Welcome

Welcome to your latest edition of In the Know including news and information on service changes, training courses and offers and support available.

News for you

Changes to mail sent from the civic offices

There is new way to send recorded of signed for mail from the civic. Postal books previously used for sending all recorded and signed mail items have been replaced with a new label printing process with immediate effect. As the new label printing process only prints one tracking number, all tracked and signed items that need sending, now need to go directly through the Dispatch office. To send your tracked and signed items, please visit the Dispatch office, lower ground car park in core 2, between 2.30pm and 3.30pm, Monday to Friday, for the team to process this for you. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have any queries or concerns, please contact simon.snoxell@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

Still time to provide your views on the civic offices

Please spend a few minutes completing the civic offices survey to let us know what you think on the changes taken place and how you use the building. We also want to know what you think of having a café at The View. Please take part in the survey which closes at 9am on Monday 27 February.

Minutes silence for Ukraine

A national minute’s silence will take place at 11am on Friday 24 February to mark the one-year anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The government is encouraging individuals and organisations across the UK to participate. This national moment of reflection will offer the UK public the chance to pay tribute to the courage of the Ukrainian people and demonstrate the UK’s unwavering solidarity with the country. There will be a short ceremony held outside the civic offices in the Guildhall Square starting from 10.50am. The service will include the raising of the flag and messages from the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth Councillor Hugh Mason and Leader of Portsmouth City Council Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson.  If you are working and wish to attend, please seek permission from your manager. For staff working in the civic offices, a tannoy announcement will mark the beginning and the end of the minutes silence.

Synergy - new system for education

The education service is introducing a new system called Synergy to replace the current system, Capita One. This holds the data for 16 different services within education including free school meals, admissions, early years and governor services.

Synergy will improve the service offered for children across the city. It will be implemented in stages and the first change will be the process for Early Years and childcare registration, free school meals and governors which will go live on 31 March.

The project team are working with staff across the council, schools and settings who use the system to ensure they know what's changing and receive the training they need. You can find out more on the Synergy intranet page.

Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) coming soon

We are looking to make it easier for staff to reset their own password if locked out or forgotten by enabling a new feature called Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR). The new feature be available in March 2023 and further details on how to get registered and set up will be available soon.

Your learning

Affinity Connect courses

Affinity Connect is a specialist provider of financial education in the workplace for the public sector. There are offering free online sessions to help breakdown the complexities of financial planning and retirement.

Focus on your finances course - aimed to help employees wishing to take control of their finances, including identifying financial issues that can arise during working life and help with making key decisions.

• Wednesday 29 March - 9.30am to 11.00am
• Monday 11 September - 9.30am to 11.00am

To find out more, view the course agenda. You can book via this registration link.

Pre-retirement course - aimed at employees considering retirement or for those who have just started thinking about retirement plans.

• Thursday 20 April - 1pm to 3.30pm
• Wednesday 2 August - 1pm to 3.30pm
• Thursday 9 November - 9.30am to 12.30pm

To find out more, view the course agenda. You can book via this registration link.

Find the training you're looking for

Training is readily available for all staff and to support with this, the learning and development team have developed a timetable of training events which are taking place until the end of March. You can access this on the changes to our Learning Management System (LMS) intranet page. 

For any enquiries or to book, contact the learning and development team by emailing learninganddevelopment@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

City news and events

Helping young people learn about healthy relationships

Over the next 6 weeks, Stop Domestic Abuse will be running sessions in schools and colleges across the city to help young people learn about healthy relationships, and the signs of domestic abuse.

As part of our Is This Love campaign, we're encouraging all young people in the city to take our short online quiz to help them understand if their relationship is healthy. The quiz is confidential and will show people where to get support if they need it.

If you know, or work, with a young person, please encourage them to visit www.isthislove.org.uk to take the quiz and learn where to get help.

Adults can also take the quiz to learn more about their own relationship.

Find out more 

Take part in a free innovative hot water trial and cut your bills

Innovative start-up company, Heata, is looking for participants for their government funded trial. If you have a hot water cylinder, you can take part and benefit from free hot water.

Heata is a powerful new data processing unit that attaches to your hot water cylinder and works alongside it. The heat generated by data processing is transferred directly to your hot water tank, providing a free base level of heat.

All installation costs are covered by the trial funding, and you will be reimbursed for any electricity used to power the unit. To find out more, and to sign up for the free trial visit the Heata trial website.