Employment tribunal costs introduced

The Government has confirmed that from 29th July 2013, claimants will have to pay a fee if they want to take their employer to employment tribunal. Currently, it costs nothing for a claimant to make a claim. A two stage fee will be charged. If the fee is not paid, or the claimant does not apply for ‘remission’, the claim will not be considered.

Claimants will be required to pay an initial fee (the ‘issue fee’) at the issue of a claim, and a further fee (a hearing fee) 4 – 6 weeks before the tribunal hearing.

The amount of the fee will depend on the type of claim being made. To bring a Type A claim, the claimant must pay a £160 issue fee, and then a ‘hearing fee’ of £230. Type A claims include unlawful deductions, failure to pay redundancy pay; failure to provide statement of terms and conditions; failure of employer to allow worker to take or be paid for annual leave etc.

To bring a Type B claim, the issue fee is £250 and the hearing fee is £950. Type B claims include unfair dismissal, discrimination, failure to comply with rest break rules, failure to allow certain types of time off etc.
 
The Employment Tribunal is under a new duty to encourage the parties to use alternative dispute resolution e.g. the services of ACAS or judicial or other mediation services and to specifically consider this matter at preliminary hearings.

The tribunal will have the power to order that fees paid by the successful party be reimbursed by the unsuccessful party, though this will not be an automatic occurrence.

A remission system will be in place for those who cannot afford to pay the fees, and upon evidence of this, either the whole or part of the fee will be waived.

Penninsula Business Sevices Ltd 

Capital grants available for community asset ownership

The Social Investment Business (SIB) Group has announced that capital grants between £100,000 and £500,000 are available to organisations ready to take the next step in acquiring a local asset. Organisations with innovative and ambitious plans for community asset ownership will be able to apply for these grants till 30 August 2013.

The capital grants programme has a series of streams including an equity-matching stream which seeks to match-fund monies raised by communities through share offers. Other themes include a fund to support communities with competitive bidding for land and building under the Right to Bid, and green refurbishment of assets.

The funding forms part of the wider Community Rights initiative which supports communities taking ownership of key assets and services through a number new powers introduced through the Localism Act. Alongside the capital grants programme, the Community Rights programme offers other funding opportunities for communities, including pre-feasibility grants of up to £10,000 and feasibility grants of up to £100,000.

More information and how to apply for the capital grants programme can be found here

Results of consultation on Quality Council status

A report summarising responses to the consultation on the review of  Quality Council Status has been issued by NALC. Recommendations based on the report are currently being finalised and will be made available for feedback when they are ready.

A total number of 1,059 responses to the consultation were received; the majority of respondents were clerks and councillors. A number were received from accreditation panel members, CALC officers, Executive Committee members also principal authority officers and councillors. There were also online comments, written submissions and structured interviews.

The key themes which came out of the consultation, in particular from the qualitative responses were:

• The need for there to be tangible benefits from attaining quality status for both the council and community. This was particularly highlighted by a number of comments from respondents from councils who currently hold quality status who were not planning to reaccredit because of a lack of perceived benefits when compared to the effort needed to attain quality status.
• The need for the scheme to concentrate more on outcomes rather than just on process.
• The need for the scheme to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach, and celebrate diversity of achievement.
• The need for the scheme to be credible outside of the sector, and in particular to be seen as credible by principal authorities and communities.
• The need for the scheme to only measure things that are within a council's control - efforts to get people to stand for election should be recognised instead of just the electoral mandate. 

 
The report and appendices can be read on the NALC website

Unlocking the General Power of Competence - confidence to innovate

On Tuesday 23rd July there was a free conference at LGA, Smith Square, London on the Power of General Competence. LGA had commissioned research into the uses and effectiveness of the Power since it was introduced in the Localism Act 2011 and enacted in 2012.

