In this issue:
What's new?
Pay award 2025/26 and 2026/27
For all non-teaching staff
The payroll team is working hard to process all payments following the pay rise agreement announced in July. The aim is to have both your new pay rate and backdated pay for 2025/26 in your September pay.
You can now view the Local Government Employees – Salary Scales (2025-2026) on My Council Works.
The two-year deal covering 2025/26 and 2026/27, as agreed with unions, includes a 4% pay rise this year, backdated to 1 April 2025, and a further 3.5% increase from 1 April 2026. This covers all Council employees except teachers whose settlement for 2025/26 and 2026/27 has still to be agreed.
Be a great colleague
A lot of what we all do needs in-put and support from colleagues in other services of the council. If your work plans involve action from other services, tell them in advance. It’s polite and will help ensure that together you can set deadlines that are realistic and deliver what you promise. So be a great colleague – connect for success and speak with the services whose in-put you need.
Tell us about you
Your age, marital status, ethnicity and disability are just some of the pieces of equality information that we as an organisation need to ensure we are a fair and inclusive workplace.
Please take a few minutes to login in to Itrent/HROnline and check that your equalities information has been completed. Simply click on ‘personal details’. If you need help you can find out how to update your details here: How to update your Personal Details in iTrent – My Council Works
We use equality data to create policies and practices such as our Flexible Working policy and guaranteed interview scheme. Equality data is also used to meet our legal duties to report on the profile of our workforce. We currently report on our gender pay gaps but soon we will also be reporting on any ethnicity and disability pay gaps.
Having up to date information helps us check that our policies are fair and working for you.
Thanks,
HROD Team
Coming up
Look out for Pension Awareness Week taking place from 15th September. The Council works with MyMoneyMatters who are experts at financial health and wellbeing, both now and planning for your pension. They’re running a series of webinars throughout the week, open to all Local Government Pension Scheme staff.
Find out how a few smart steps now can give you more freedom, flexibility, and peace of mind in the future. You can read more about the ‘knowledge gives you choice’ webinars here Pension Awareness Week 2025 | My Money Matters
We’ll also be sharing detail on MyCouncilWorks..
Congratulations
Martin Arnold’s epic Two Ball Rally adventure
Setting off for an adventure of a lifetime across Europe, in a cheap Astra complete with a roof mounted bubble machine and dressed as a One Direction fan, Martin Arnold, Contracts Officer, shares a snapshot of life on the road during the epic Two Ball Rally Beach Route.
We couldn’t fit all the adventures into Cascade but you can read the full version: Martain’s Two Ball Rally Adventure. Well done Martin and Andrew!
“You don’t look like a typical One Direction fan”, stated the Asda security guard. And indeed, in our mid-30s and sporting beards, me and my co-driver Andrew did not look like typical “Directioners”. Nonetheless, at 6am in in a supermarket carpark in Doncaster, our car was getting a lot of attention.
We were taking part in the Two Ball Rally Beach Route, a “Top Gear” style adventure where teams buy a cheap car for no more that £789, and then take it on a road trip across Europe, with a different (and often stunning) evening venue to reach at the end of each day, and interesting challenges to complete on the way. Around 40 teams compete, decorating their cars in fantastic themes, and often raising money for a charity of their choice. It explicitly isn’t a race – which is just as well as many of these cars are mechanically fragile.
As Andrew and I had events to get back to after the end of the rally, we planned to buy a car, do the minimum required to make it safe and legal to cross Europe one-way, and then scrap it once finished in Barcelona, hence our team name and theme “One Direction”.
Our trusty steed for the trip was a £600 Vauxhall Astra, bought via the one place you can be assured of a quality used car that is not hiding a multitude of MOT-failures; Facebook Marketplace. A deal was done in a carpark in Inveraray whereby we noted that “good tyres” meant that one was down to the chords and the rest where perished.
After leaving via Lochgilphead, through the Arrochar Alps and eventually down to Dover, we made it through security despite the roof mounted bubble machine, and onto the ferry to Calais. After arriving in Calais, wacky races started as all teams headed for St Quentin and rally registration.
Day one of the rally dawned with the kind of optimism only sleep deprivation and cheap croissants can provide. The route for the day took us down the French autoroutes toward Annecy. Eventually we dropped down into beautiful Annecy. Sandwiched in between the sprawling industrial estates, the railway yard, and 6-lane motorway, Annecy had a stunning medieval centre, and picturesque waterfront promenade.
