Working with Your Council - English & Welsh

‘Working With Your Council’ is a high quality information pack with easy-to-follow exercises, appraised by a Regional Training Manager and closely monitored by a university. As a vital part of the National Training Strategy, ‘WWYC’ offers fully supported learning.

You won’t be studying on your own. Every student has the support of an experienced clerk who acts as a personal or group mentor, also the opportunity to join a national tutored email group and the opportunity to network via a national tele/web conferencing arrangement in one hour sessions. You will also have the opportunity to network with your peers as well as share in their learning experiences.

Flexible learning allows you to balance your studies around your work and home commitments. The Society of Local Council Clerks offers this user-friendly tool-kit entitled ‘Working with your Council’ to help support you in your local council role.

The programme is both relevant and practical, enabling you to apply the principles in your workplace. Our course is divided into ‘bite-sized’ chunks which will help you to perform your duties more effectively and efficiently. It is a tool-kit for anyone who is:

• Working full or part time
• A Clerk, Deputy Clerk or administrative officer and those employed elsewhere in the sector
• Newly appointed to the profession
• More experienced to add to become more professional
• Intending to put together their CiLCA portfolio or to add value and professionalism after CiLCA
• A Councillor who wishes to find out more about how their Council works

The course consists of six core knowledge topics, which can be studied at a time and place of your choice, covering:

• Roles & Responsibilities - who does what and when
• Law - what the law means for local councils, details of the main laws and how to look up the acts and stautory instruments
• Procedures - the practical aspects of local councils including good agendas, good minutes and use of other procedures
• Finance - starting to get to grips with the mysteries of finance
  Planning - From the importance of the Development Frameworks to the basics of day to day planning
• Community Action - how to find out what the electors and others think and how to use this information in decision making 
  
  

Who is the package intended for?

Whether you:

• Were appointed within the past year or two but have, meanwhile, not undertaken any formal training, OR
• Feel apprehensive about putting together a portfolio of your work for CiLCA, OR
• Wish to improve your professionalism, however long you’ve been in the post

You may well need ‘Working with your Council’ because it offers:-

• Supported learning with a Regional Training Manager, and a mentor often in learning groups (including via tele/webconferencing)
• Membership of the WWYC national email group – where the willingness to help one another is very evident – and you can ask for basic assistance with your WWYC studies
• Access as a quick reference, indexed guide
• Regular updates (loose-leaf)
• Guidance on the assembly of your CiLCA portfolio (of your work)
• The opportunity for Councils to invest in your training. Nowadays, the vast majority of councils maintain a training budget!

Download the WWYC (English) application form


There is a version of the course for clerks and councillors in Wales that has been written to take account of the differences in legislation and practice in Wales. It is available in English and Welsh language versions.

Working With Your Council (Wales) costs £150 but if your council’s annual budgeted income is less than £25K then you qualify for a Bursary of £100, leaving your council to pay £50.

Download the WWYC (Wales) Application Form in Welsh

Download the WWYC (Wales) Application Form in English

Download the Bursary Application Form (Wales) English & Welsh language