Direct Debit payments
Due to a technical issue, council tax and business rates payments set to be paid by Direct Debit today (Thursday 1 May) will now be paid tomorrow (Friday 2 May).
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Public Sector Apprenticeship Target
The Public Sector Apprenticeship Targets Regulations 2017 require the council to report annually how it has performed with regards to achieving the Government target on apprenticeships.
The regulations set the target at an average of 2.3 per cent of total headcount for public sector employers with more than 250 employees.
Quantative Data
We published the following data for the 2021/2022 financial year:
| Number of employees who were working on 31 March 2021 | 493 |
| Number of employees who were working on 31 March 2022 | 469 |
| Number of new employees who started working between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 | 48 |
| Number of apprentices who were working on 31 March 2021 | 19 |
| Number of apprentices who were working on 31 March 2022 | 17 |
| Number of new apprentices between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 (includes new hires and existing employees who started an apprenticeship) as a proportion of employment starts between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 | 4 |
| Percentage of apprenticeship starts (both new hires and existing employees who started an apprenticeship) as a proportion of employment starts between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 | 9.3% |
| Percentage of total headcount which were apprentices on 31 March 2021 | 3.6% |
| Percentage of apprenticeship starts (both new hires and existing employees who started an apprenticeship) as a proportion of employees working on 31 March 2021 | 0.9% |
Qualitative Data
We continue to promote apprenticeships across the council and aim to meet our target. We regularly monitor new, approved apprenticeship standards to check whether the council's workforce carry out professional duties and disciplines covered by the standards.