Working For You & With You - 23 June 2023

Working For You & With You

As I agreed with one clerk this week, there is no such thing as a quiet time anymore in the world of parish and town councils and the last few weeks have certainly been full-on at Northants CALC.  Just this week our burgeoning inboxes have been full of enquiries, urgent phone calls come in daily, I’ve met with senior officers at WNC, Lesley has met with senior officers at NNC, Marie has had eight training events, and Sophie has been supporting us all and making sure everything works the way it should.  How busy we are is of course a reflection of how busy member parish and town councils are and we are picking up anecdotal evidence that some clerks and councillors are feeling the strain.  Workload stress, consultation fatigue, and information overload are all significant issues in our sector.  The last thing we want to do is to put out a survey to find out how fatigued you are with surveys, but if there are any clerks or councillors that are feeling close to the edge, please heed the warning signs and take action.  It is better to duck out for a short time than to plough on and then keel over altogether.  Use web sites such as https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/stress/#what-is to raise awareness in your council team of the early warning signs of stress and burnout.  It’s good to be busy, engaged, and passionate, but there are limits for all of us.