Are you registered with SSSC?

19/04/2024 Category:

SSSC logo The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) is planning major changes to how people register. The new registration process will be simpler and easier to understand and will start on 3 June 2024.

If you’re registered with SSSC:

you may have had emails from SSSC to tell you that changes are happening
please check your registration details by 1 May to make sure everything is as it should be
SSSC will write to you to let you know about the changes that impact your registration.

Offer: Candlelight concerts tickets

19/04/2024 Category:

A head and shoulders of a woman Grab a special offer for all colleagues - 50% off tickets for Adele by Candlelight Elton John by Candlelight at Assembly Rooms.

The Music of Adele by Candlelight – Friday 19 April and Saturday 20 April 7.30pm

Featuring J’Adele, the UK’s leading Adele tribute and her incredible live band, ‘Rumour Has It’, this is going to be an unforgettable evening packed full of best loved Adele Hits! The Assembly Rooms will be bathed in candlelight, so let's put ‘Water Under the Bridge’ and let the ‘Skyfall’ as we celebrate the music of one of the world's most iconic divas!

Help shape our new sexual harassment policy

18/04/2024 Category:

White speech bubbles containing black question marks on a green background Our Behaviours of Respect, Integrity and Flexibility are the foundation for driving positive change in our workplace.

All colleagues have the right to be treated with dignity and respect at work by everyone and we’re committed to providing an inclusive, supportive, and safe environment for all colleagues.

To make this happen, we need to live Our Behaviours every day. The behaviours we use when interacting with people will both positively and negatively influence our workplace culture.

We will not tolerate unacceptable behaviour and it’s everyone’s responsibility to prevent it.

Did you get caught by ‘DocuSign’ email?

18/04/2024 Category:

Illustration of a fishing hook over digital code Did you get caught out by the phishing email last week? Find out what to look for in a suspicious email and catch up with any cyber security training you may have missed.

On 9 April, our Cyber Security team sent a test phishing email to all colleagues, which looked like it was from ‘DocuSign’. The team monitored how many people clicked on the links and how many reported the email as suspicious. This helped us to understand how many people could get caught out if it were a real phishing email and see if further awareness and learning is needed to protect you and our data.

Planning a business trip?

18/04/2024 Category:

Person sitting on train using a mobile phone and laptop If you’re planning to travel within or outside of the UK for work, it’s important you know what to do before you book your transport and accommodation.

Our Policy and Sustainability Committee approved a revised Business Travel and Accommodation guidance in September 2022.

This guidance states that you must not fly where a direct rail connection is available, for environmental reasons.

It also states that you can only travel outside of the UK in exceptional circumstances and you must get pre-approval from the Policy and Sustainability Committee.

Reaping the rewards

17/04/2024 Category:

Four people holding signs with symbols on them We provide lots of benefits and rewards that can help you with your mental, physical and financial wellbeing. myRewards is a collection of colleague discounts and salary sacrifice schemes, including season tickets loans. You can also help others by donating to charities through give as you earn.

Season tickets

Using public transport instead of the car helps to reduce congestion and our carbon footprint. As the up-front costs of buying a bus or train season ticket can be substantial, you can ask for a salary or pay advance to help you to buy a public transport season ticket.

Do you want to learn sign language?

16/04/2024 Category:

A woman using sign language If you're looking to learn the basics of British Sign Language (BSL), then you’re in luck!

Fiona Stewart, Development Officer in Lifelong Learning Services, is running a course that help you do just that. According to Fiona, this is a fantastic opportunity to pick up a new skill that can help you communicate better with others and make them feel included. In fact, did you know that there are approximately 1,000 BSL users residing in the Edinburgh area who would feel more connected to the city if more of us could sign? So why not give it a go and see if it is something you’d like to learn more about in the future?

Webinar - an inspirational journey

17/04/2024 Category:

qualities, ladies, girls, As part of the revamp of the women’s colleague network, they would like to invite you to their first event for 2024-2025. It will take place over MS Teams on 9 May 2024, at 10:30am.

