The Council’s Employee Assistance Programme includes a dedicated managerial advice line. While HR can support you with managing situations and applying RBBC policies, there may be times when you prefer to speak with someone external. This could be for emotional support, to look after your wellbeing as a manager, or to gain practical tips for handling challenging or stressful situations.

The advice line is available 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday. To access it call 0800 085 3805 or email assist@cicwellbeing.com. 

More information. 

The ICT team is upgrading your old Windows 10 laptops to the latest Windows 11 devices. This essential update ensures improved security and enhanced usability across the organisation. The rollout will start on 6 January and run until 31 March 2026. To receive your new laptop, you’ll need to book into one of the two daily handover sessions - either 9am or 1pm.

On 27 November, the unions and council management met to continue negotiations on the proposed Pay Award for 2026/27. Following these discussions, and within the boundaries of what is affordable to the authority, the council has revised its offer for the 2026/27 Pay Award. The revised offer is: 

Is there a project or campaign your department, your team or service want to shout about? We want to hear your ideas for our programme of Bitesize Briefings in 2026. Bitesize Briefings are scheduled throughout the year and are an opportunity for services to engage staff with campaigns, service updates and news. 

Briefings are approximately 45 minutes and facilitated online via MS Teams. Staff, teams and services are very welcome to propose a new idea or topic for a Bitesize Briefing.

If you'd like to put forward a suggestion, drop us an email at yourfeedback@reigate-banstead.gov.uk by 31 January 2026, but we would also welcome new suggestions throughout the year.

The rising cost of living has made life more challenging for many households. Please remind and signpost staff of the support and benefits that are available through the council to help ease some of these pressures.

• Pluxee Staff Benefits Scheme: offers discounted e-vouchers at 100’s of high street retailers, ranging from supermarkets, holiday companies, days out and restaurants.
  
  
• ELE: financial wellbeing resources and guidance on budgeting and finances. Access via the Knowledge or follow the instructions on noticeboards (for offline staff). To access this platform the user name is ele@reigate-banstead.co.uk and the password is reigate-bansteadwellbeing. 
  
  
• Eyecare voucher scheme: offers staff who use display screen equipment with a voucher for an eye test at Specsavers, one pair of glasses from the £50 range or £50 towards glasses, (when required for VDU use), and £20 off when purchasing from the £100 range or above.
  
  
• Discounted Leisure Membership
• Cycle to work scheme
• Travel loans

From 2 January 2026 there are some important changes to our off-payroll appointment processes. 

Off‑payroll individuals are those who carry out work for the council but are not directly employed by us, and typically not paid through the RBBC payroll, such as interims, temps, agency workers, consultants, locums, or freelancers. 

The current process and Establishment and Vacancy Management Form have been updated on the Knowledge to capture requests and approval for off-payroll workers. Key changes are: 

• approval must be in place before any new appointments/agreements are made for ‘off-payroll’ workers. 
• off-payroll individuals working in the Town Hall, or who require access to council IT systems, will be recorded on our HR system (iTrent) to improve reporting.  Access to our IT systems will be created/deactivated automatically based on HR data.
• the existing IT starter form should be used to notify HR of a new starter as soon as an off-payroll worker has been appointed.  

When seeking approval for recruitment to a vacancy or requesting changes to your agreed establishment, please liaise with HR and your Management Accountant to progress authorisation of the Establishment and Vacancy Management Form.

Service Desk has introduced new steps for password resets. This now includes an additional check via your manager, team leader, or supervisor, who will confirm your identity using your ID badge number. This is to ensure we are absolutely certain that the person requesting the reset is who they say they are.

Staff should always carry their ID badges while at work, including when working at sites such as Community Centres. For more information about re-setting your password, visit ICT User Guide. 

From time to time, we experience delays in getting ICT equipment back from leavers, including staff and contractors. Chasing this takes up a lot of ICT’s time, and when a laptop isn’t returned, ICT currently has to cover the replacement cost, which is approximately £1,000.

We’re asking services and managers to support this process by ensuring all ICT equipment and security passes are collected and returned promptly. This responsibility sits with the manager, not ICT.

HR will be updating the iTrent leaver email to reinforce the importance of returning equipment. Going forward, ICT will send one reminder to the manager if items haven’t been returned. If they still remain outstanding, ICT will escalate to Finance and the Service Manager, along with the approximate £1,000 replacement cost.

Thank you in advance for your support.

• Hybrid working
• Employment contracts

Hybrid working 

For most teams and roles at RBBC, hybrid working and flexibility in working arrangements can be agreed with Heads of Service and line managers whilst accommodating team and operational needs. Hybrid working and flexibility is highly valued by our employees, and the uncertainty of what working arrangements may be expected by the new East Surrey Council causes concern for a number of staff.

As a reminder, contractually, the work location for our staff is their office base – e.g. Town Hall, Depot, Community Centre etc. Hybrid flexibility is supported where appropriate to the role and with manager agreement, and this includes the option to work from home. However, this is an agreement that needs to suit business needs and flexibility, rather than a contractual right. 

We want to avoid moving away from the discretionary and flexible expectations of hybrid working, so don't expect to be formalising any discretionary arrangements. Where there has been any agreement as part of a formal flexible working request, the appropriate arrangements will already be documented as part of the outcome of that process. If we get new flexible working requests, these will need to be considered on their merits, and may need to take into account in-person collaboration that might be required leading up to Vesting Day and transition processes.

Your support in managing these expectations with your teams is appreciated.

Employment contracts

As part of the LGR transition, we will be required to provide details about all our employees and their employment to the new unitary employer. To ensure all the information held in relation to our staff’s employment is accurate, we will be providing staff with a summary of their personal terms of employment to check so that any queries can be reviewed. We will also be ensuring RBBC have all the necessary and relevant documentation on file that will need to form part of personnel records. 

HR will be completing this on a team-by-team basis before 31 March 2026 and will liaise with managers ahead of sharing any information with your teams so you know when your team can expect to receive their contract summaries to review.

Any questions or queries can be raised with HR at that time to ensure that the correct information is recorded for individuals.  It would be useful if you could advise your teams this will being taking place, so as to reduce ad-hoc requests for copies of contracts in the meantime.