While it is mainly principal authorities that are using the Power there are a number of town and parish councils which are enthusiastically using the new primary Power to deliver services to their communities. The research report illustrates the diverse use the Power has been put to:

• Oxford City - helping to tackle poor attainment in primary schools
• Crewkerne Town Council - taken over the running of youth clubs previously provided by Somerset County Council
• Sprowston Town Council - acquired a youth and community service building from Norfolk County Council which it is refurbishing to provide a multi-use community centre
• Stoke City - developing a range of green energy initiatives

The report gives some top tips for making good use of GPC and identifies constraints and drawbacks that have been encountered so far. 

Only eligible town and parish councils can use the Power: eligible councils need to have two thirds of councillors to have stood for election, a qualified clerk (Cilca or higher qualification) and resolved to grant themselves the Power. The Chairman and clerk of Swallowfield Parish Council attended the conference to find out more about how to use the Power; the council has an interesting development scheme which it would like to pursue using GPC.

This new Power has the enthusiastic backing of this Government, Sec of State, Eric Pickles attended and spoke bluntly about the need for councils to be transparent and innovative.

The presentations are on the LGA website 
and the speech by Rt Hon Eric Pickles, Secretary of State is available here

Planning training for town and parish councillors

BALC ran training for town and parish councillors on 17th July 2013. The presentation is available on the BALC website

Five booklets were also available:

Three were produced by CPRE/NALC as part of the previous funding phase of Supporting Communities with Planning:

• How to shape where you live: a guide to neighbourhood planning
• How to respond to planning applications
• Planning explained

Locality produced a well laid out process map for Neighbourhood Planning in their A4 booklet: Neighbourhood Planning, a road map

The Royal Town Planning Institute produce a Handy Guide to Planning

Printed copies of these are available from BALC, postage and packing £1 per copy

Working with your Council being revised and updated.

The Society of Local Council Clerks issued this letter:

The current version of Working With Your Council is now extremely out of date and is being completely rewritten and updated as a new electronic version.  The e- version will be launched at the SLCC National Conference in October and will  be generally available in the new year.  

In light of this, a decision has been made to withdraw the distance learning course, and we are no longer issuing the training packs except through the 2-day courses which will continue to run until the end of 2013.  From 2014 only the e-version will be available.  Anyone currently undertaking the course will continue to submit their sections for marking and certificates will continue to be issued until the end of July 2014.

First World War - Heritage Lottery Fund Grants for Communities

First World War: then and now

Grants of £3,000 - £10,000 are available for communities to mark the centenary next year of the start of the First World War.

The Heritage Lottery Fund also provide grants of more than £10,000 for First World War Projects. The Fund is looking for projects  that will help people learn about their heritage, develop skills and change attitudes or behaviours. Applications can be made on a rolling basis there are no set dates to aim for. 

More information is available on the Heritage Lottery Fund website

Pay settlement 2013-2014 - 1% agreed

Salary award 1% agreed

NALC issued an Employment Briefing E01-13 on 17th July

The National Joint Council for Local Government Services (NJC) has confirmed that the Local Government and trade unions have agreed the pay scales for 2013-2014.

A pay increase of 1% has been agreed with effect from April 2013.

Local Government Employers and Trade Unions have also agreed that Spinal Column Point 4 will be deleted with effect from 1st October 2013. Therefore employees on Spinal Column Point 4 will progress to SCP 5 on 1st October, and if automatic increments apply, will progress to SCP 6 with effect from 1st April 2014.

NALC/SLCC will shortly confirm the national salary award for clerks, deputy/assistant clerks and RFO's employed under the model employment contract agreed between NALC and SLCC which can be applied from 1st April 2013.

DCLG Consultation on village green protection applications

Under the Commons Act 2006, land can be registered as a town or village green if it can be shown to have been continuously used as of right for lawful sports or pastimes for at least 20 years by a significant number of inhabitants of the neighbourhood.
The frequent use of town or village green applications to prevent development prompted the government to introduce three changes to the law through the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013:

• a reduction in the deadline for bringing in town and village green registration applications from two years to one year
• giving landowners the right to lodge a formal statement with the commons registration authority which has the effect of interrupting any ongoing period of recreational use. (These two changes are not yet in force.)
• finally the Act prohibits applications once the land has been allocated for development - including a proposed allocation - or is the subject of a planning application. This moratorium lasts until the allocation is no longer in place, or the land is no longer subject to a planning application or permission. (This change came into effect immediately on 25 April 2013)

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has published a further consultation which seeks to tighten the ‘trigger events’ after which people cannot apply for village green protections for land and the situations, and ‘terminating events’, under which restrictions to register a piece of land as a village green are lifted.


