Cascade

1. Cascade April 2013 Monthly briefing to keep you up to date with news from across the council

2. In this issue • Minding your own business – helping local companies access more • council contracts • Looking to the future – automatic enrolment in pension schemes • Keep in touch – got something for Cascade? Let us know

3. Keeping it local: Business Gateway’s supplier development programme

4. Supplier Development Programme • The public sector spends approximately £8 billion each year tendering for goods and services, yet many small and medium sized businesses find it difficult to enter the public procurement market. • Argyll and Bute Council has recently joined the Supplier Development Programme (SDP). This enables us to offer free support to help local businesses and third sector organisations supply goods and services to the public sector. • Twenty-three of Scotland’s local authorities are also members of this programme. • Membership of the SDP will help ensure that suppliers are given the opportunity to obtain free advice, support, information, training and events to help their business grow by winning more contracts and improving their business processes. This in turn, will improve the quality of the suppliers that the council does business with.

5. Supplier Development Programme • SDP aims to assist all businesses to improve their performance in winning contracts with public sector organisations by providing information, news and events that will leave them more informed about the processes undertaken by the authorities they are targeting. The support on offer includes: • Access to a programme of free training workshops and events, targeted at different levels of experience, from those who are considering tendering but have not done so yet, to those who have tendered unsuccessfully, to those who are already supplying the public sector • Access to tailored information and guides on the website, designed to de-mystify the procurement process and break through the jargon • Quarterly newsletter • E-mail alerts • All a business or third sector organisation needs to do to join is register their details at www.sdpscotland.co.uk. Registration is simple and only takes a couple of minutes.

6. Supplier Development Programme Forthcoming free events available to registered businesses in Argyll and Bute include: • ‘Is the Public Sector Right for You?’ This introductory workshop is designed for businesses and third sector organisations that have had little or no experience of tendering and would like to become 'tender ready'. This workshop will provide you with enough information to decide if this market is for you, give an overview of the tendering landscape and share some tips on successful tendering. • Thursday 11April, Argyll and Bute Council Chambers, Kilmory, Lochgilphead. 10am to 12.30pm. • Friday 19April, Queen’s Hall, Dunoon. 10am to 12.30pm. • Friday 26April, Corran Halls, Oban. 10am to 12.30pm.

7. Supplier Development Programme • Informal ‘Meet the Buyer’ networking event – come and meet members of the council’s procurement team, ask questions and find out about opportunities to supply the council. This will follow each of the workshops above, from 12.30pm to 2pm. •  Local events will continue to be added to the schedule for the year.  Depending on demand this could include workshops on tender writing, supplying food and drink or policy workshops covering health and safety, equality and quality management.

8. Supplier Development Programme It is important to drive up awareness of the support available to businesses in Argyll and Bute. The launch activity consists of: • Emails in early February to Business Gateway contacts, successful and unsuccessful suppliers to the council and the Social Enterprise team contacts • Press releases for the business pages of the local press, first week in March • Advertising in the local press, mid March • Word of mouth: elected Members engaging contacts, Cascade briefing to all staff Please help spread the word! For further information please visit www.sdpscotland.co.uk. If you still have questions please contact Argyll and Bute Council’s Business Gateway team on 01546 605459 or Business.gateway@argyll-bute.gov.uk

9. Looking to the future: Planning for retirement and automatic pension enrolment

10. Automatic Enrolment

11. What is Automatic Enrolment? • From 1 October 2012, in stages, the government introduced workplace pensions reforms to encourage people to save more for their retirement. • The new legislation under the Pensions Act 2008 puts workers into three categories: * State Pension Age

12. What is Automatic Enrolment? (Continued) • These changes require all employers with at least one worker in the UK to automatically enrol eligible job holders into a qualifying automatic enrolment scheme. All non-eligible job holders and entitled workers must be provided with access to a qualifying scheme. • All employees retain the right to opt out of the scheme, with eligible job holders being automatically re-enrolled every three years. • The date at which employers must begin complying with these new regulations is known as the ‘Staging Date’. This date is determined by the Pensions Regulator and is based on the number of employees in the employer’s PAYE scheme on 1April, 2012. For Argyll and Bute Council, the staging date is 1May 2013.