For the first hour, we'll hear from Dana Hamlin, who will share her inspirational story about overcoming adversity as a woman escaping an oppressive regime and achieving success against all odds. Dana’s talk, summarised below, will discuss intersectionality, the challenges still faced by many women around the world, and it will inspire us through the importance of determination and perseverance.

Learning at Work Week - Learning Power

15/04/2024 Category:

A white lightbulb coming out of a lit box with the words Learning at Work Week illuminated at the top From 13 to 19 May we'll be holding Learning at Work Week. This year's theme is ‘Learning Power’.

It explores the potential that learning holds for both individuals and teams leading to our success.

The power of learning enables us to adapt, innovate and excel.

Have a look at all the great learning events you can take part in and be sure to book early!

Issue with public WiFi in our buildings

11/04/2024 Category:

WiFi icon of radiating semi circle lines on a blue background Some people working in our buildings are continuing to have issues connecting to the Public WiFi. If this affects you, please use a wired connection such as a docking station.

You can try the following fix. Go to:

search bar at the bottom of your screen and type ‘Software Center’
when the Software Center opens, search for ‘AOVPN’
two AVOPN options appear. Reinstall both.

If this doesn’t work, please restart your computer.

12.45pm all-system outage today

11/04/2024 Category:

Thursday 11 April

Following on from Tuesday night’s ICT maintenance work, we need to do an urgent update to fix a few issues which we've identified. There will be a short outage at 12.45pm of all systems, taking about 15 minutes. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause but the work is essential. We advise you to rearrange any online meetings and calls due to take place at this time.

What does it affect?

This affects both our learning and teaching (schools) and corporate (non-schools) networks.

It will impact landline phones, remote access if you’re working at home, internal and external systems such as our website, Orb, Teams, computers in libraries, and cloud-based systems such as myHR and customer forms using Verint.

Computer review 2024/25

11/04/2024 Category:

An open laptop As part of our contract with CGI, we're reviewing our older Windows computers.

We've started planning the project and will be contacting service areas to double check the information about our computers over the coming months. Where new laptops and desktops are needed, we’ll roll them out in phases beginning this autumn. The project should be complete by autumn 2025.

Changes to our email security

11/04/2024 Category:

An email icon containing an exclamation point We’re upgrading the way we receive incoming email on the corporate network to make better use of more modern systems and infrastructure.

We currently use Clearswift’s Secure Email Gateways (SEG) to scan messages for spam and viruses/malware. We’re now moving to Microsoft Online and using MS Exchange Online Protection. This is more secure and easier to maintain.

We’ll make these changes from 17 April. While these changes aren’t anticipated to impact your email (either internal or external), this will result in some small changes in how we manage emails going forward. These changes apply to your own work email as well as any shared mailboxes you manage.

Mental Health Officer Award opportunity

11/04/2024 Category:

A hand holding a microscope over the drawing of a brain If you’re a social worker with two years’ post-qualifying experience and have an interest in mental health and upholding the rights of people who experience mental distress, please consider studying for the Mental Health Officer (MHO) Award run by the University of Edinburgh.

This is a fascinating and challenging statutory role and a great opportunity to have protected time out from your social work role for six months to study and develop your knowledge and skills. We have a duty to appoint MHOs and aim to offer six to eight places on the training course each year.

Tell us what Council services are important to you

10/04/2024 Category:

If you live in Edinburgh, please tell us about the services that matter to you most and where you think we can save money or do things differently.

The way people use public services is changing and so we need to run services more efficiently and invest in the future of Edinburgh and its population, which is expected to grow by almost 60,000 people over the next 20 years.

We’ve already saved £400 million over the last ten years, but because of this increasing demand for services, and higher costs, we’ll have a £143 million shortfall in our budget by 2028/29.

Neurodiversity and Trauma Informed Approach webinar

09/04/2024 Category:

Illustration of a lightbulb with a coloured brain outline in the middle Join us for a webinar delivered by Mind Rooms on Neurodiversity and a Trauma Informed Approach. It will take place on Wednesday 24 April 2.30-3.30pm and is suitable for all colleagues wanting to enhance their understanding of neurodiversity.