Over the next few days we made it through France and to San Remo, Italy – described as Italy’s “Skegness” by our hosts – not entirely sure this was the most flattering comparison. We continued down to Monaco and then St Tropez to build a sandcastle on the beach (one of the challenges!) and on to our final destination Barcelona.
If you ever get the chance to do a rally like this, I would thoroughly recommend it. It is fantastic, fun, slightly stressful, and somewhat expensive way to cross Europe, but you see our closest continent in a truly unique way.
Congratulations to all the individuals and teams nominated last quarter by colleagues and members of the public through AB Recognition. Your hard work and dedication continue to make a real difference in our communities.
A few examples of the great work you do:
- Delivering of 516 civil ceremonies, 418 other faith-based marriages, 45 citizenship ceremonies, and registering 1,267 deaths and 550 births — earning 99% customer satisfaction and successfully adopting a new digital system.
- Providing friendly, efficient support for sightseeing flights from Oban Airport.
- Achieving Scottish Government accreditation under the Scottish National Standards for Information and Advice Providers (SNSIAP).
- Demonstrating excellent collaboration and meticulous work in managing council address data, showing strong organisation and expertise.
Read the full list of nominees
Feedback from our recent review of AB Recognition shows that the programme is strongly appreciated with a positive emotional impact on those who were nominated, especially when recognition comes from the public or across other services.
The process is considered by many accessible, well-communicated, and meaningful, with many praising its role in connecting staff across departments.
We are now looking at ways to improve the approach and process based on the feedback received.
Thank you also to those who took the time to recognise their colleagues and thank you all for helping build a culture of excellence and appreciation.
Team effort to welcome the King
Staff from across a variety of council services were involved in His Majesty The King’s recent visit to Campbeltown.
The council’s Roads and Infrastructure Services Team worked hard to make the traffic management arrangements and organise the crowd control on the day, which enabled the local community to come out and enjoy the event, whilst the Harbour Team welcomed The King to the town’s New Quay.
The Member Services and Communications Teams also liaised closely with the Royal household in the run-up to the event and on the day itself to ensure the visit went smoothly – overall, the council had a huge part to play.
Some staff were also invited to meet The King because of their volunteering roles within the local community.
Compliance and Regulatory Assistant David Sinclair was there in his role as Officer Commanding of D Coy Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Battalion of the Army Cadet Force. Talking afterwards, he said: “I was fortunate enough to go along and support the five cadets that were selected to meet The King. It meant a lot to us all as it recognised our commitment to the Army Cadet Force.”
Lindsay Kenny is a Teacher at Campbeltown Grammar, as well as the Group Lead Volunteer of the 16th Argyll (Campbeltown) Scout Group. She met The King alongside her husband, Alistair, who is a School Technician and also volunteers as a Scout Lead Volunteer.
Talking about her experience, Lindsay said: “It was a great privilege to be invited to meet His Majesty, who is also the Patron of the Scout Association. He spoke to all of us for a few minutes and was concerned that he was stopping us from doing other Scouting activities, as he was there on our usual meeting day. It was lovely to see so many of our community out to greet the King, and our Scouts and Cubs were in awe of the whole experience.”
Alistair added: “Being part of The King’s visit was an incredible opportunity and experience—not only for our young people, but for us as well. It was truly special to see His Majesty in the Wee Toon, and we are deeply grateful that he took the time to visit and speak with so many members of our community.”
Out and about
Focus on Kilchattan Primary School
Last week, Wendy Brownlie, Head of Education, Performance and Improvement, visited Kilchattan Primary School on the Island of Colonsay to meet with staff and pupils and find out about some of the work that has taken place to improve the Early Years area, facilities and outdoor space.
As one of our smallest schools, with four pupils currently enrolled and two children (possibly three) joining the Early Years setting before Christmas, Wendy enjoyed experiencing firsthand the unique and impressive education setting and learning more about the wider community. The children even baked a cake made with courgettes grown in their own poly tunnel, with freshly picked brambles for everyone to enjoy on the day.
And it was a particular highlight for Wendy to complete Headteacher Kim Bentley’s Professional Review and Development during her Professional Update Year with the General Teaching Council.
Keep an eye out for more ‘out and about’ features in Cascade as we focus on the many colleagues who make Argyll and Bute the place to be.
Connect for Success
Launch of new email service for non-desk workers
September will see the launch of a new communications service for the hundreds of council employees who have roles that do not require a council email address so might miss out on important information. Our new ‘in case you missed’ email subscription will offer colleagues the opportunity to opt-in to receive weekly news and opportunities, directly to their inbox.
