Joint Message from Chief Executives

Dear colleagues

Our collaborative change programme towards a new council for North Yorkshire is making good progress so it feels right to update you all. We hope you find the below valuable.

Governance/communications:

As you know, the programme is managed by the officer-led Implementation Team which is overseen by the councillor-led Implementation Board. These two groups include representatives from all eight councils and are meeting monthly. These meetings will often result in updates that we will share with you. In addition, the shared website is updated every Wednesday so please do check regularly for new information including videos and blogs https://www.newcouncilny.co.uk

Work stream updates:

We are pleased to say that more than 250 of you have attended the change programme workshops, which will inform the detailed work stream tasks and milestones. Feedback from these events has been positive and it is this collective and collaborative approach that will help us to deliver the best possible new council together.

The workshop exercises have also helped us to understand some of the concerns you may share. Things like whether you will need to travel further for work and how your job might change as well as worries around recruitment, workload and retaining skills and experience. We want to reassure you that your skills and experience are very much needed and we will continue to update the frequently asked questions section of the website to respond to your queries https://www.newcouncilny.co.uk/supporting-you Individual councils also have a wide range of opportunities for you to raise questions.

Early themes are also emerging, including climate change and work is underway to lay the green foundations of the council, alongside many other critical areas of focus.

In addition to these formal work streams we are also pursuing devolution and examining large service areas like adults’, children’s and public health to start looking at how joining up services will improve and strengthen them for the people who need them. Please continue to use the shared website to give us your thoughts and ideas on all of this work.

Draft Structural Changes Order (SCO):

The government has sent us a draft legal order, which all eight councils have had the chance to respond to. This draft included naming the new organisation North Yorkshire Council and agreeing it would be a ‘continuing authority’. That would mean there would be less administration needed to transfer the 14,000 colleagues currently employed by the county council and district and borough colleagues will transfer to the new council on their current terms and condition under TUPE employment laws.

The draft order also indicated a preference for 90 councillors to represent the new council across 89 new ward areas and outlines plans for elections in May 2022. These new councillors will be elected for five years, instead of four. They will represent the current county council for its final year and then transfer to the new council on April 1^st 2023. They will then serve an additional four year term. Current district and borough councillors remain as they are until the end of March 2023.

There is more information on the draft SCO under the latest news section of the shared website. The final SCO is due early in 2022.

We will be in touch again ahead of the Christmas break, but in the meantime thank you for your hard work and the support you are offering this important change programme.

Please can managers ensure colleagues without email access receive this communication.