Fair Work Statement
Stirling Council’s commitment to the principles of Fair Work is long-standing, with many positive initiatives developed in partnership with our trade unions. It is a journey we remain committed to in what will be testing times for local government. While recognising we have improvements to make against the Fair Work agenda, we can advise that:
- We recognise five trade unions as part of our Trade Union Engagement Agreement (2017), with Bi-Partite forums taking place at service-level, and at a corporate level, with one forum involving senior management, and another involving elected members. In addition, we have a Health and Safety Forum co-chaired with trade union colleagues.
- In November 2024, in partnership with our trade unions, we began to meet as a Fair Work Forum, to support the development of fair work practices by agreeing specific areas for priority action; ensuring we have defined and shared objectives; and by agreeing timelines to further support and co-ordinate our Fair Work programme of activities.
- Since November 2024, via our Fair Work Forum, we have agreed a timetable of events, and a plan of priority work for 2025, which balances the needs of the organisation and the workforce; promotes and emulates behaviours which reflect those of fair work; and promotes staff wellbeing. We have commenced our work by undertaking a joint review of our partnership working arrangements and fair work statements.
- Partnership working is in addition to broader staff engagement, which takes place through in-person and online sessions, and through ‘pulse’ surveys. We achieved one of our priorities which was to issue a refreshed, corporate staff survey, and for which a programme of engagement sessions to feedback, discuss, and agree next steps will be held over April and May.
- Staff communications are a routine activity, managed through a dedicated internal communications function, and the Council’s Staff Facebook has over 2,000 members.
- We deliver a staff wellbeing programme, and an Employee Assistance Programme, in addition to structured programmes of development, such as professional accreditation, or managerial development. Our cohorts of staff in leadership development, learn alongside community stakeholders, as a means of embedding and extending collaborative practice beyond the walls of local government.
- We report on workforce matters and policy development to Committee, and full Council, as required. An example would be our Carers Policy, developed in partnership with our trade unions, which provides support to carers, including additional leave for those with caring responsibilities. In September 2024, Carers Scotland awarded Stirling Council the Employer’s Award Accreditation at Engaged Level, as we continue to identify and develop supportive interventions for carers in our workforce.
- MyPortal, the platform which has replaced our existing Finance, Procurement, HR, Payroll and Customer Experience systems, was a significant investment in the Council’s workforce, allowing staff to streamline and simplify their day-to-day processes and free up time to be spent on more fulfilling work, that makes the most difference for communities across Stirling. It is a one-stop shop for employees, with selfservice functionality available on personal devices, to everything they might need by way of HR information, services, and development opportunities, with a single sign-on. Hundreds of staff engaged in sessions to inform and feedback on the system and a group of digital champions formed internally to champion the work and engage their less confident peers, in upskilling. The champions are enthusiastic volunteers who can be found helping others across the organisation better understand and navigate the technologies we use daily.
- We only operate supply contracts where it is necessary for the work undertaken (e.g. exam invigilation) and we oppose fire and re-hire practice, instead looking to provide job security through ongoing development opportunities, and redeployment, where organisational change takes effect.
- Our gender pay gap is currently at 0.92%, which remains within the target set in our strategic workforce plan. Our equal pay statement and most recent equality monitoring report is available on our website.
- We continue to maintain national real living wage accreditation, and the Council agreed to pay the real living wage to our apprentice workforce from 1 April 2024.
We will continue to publish our progress on our website. Our next update will be provided here in September 2025.