As part of Connect for Success we are continually looking at ways to be more agile in how we operate, empower each other through our work and use the right technology in the right way to help us do our jobs. We hope that the launch of this service will ensure that more people will have access to the wealth of employee news, training, wellbeing and other opportunities that are available.
If you manage a team that work offline let them know about the service and that they will be receiving information about it in the coming weeks.
Upgrade to our Integrated Impact Assessment tool
Six months ago our online Integrated Impact Assessment tool went live and since then we have received lots of helpful feedback that has allowed us to make improvements such as a spellcheck in all free text boxes, more obvious commands such as ‘save’ and ‘email Word document’ plus it’s now easier to share partially completed assessments.
The tool is also being used for more than completing our own impact assessments, it has been used to sense check policies created by other organisations to identify areas which may not have been thought through thoroughly enough, allowing us to flag these up as areas of concern.
Have you used the tool to help with your work?
You can find the tool here- Integrated Impact Assessments – My Council Works
We are required to carry out impact assessment to make sure we consider how the things we do and change make an impact on different groups and to show how we meet our obligations to pay due regard to issues relating to equalities, inequalities of opportunity, children’s rights and wellbeing, consumers and island communities.
The tool is designed to help you complete your assessments and is accessed with your MS365 account information.
If you’d like to know more then please get in touch with Chris Carr, OD Project Officer Chris.Carr@argyll-bute.gov.uk
Climate friendly Argyll and Bute
Grants available to make your home more energy efficient
With the recent warm weather, you may not be thinking about the winter months ahead but sadly, they’re not too far away! Did you know there are grants available to help make your home more energy efficient?
Jackie Westerman our Home Energy Efficiency Project Officer explains:
The council has received over £2 million from the Scottish Government’s Energy Efficient Scotland – Area Based Scheme to help householders make a range of energy efficiency improvements to their properties including external wall insulation, underfloor and loft insulation and cavity wall insulation.
We can offer non-means tested grants of between £9500 and £21,600 per household dependant on individual circumstances. They’re available to:
- Owner-occupiers and privately rented Tenants living in properties in Council Tax Bands A, B and C.
- Owner-occupiers living in properties in Council Tax Band D if they have a household energy rating of E, F or G.
- For Owner-occupiers on islands, in addition to the above, living in properties in Council Tax Band E to H if they have a household energy rating of E, F or G.
Argyll and Bute residents have already benefitted from warmer, more energy efficient homes, and as a result are making substantial savings per year on fuel costs. This in turn is helping to play a vital part in creating a climate friendly Argyll and Bute by reducing carbon emissions through these measures.
If you would like to find out more about the grants, visit the council website or call our Home Energy Efficiency Team on 01546 605522 or email Jackie directly.
Newsflashes from August
Training and useful resources
Get the help you need with the Microsoft 365 Skills Hub
Whether you’re new to MS365 and not sure where to start or if you’re already using the apps and want to know how to manage Teams notifications or how to record meetings, you’ll find lots of helpful guides with access to an online community of experts who can help answer any questions you have.
The Skill Hub features:
- Learning modules from Microsoft along with tailored and custom guidance for Microsoft 365 users.
- Ask questions and get help and advice from fellow users
- Watch recorded training sessions covering different apps within Microsoft 365.
- Sign-up for live training sessions.
- Learn about new features.
How do I access the Skills Hub?
- As this is a shared resource with NHS Scotland and the Digital Office, it’s important to follow a few security steps before accessing the Hub. This makes sure your data and our systems remain secure.
- Follow this step-by-step guide to request access to the M365 Skills Hub.
- You will need to have the Microsoft Authenticator app installed on your mobile phone to verify your identity. This only take a couple of minutes to download the Authenticator app. Guidance includes Downloading and setting up the Microsoft Authenticator app.
Don’t forget if you can’t find help in any of the online resources available, you can always contact your Digital Champion.
Webinar booking reminder
If you’re booking a webinar on LEON, your line manager needs to approve this in the LEON system. Once approved, you’ll receive a confirmation email. This doesn’t apply to events organised by the education team.
Managers – you’ll receive an email at the time of booking. Simply click the link in the email or go to the dashboard in LEON and look at the tasks block. Please be aware that if approval isn’t made after one month, the task will disappear from your list.
Onboarding programme for job movers
Last month we launched the onboarding programme for job movers. Any employees changing their job role are now automatically enrolled in an onboarding programme on LEON to help them settle into their new role.
Managers – you can find a useful checklist in LEON to help with the onboarding process. Course: Argyll and Bute Managers onboarding checklist