Consultation on registration of new town or village greens runs until Monday 19 August 2013 and can be read here.

More community energy projects to get support under Feed-in Tariffs

Aspiring communities across the nation will be able to receive Feed-in Tariff (FITs) payments for the clean green energy generated by larger community energy projects, under new plans set out by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Projects such as solar PV on school roofs or panels on libraries, community owned wind turbines and hydro power from local streams could all benefit under the proposed new rules.


The FITs scheme pays householders, businesses and communities for the electricity generated by a range of renewable energy technologies including solar PV, wind, hydro projects and anaerobic digestion. There is also money on offer for excess power exported back to the grid.


Support for community renewable projects over 5MW is currently available under the Renewables Obligation (RO). In response to feedback from community groups on the type of financial incentive that works best for them, DECC is planning to increase the threshold for community projects under FITs to enable larger projects to benefit.


Find out more on the Department of Energy and Climate Change here

Mid Sussex parish council using Community Right to Build Orders

Slaugham Parish Council together with Mid Sussex District Council has published a Neighbourhood Plan and two Community Right to Build Orders, the first orders to reach this stage in England

The parish council appointed planning consultancy, rCOH to help it prepare the plan and orders. Planning Minister Nick Bowles visited a couple of weeks ago to see the progress that was being made. (listen to his comments here). The Community Right to Build (CRB) allows communities to grant permission for new development, sidestepping the normal need for planning permission. A Neighbourhood Plan and CRB both need to be independently examined and receive more than 50% support of local voters before they can be approved.

The parish council's first order is to build 76 new homes in the village of Handcross, of which half would be affordable homes and 17 self-build. The second order is for a new community centre and bowling green. The orders will be examined together, with the intention of holding the referendum by the end of this year.

The Homes and Communities Agency announced that Slaugham  Parish Council has been given £54,000 towards the costs of drawing up the two Community Right to Build orders.

For more information on Community Right to Build orders look at the HCA website

The average age of a parish councillor is 60.2 years!

How the Localism Act hands power to older generations.

An interesting report was published in September 2012 by the Intergenerational Foundation, an independent, non-party-political charity that exists to research fairness between the generations in order to protect the rights of younger and future generations in British policy-making. 

Its findings were:

•  that councillors are getting older 
• few young people become councillors
• older people are heavily over represented on local councils
• councillors live in properties which are more valuable than average for the area they represent
• the age bias amoung councillors exacerbates the housing crisis facing younger people
• the Localism Act hands more power to older people.

While some of the conclusions are debatable, it is correct there are very few town and parish councillors under the age of 30. 

Has your council tried to actively recruit younger councillors? If not, why not?

Date for local elections May 2014

The Government following consultation has agreed to change the date for local council elections next year to co-incide with those for the European elections. The date will be 22nd May 2014, rather than 1st May 2014.

The local elections which are affected by this change of date are the elections to over ninety district councils in England, all metropolitan district councils, and all London boroughs plus a small number of parishes, as well as five mayoral elections. A list of the relevant local authorities is included in the Explanatory Memorandum which accompanies the draft Order.

The full ministerial statement can be read here

Our Digital Community

Our Digital Community

Social enterprises and community organisations are invited to join our digital community, a peer network for people interested in developing digital assets and enterprises to deliver social impact.

Note parish councils themselves are not eligible - this scheme applies to a registered charity, community interest company or industrial and provident society operating in England. However, parishes could form consortiums with one of the above types of organisations. Parishes may also wish to alert their community partners to this opportunity.

http://www.ourdigitalcommunity.org/ and Twitter: @ourdigitalcomm

Some community organisations are already developing their own broadband networks, online archives and apps – harnessing local can-do and know-how to develop digital assets and enterprises for social benefit as well as to generate an income. 

