Welcome

Welcome to your latest edition of In the Know including pre-election period information, a reminder of our National Apprenticeship Week events next week and an upgrade to our telephone system taking place on Thursday 2 February.

News for you

Pre-election period begins Monday 27 March The next local elections are due to be held on Thursday 4 May 2023. The pre-election period (previously known as purdah) starts on Monday 27 March and runs until Thursday 4 May 2023. During this period, there is a ban in place on publicising the views of political parties which could be seen as unfairly promoting one political agenda over another. For more information about what you can and can't do, please visit the pre-election period intranet page or email communications@portsmouthcc.gov.uk. Apply for local election roles Applications are now open for roles during the upcoming local election including counting assistants, presiding officers and poll clerks. All roles are paid and you will not be required to take annual leave for these, providing you have your line manager’s permission to be released. Find out more on the temporary election jobs page and apply by completing the online application form. Take part in National Apprenticeships Week

Online sessions are being held next week as part of National Apprenticeship Week to help you find out about apprenticeship opportunities at the council.

This includes Find out more about apprenticeships on Wednesday 8 February from 11am to 11.45am, Functional skills on Wednesday 8 February from 12pm to 12.30pm and a session for managers about recruiting apprentices on Tuesday 7 February from 12pm to 12.45pm. To attend a session, please contact apprenticeships@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

Find out more

Reminder: read the latest update from David Williams

If you haven't done so already, make sure you read the latest update from Chief Executive David Williams where he talks about how we are in a good place to deliver our priorities, recognises some of the great work being achieved across the council and looks forward to the year ahead.

Read David's update

Energy saving tips

Salary Finance, our financial wellbeing benefit provider, has put together information on energy bills including a summary of support being rolled out to UK households and tips for saving money.

Please be aware, Salary Finance gives access to a range of financial benefits, including affordable loans repaid through your salary. Visit Salary Finance or watch the lunchtime learning session for more information.

For the most up-to-date information on services and support to help with the rising cost of living, please visit the cost of living hub on our website.

Enhanced technology 

Telephone system upgrade - Thursday 2 February

IT services will be carrying out an essential telephone system upgrade on the Thursday 2 February between 7pm to 9pm.

During this time, please expect a brief period of downtime lasting up to a few minutes where telephone services will be unavailable - impacting the civic offices and all satellite sites. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

The upgrade is part of work to replace our analogue, fixed phone lines and other digital services with Microsoft Teams - detailed in the video below. 

Find out more about our telephone upgrade on the let’s talk telephones intranet page. 

City news and events

Closure of The Harbour support service

The Harbour, an urgent out-of-hours mental health support service, closed on 20 January 2023. The service was set up as a pilot in September 2021, but the decision has been made to close the service as the demand was not high enough.

Charlotte Hope, Head of Unplanned Care at Solent NHS Trust, said, "Whilst feedback from callers has been very positive; the demand was not high enough. With this in mind, Solent NHS Trust and Solent Mind made the necessary but difficult decision that the pilot will not continue."

Residents can still get mental health support from lots of other services, both locally and nationally.

Find out more