By definition, neurodivergent people process information in ways that are different from the information processing of neurotypical people. This means neurodivergent people may:

experience events as traumatic that neurotypical people don’t find traumatic
express their trauma in unexpected ways
be at risk of trauma as a direct result of being neurodivergent – such as if they are bullied.

Tonight’s systems outage

09/04/2024 Category:

Illustration of an exclamation mark A reminder that we’re carrying out maintenance on our computer firewall tonight, Tuesday 9 April. This means all our systems and landline phones will be unavailable from 6pm for up to five hours.

This is part of our ongoing essential work to improve digital security and service delivery, including performance of the networks.

What does it affect?

This affects both our learning and teaching (schools) and corporate (non-schools) networks.

It will impact landline phones, remote access if you’re working at home, internal and external systems such as our website, Orb, Teams, computers in libraries, and cloud-based systems such as myHR and customer forms using Verint.

Supporting you when life happens

08/04/2024 Category:

Man holding a sleeping child We can only be our best at work if we look after ourselves and each other. We’re committed to supporting the wellbeing of our colleagues, this includes developing a workplace environment that encourages a healthy work-life balance.

We all have responsibilities outside of work and it can be challenging when you need to respond to emergency or unforeseen situations. We want to support you when you need it most and our Special Leave Policy sets out paid or unpaid leave that you may be entitled to, in addition to your annual leave, to help you respond to those times helping you keep a positive work-life balance.

We’ve updated our Special Leave Policy to provide more support for you. The main changes are:

introduction of six days paid Carer’s Leave
introduction of one day paid leave annually for volunteering
changes to Parental Bereavement Leave to cover pregnancy loss for both parents
introduction of Kinship Carer Leave that aligns with Foster Carer Leave
introduction of leave for Fertility Treatments

Income maximisation training

08/04/2024 Category:

Close up of money, a hand and a calculator The Advice shop is running free training for anyone who wants to learn about the benefits system. The sessions are running from Tuesday 16 April to Monday 29 April via Microsoft Teams.

Scottish Child Payment – 1 hour

This training session will provide a comprehensive understanding of the Scottish Child Payment (SCP). You will learn about the eligibility criteria, application process, and support available for families responsible for children. The session aims to equip you with the knowledge and resources to navigate SCP effectively and help eligible families receive the support they need.

Ticket offers from the Science Festival

05/04/2024 Category:

Children looking amazed at science experiment Edinburgh Science is delighted to offer Council colleagues ticket offers and discounts for this year’s Edinburgh Science Festival.

There are 2 for 1 tickets for Innovation Late and £5 tickets for all talk and discussion events at the National Museum of Scotland.

Oh, we do like to be beside the seaside!

05/04/2024 Category:

Two people stood on grass with sea behind, one holding a golf club The City Chambers Golf Club followed its long tradition of opening their season by a visit to Dunbar. Scott Neil, Club Captain tells us more…

“As the title notes, we were indeed down by the seaside, specifically at Royal Dunbar or as the locals call it Winterfield. Recent heavy down pours left parts of the course looking more like the Everglades in Florida that East Lothian. However, the required mantra of the City Chambers member is the glass is half full, or in some cases someone else's round!

April Resident Reward

05/04/2024 Category:

Resident Rewards Monthly Star for April Located in the heart of the Old Town, The Department of Magic embodies the city's magical past with immersive experiences for the whole family, and their Escape Rooms are a spellbinding experience.

Throughout April, city of Edinburgh residents can enjoy 25% off entry to the Department of Magic’s Escape Rooms, for up to 6 people.

New route launch a success - despite the weather!

04/04/2024 Category:

On a dreich Wednesday we celebrated the official opening of our much-anticipated City Centre West East Link (CCWEL)! The path is Edinburgh’s first substantial main road protected cycle route and was launched on 20 March 2024.

Spirits were not dampened by the weather and the event was a huge success attended by locals, councillors, and contributing organisations. This triumph reflects the massive effort put in by individuals and teams across the Council and our partners, including Sustrans Scotland.