Community organisations sometimes lack the confidence and experience of working with IT professionals to enhance the tremendous work they undertake offline – online. But, our communities are reservoirs of immense talent and, working together, we believe people from broad-ranging backgrounds can learn to collaborate to forge the best possible solutions.
That's why the Government is backing Our Digital Community – an online peer network and learning programme being hosted by The Creative Coop to help social enterprises and community organisations who want to explore new ways of working with IT professionals in a supported environment. 

So, whether you want to manage a service with a digital component, have an idea for a new digital service or enterprise, or want to make use of open data for the benefit of your community – and, crucially, no matter what you know already about technology - you can access peer support or express interest in joining the Learning Programme and make a start today: http://www.ourdigitalcommunity.org/ 

The Learning Programme: Digital Service & Enterprise Development
- The modular course will be delivered over a period of three months from September 2013. Formats for learning will include face-to-face group meetings, online seminars, one-to-one skype sessions and interaction with a host of bespoke resources.

- Will work with you to understand your idea, translate/enhance your idea using technology, prototype, prove and document your concept, develop a functional specification, engage in business modelling

- Ultimately, participants will be supported to undertake the preparatory work needed to apply for feasibility funding/investment from broad-ranging organisations so they can graduate to build and test their digital services and enterprises in practice.

Practical examples:

• The Lyme Regis Development Trust built the UK's largest pop-up wireless network to enhance the experience of visitors to the annual Lyme Regis Fossil Festival, and is now undertaking a feasibility study to explore the potential to establish a more substantial network on a permanent basis, linked to its efforts to build an ambitious Jurassic Coast Studies Centre in the locale. It has also worked with its partners, the Natural History Museum, to develop a number of related apps.
• Toynbee Hall helps organisations and individuals tackle financial exclusion through a range of consultancy, training and financial capability services, and is exploring the potential to enhance its offline service using technology – in particular, to deliver better for less outcomes in respect of its Financial Inclusion health check: http://www.communityknowledgetransfer.org.uk/blog/brief-overview-toynbee-halls-first-digital-asset
• The Hastings Pier and Whiterock Trust is taking ownership of Hastings pier to kick-start local regeneration efforts. Integral to its work, the Trust plans to establish a 'Living Pier' - that is, an intelligent physical space that is seamlessly connected with its surroundings, using smart information and communication technologies to create a fully immersive, interactive and educational visitor experience. In the first instance, it has plans to develop a series of augmented reality embedded postcards.

Community Shares

Community Shares & Microgenius

On 11 June the Community Shares Unit re-launched the Microgenius community shares platform adding to the package of  support being developed to support those wanting to use community shares  as a way of  raising finance.  

The Microgenius online platform (www.microgenius.org.uk) will support the UK’s fast growing ‘own it yourself’ economy and will make it easier for societies to administer the selling of shares.

The Community Shares Unit (CSU) was established in October 2012, with the aim of growing a sustainable community shares market.  The Unit enables more community enterprises to utilise shares as a way of attracting community investment and raise finance to develop and run local ventures.  The Unit offers a one-stop-shop for community enterprises, investors and practitioners with services such as checking offer documents, market intelligence and access to best practice.

The (CSU) in the last few months has been working to develop and expand the Microgenius platform so it can be used for any community enterprise undertaking a community share offer.   The unit took on the operation of platform earlier this year following Microgenius’ success in hosting  a number of share offers for renewable energy schemes in 2012- supporting the achievement of their funding targets

Microgenius is a dedicated web platform for community shares, providing a secure, online mechanism for people to invest in share offers and for enterprises to accept funds from new members. The site works in a similar way as a crowd-funding site and operates with the added bonus that communities purchase a stake in the enterprise and participate in its success.  In order to be eligible, groups will have had to be incorporated as an Industrial Providence Society (IPS), the legal form that allows the issuing of shares, however the CSU provides advice to non-IPS organisations on how to adopt this legal form.