13. Transitional Delay Period Argyll and Bute Council will not have to automatically enrol all employees on 1May 2013 as the legislation allows for a transitional delay period to be applied. This means that existing eligible job holders who, on the staging date, are not members of the LGPS or STSS because they have previously opted out, will not be automatically enrolled. They will, however, retain the right to opt in and will be re-enrolled if they are still an eligible job holder on the employer’s re-enrolment date. The transitional delay period will end on 30September 2017 when normal automatic enrolment rules will resume.

14. Regular re-enrolment • If you decide to opt out of the LGPS/STSS at any time, you will automatically be re-enrolled into the scheme on what is called the “re-enrolment” date if, on that date you are still an eligible jobholder. • The re-enrolment date is a date within a period of three months either side of every third anniversary of our staging date. Our first re-enrolment date is therefore 1May 2016 (+/- three months). • You can still opt out after being re-enrolled.

15. Key changes • Allnon-eligible job holders and entitled workers will be reminded about their right to join the pension scheme within one month of the staging date/commencement of employment. • Any existing employee who is not a member of the pension scheme and who changes category whilst in employment (for example, from a non-eligible job holder to an eligible job holder or vice versa) will be re-assessed and either automatically enrolled or sent the relevant information on how to opt in.

16. What will not change under Automatic Enrolment? • Contractual enrolment – all new employees will still be contractually enrolled in LGPS or STSS. It is only if they choose to opt out of contractual enrolment that the automatic enrolment process will begin. • Contributions - Employee and employer contributions will remain the same.

17. Further information Argyll and Bute Council will be writing to all employees in stages in the period between April and June, 2013 with regard to Automatic Enrolment. In the meantime, further information can be found on The Hub or by contacting SPFO or SPPA direct, details below. Strathclyde Pension Fund Office Scottish Public Pensions Agency P O Box 27001 7 Tweedside Park Glasgow Galashiels G2 9EW TD1 3TE Tel: 0845 213 0202 Tel: 01896893000 Email: spfo@glasgow.gov.uk Email: STSSAwards@scotland.gsi.gov.uk Website: www.spfo.org.uk or STSSService@scotland.gsi.gov.uk Website: www.sppa.gov.uk For more general information about pensions and saving for retirement, please visit: www.direct.gov.uk/workplacepensions

18. It’s good to talk! Ways of keeping in touch

19. In case of emergency… Sometimes the unexpected will happen and it’s important to be able to tell customers or colleagues about it quickly. Emergencies within working hours are usually dealt with quickly and fairly easily. But what happens if you have something important to tell people – and it’s out of hours? Our Communications team has an on-call rota for emergencies and can help you deal with these situations. If there is a major disruption to your service and you need to let people know about it quickly, they can help you find the best way of communicating in an emergency. They can use the council’s website, social media like Twitter or, if the situation is serious enough, speak with contacts in local radio/other media to help you tell people what they need to know. For out of hours emergencies, call the Communications team on 07768 556247. There is always an officer on duty and they will advise you on the best way of reaching the people who need to know.

20. Keep in touch! • Argyll and Bute Council’s communications team is here to help you – and now each council service has been allocated a communications officer to work alongside: • Development and Infrastructure – Lindsey Ingram (01546 604105) • Community Services – Sheila Faichney (01546 604016) • Customer Services – Aileen McNicol (01546 604103) • Email - press@argyll-bute.gov.uk • Over the coming months, we’ll be getting to know your service better – and while most people may know us from dealing with reactive press enquiries, we are also keen to hear about the good news stories in your service and teams. • We can help in lots of different ways. Do you have a brochure or leaflet to produce? Some material to write? A photo opportunity? Contact the communications team for support with all this and more.

21. Got something for Cascade? Cascade is normally issued to managers on the first Friday of the month, and goes live on The Hub one week later. If you have anything for future issues of Cascade please send it to the communications team at: cascade@argyll-bute.gov.uk or contact Aileen McNicol on 01546 604103. Cascade depends on your contributions, and we’re happy to help with layout, content and presentation if you wish. The next Cascade is due for issue mid May. If you have anything you’d like included, please send it by Friday 3 May. We can help with formatting and creating slides – don’t hesitate to call if you would like some assistance with this or any other communications issue.