Roseburn Primary and St George's school pupils led the ride from Roseburn to Haymarket and had great fun telling us all about why the route is important to them. You can hear from them on our launch video.

Changes to flexible working requests and partner support leave

04/04/2024 Category:

$Adult and chilld\'s hands around a knitted red heart$ From 6 April, you’ll see some changes in how requests for flexible working and Partner Support Leave will be managed within the Council.

All colleagues, regardless of service, can request flexible working - this can include alternative working patterns such as compressed or part time hours. You can find more information in our Flexible Work Options Policy.

New legislation comes into effect next week that will introduce a number of changes:

Enjoy the benefits of our cycle to work scheme

04/04/2024 Category:

A man riding a bicycle Now’s a great time to start your commute in a way that benefits your wellbeing, your wallet - and the world! With savings of up to 42%* on bikes and safety accessories, our Cycle to Work employee benefit is a greener pathway to a healthier mind and body.

Cycling on a regular basis can help to:

reduce stress and anxiety
lower your carbon footprint
increase stamina and fitness levels
save on rising petrol costs.

The Cycle to Work scheme is provided as part of myBenefits, in partnership with Vivup. Getting a bike and equipment through this way means you can spread the cost through manageable monthly salary reductions – with no credit checks!

Annual performance conversations

03/04/2024 Category:

Two people having a chat sitting down Last month, we told you about the importance of having regular, two-way conversations with your manager about how you’re doing and the annual performance conversations due to happen by the end of May for colleagues on the standard performance year cycle, which runs from 1 April to 31 March.

Annual conversations are important as they give you the chance to look back and reflect with your manager on your performance over the last year, what you’ve achieved, how you’ve demonstrated Our Behaviours and the challenges you might have faced. They also give the opportunity for you and your manager to agree performance goals and plan any essential learning and development for the year ahead. You can discuss tasks you may wish to get involved in to develop your skills and experience and make sure you’re clear about what you need to do to help your team deliver our services.

It's our April Drop-in

02/04/2024 Category:

We urgently need foster carers for children of all ages needing extra support. We are looking for short breaks, temporary and permanent carers, particularly those who have the experience and skills to support children with disabilities.

Our foster carers come from all sorts of backgrounds and family situations. You can be single, married or living with a partner, not working, working, or retired to be a foster carer with us and we welcome applications from people of all ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds regardless of sexuality or gender.

Computer checks – we may disconnect it

02/04/2024 Category:

Illustration of a laptop with a red warning triangle The Digital Services team is reviewing the compliance information they hold about our computers. We need to make sure that these computers are running on the latest approved Windows operating system. Although we have a lot of information already, there are still some computers we need to check.

What you need to do

we may email you from informationsecurity@edinburgh.gov.uk and ask you to provide information about your computer - you must respond to the request
you may also see a pop up when you start up your computer - you must complete this with accurate information.

Stress Awareness Month

02/04/2024 Category:

Illustration of a person with head in their hands surrounded by clouds April is Stress Awareness Month - a month dedicated to removing the guilt, shame, and stigma around mental health. Most people are impacted by stress at some point in their life, sometimes positive (eustress) and sometimes negative (distress). Whilst positive stressors can help motivate us to perform well in new situations, negative stressors, over time, can take a toll on our health and wellbeing.

When stress becomes too much, we need to find effective ways to manage it. This year’s theme, Little by Little, highlighting the impact of consistent, small positive actions on our overall wellbeing. Experiencing long-term or severe stress can lead to physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion, often referred to as “burnout”. Symptoms of severe stress can include:

Read previous articles

02/04/2024 Category:

News Beat You can read articles from March 2024 or see the 'back issues' drop down menu at the bottom of the page.

You can also use the categories or search box (top of the page) if you want to find specific stories.

News

The Music of Adele by Candlelight – Friday 19 April and Saturday 20 April 7.30pm

Season tickets

Thursday 11 April

What does it affect?

What does it affect?

Scottish Child Payment – 1 hour

What you need to do

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