The CSU is piloting the site for an initial six-month period and is hosting a number of offers and seeing how best to support community share offers going forward.  Microgenius will host three new community share issues including a community buy-out of a well-known pub in Hebden Bridge, a co-operative seeking to run the first community-owned farm in Scotland, and an enterprise looking to install woodchip boilers to heat a local college in Leicestershire.  The Hebden Bridge ‘Fox and Goose’ community pub raised £21k within three days of launching their share offer on the Microgenius platform!

To register an interest to use the platform and to learn more about the support on offer contact the Community Shares Unit at: http://www.communityshares.org.uk/

Heritage: English Heritage to be split, Natural England and Environment Agency face planning shake-up

English Heritage to be split

The Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) carried out a review of Natural England and the Environment Agency, with a view to possibly merging them.

It concluded that they should remain separate bodies, but that there were opportunities for reforming the delivery of services, including planning.

Both bodies are statutory consultees for planning applications and advise local authorities on environmental and flood risk aspects of proposed projects.

The government wants a "seamless planning advice service provided to developers on environmental issues", according to the review. Advice should be provided early in the planning process and be more consistent nationally, it said.

However, the review is not clear about whether a full merger of the two advisors' planning departments is required.

The bodies should focus on providing advice on projects that are likely to have the greatest impact on their priority objectives. They should continue to develop set advice for low-risk cases and input to local plans to limit the number of cases where they need to provide bespoke responses, the review said.

Meanwhile, English Heritage will become a charity from 2015. It will focus on managing publicly owned and funded tourist attractions while its listing and planning functions will transfer to a new body, the National Heritage Protection Service.

Results of DCLG e-survey of CALC members views on community rights and neighbourhood planning

Results of DCLG e-survey of CALC members views on community rights and neighbourhood planning

 About the survey: DCLG circulated a short electronic survey to NALC members between April and May 2013. Taking part was voluntary and responses were welcome from both councillors and clerks. 

 Focus of questions: The survey explored local council’s views and intentions to take action linked to right to bid; right to challenge, neighbourhood planning and the general power of competence.

 The response rate: 800 parish clerks and councillors from 600 parish and town councils across 45 counties in England completed the survey. These findings represent the views of about 7% of NALC affiliated town and parish councils across the country. Although low, the responses were distributed fairly evenly across the country.

 Focus of the summary findings: DCLG have produced a summary Powerpoint pack presents high level findings on parish and town council views and accounts of action linked to right to bid; challenge and neighbourhood planning.

 63% of respondents to the survey said their parish/town council had already taken action around one or more of our policy areas. The most common policy combinations pursued were ‘right to bid/asset transfer’ and neighbourhood planning.

Other key findings include:

24% (206 people) said that their parish want a neighbourhood plan and they have already started the process to develop one.

20% (177 people) said their council is taking some form of action linked to right to bid/asset management/transfer, including listing assets of community value or taking over the management or ownership of an asset.

19% (165 people) have already taken on responsibility for a local service/function from their local authority (although not using right to challenge). 2% (21 people) said their parish/town council is preparing or they have submitted an expression of interest under right to challenge.

The results for Berkshire were:

• Views on Neighbourhood Planning (19 councils responded)

3 are considering taking forward a neighbourhood plan
10 won’t be developing a neighbourhood plan
5 have already started the process
1 hadn’t heard of the right

• Views on Right to Challenge (16 councils responded)

8 didn’t think the policy was right for them
3 had already taken over services /functions from the principal authority
4 was preparing to bid for a service, but not using the right
1 hadn’t heard of the right
Services/functions already delivered by council included public toilets.

• Views on Right to Bid (16 councils responded)

4 didn’t think the policy was right for them
4 are reviewing assets to list
3 already had listed assets with the local authority
2 had already taken over the ownership/management of community assets.
3 hadn’t heard of the right.
Assets already in parish/town council control included sports centre, public toilets.