- Anna Barwick, Family Support Manager (North East), Anna originally joined us as a student and is now on a contract with us for a few months.
- Deborah Fozzard, Church and Community Relationships Manager (North East), started 29 April 2025.
There are a couple of vacancies which are closing soon. Take a look at these roles and please share them with people that you think may be interested in them. They can be found here on our website.
- Management Accountant, closing date 4 May 2025, hiring manager Ian Maith
- Church and Community Relationships Coordinator (Devon), closing date 5 April 2025, hiring manager Stu Dendy
We are also trialing advertising some volunteer roles through Christian Jobs. Check out the advert for a Family Friend Volunteer here. We would love local teams to push this and let us know if people come forward through this advert.
Earlier this month, Haylee Hooks shared with us a great video and report which highlighted the results of our recent Staff Survey. If you haven't taken a look yet you can do so here.
We are excited to share that we are now associate members with the fostering network. Unfortunately they are having some technical issues with their new website and so once sorted, we will share a bit more about how you can access some great resources and support. As a brief overview our membership enables us to:
- Access Expert Resources: Gain exclusive access to a wealth of fostering resources, publications, and best practice guidance to support your work and interests.
- Stay Informed: Keep up to date with the latest developments in the fostering world through regular news updates, briefings, and e-bulletins.
- Training and Events: Enjoy discounted rates on training courses and events, designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge to make a real difference.
Claudia Bell shared with us our brand new Safeguarding Policy this month. She also shared details around the Safeguarding Training Strategy and Training Offer and has scheduled some drop-in sessions for staff. To take a deeper look into all of this information click here and to see which drop-in session you can attend, follow this link.
Our staff conference is NEXT WEEK!! Can you believe it?! Please be sure to get your travel sorted and check out all the information you need to know here. If you are arriving alone or are quite new to the organisation and would appreciate someone being available to meet you when you get there, please let us know.
Updating your profile
Over the past month or so we have been working hard to get staff profiles up to date in terms of hours, working days and FTEs. We now also need your help to make sure that you personal contact details and emergency contacts are up to date. Please do login to the staff database as soon as you can and complete any information that may be missing or is required. Thanks so much!
Annual Leave and Bank Holidays
The annual leave system has now been updated! Huge shout out to the Systems Team for all their hard work in pulling this together and making it more fit for purpose! As we have now started a new leave year there are a few things for you to clock:
- Remember that you must book annual leave for any bank holidays that fall on your normal working day and you won't be in - any bank holidays that you want to work will need to be on projects that you can do without support and you will need to get confirmation from your line manager to do this.
- Remember to book off the mandatory closure dates over Christmas... This year the dates are 25 December to 1 January (inclusive)
- If you want to purchase additional leave, you can and the deductions for this will start from your May payslip (unless you have already put in a request for this prior to this issues of Staff Matters).
SharePoint Updates
The Systems Team have also been working tirelessly on sorting out our merged SharePoint. You can take a look here at all the updates that have been going on.
This month you will have had a letter regarding the review of our pay scales which has been a project that has been taking place since September. This work has included a benchmarking exercise and the re-writing of our competency frameworks. All the information you need can be found here. If you think that there is something not quite right in your letter or you have any questions, please do drop us a message.
Thank you so much for reading this issue of Staff Matters, if there is anything else you want to ask us or you want us to highlight anything in another issue, please get in touch here.
People and Culture Team