress over the last eighteen months despite significant challenges and is now shaping discussion on next year’s Annual Delivery Plan.

As I mentioned last week our focus is, quite rightly on protecting our most vulnerable citizens during the cost-of-living crisis, maintaining momentum in tackling climate change, and on ensuring we remain a resilient organisation given the significant pressure on our services and budgets. It was in this context that SLT met last week to begin the process of forensically reviewing the pressures on our budgets and identifying a strategy to respond to what will be a significant period of challenge in the coming months.

We will reconvene on Tuesday for a full day session on budgets and I will keep you all informed as our approach to 2023/24 develops. Directorate management teams are also meeting to identify ways to reduce cost pressures and identify potential areas for savings and I’d like to say thank you in advance to all of you who I know will be contributing to these discussions.

We have an excellent track record of prudent financial management in the Vale and this is in large part down to our collaborative and collective approach. There can be no certainty on exactly what the challenge for next year will be until we hear from Westminster and Cardiff Bay later this month on the settlement figures for next year. However, the work being done now means that we will be in the strongest possible position to respond, and do so quickly, when that detail becomes clear.

Value in the ValeCollaboration with partners and community groups will be at the heart of whatever we do. Value in the Vale, the revamped volunteering scheme which launched last month is a great example of this. Formerly the Vale Time-Banking scheme, Value in the Vale provides residents with opportunities to volunteer for local organisations and rewards them for their time. A new website was launched earlier this month which provides details of volunteering opportunities, allows organisations to recruit volunteers and gives people who’ve spent time volunteering the option to exchange rewards. It is a great resource. You can find out more and hear from two of our dedicated Housing Services colleagues who made it all possible in a piece currently live on StaffNet+.

National Safeguarding Week BillingualLooking ahead, the week after next is National Safeguarding Week and registration is now open for a host of sessions being run across the week. The theme for this year is ‘The Fundamentals of Safeguarding Practice – Back-to-Basics’. Coordinated by Regional Safeguarding Boards throughout Wales, the week aims to raise awareness among the community and professionals and reinforce existing messages around safeguarding children and adults at risk. A number of our colleagues have been involved in planning for the week and some will be leading or contributing events. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and so I would urge you to take a look at the programme and register for anything that is of interest. 

Monthly News Round Up October 2022Finally, I always try to keep colleagues up to date on the Council’s good work but it is sometimes simply not possible to fit it all into my weekly round-ups. You can now catch-up on anything you might have missed in our monthly video round-ups. Shared with residents via our social media channels the news round-ups cover all of our external news items. This month’s compilation covers the Llantwit Food Hub Launch, our latest Council housing development opening to tenants, and the Cliff Hill Shelter refurbishment work which is now underway. Do check it out and thanks to all of you for making good news pieces like these possible.  Don’t forget, if you have positive news or good practice to share, please share it with me and your colleagues.  It is always great to hear about the positive work that happens across the organisation and even better when we communicate it, and importantly learn from it.

Thanks as always for your efforts this week. Diolch yn fawr i chi gyd.. 

Rob.