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| If you are new to Local Land Charges and have been tasked with rebuilding the service virtually from scratch, how do you go about it? The Local Land Charges standards and National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) have provided a key part of the answer in Chelmsford. They have contributed to the development of the team, identify where improvements can be made to services and formed the basis of a manual for operating the service and developing and supervising staff in the future. |
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| The local land charges team at Medway Council are proud of the standard of service they deliver to their customers, evidenced by the Charter Mark they have held for many years. Business Development Manager Alison Poulson and her team believe it is equally important that each member of the team can demonstrate he or she consistently works to professional standards, so they are all committed to attaining their Local Land Charges NVQs. They have encountered a number of problems – the most significant being the difficulty of making time for their NVQs amongst the competing business priorities of the section – but they are determined to overcome these. They recognise that the standards and NVQs provide the tangible benefits of a structured framework for training, clearer procedures and work instructions and better understanding of each others’ duties within the team. |
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| In Monmouthshire, Local Land Charges standards have been used in various ways – as good practice guidance, to develop office manuals, as teaching aids – since they were first launched in 2000. The NVQ has also been tested, but with limited success due to lack of feedback and interruption because of pregnancy. Head of Local Land Charges, Brenda Chandler, has firm views on what needs to happen to improve the support for Local Land Charges NVQs and also ideas about how the revised standards may be used in the future. |
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| Christine Bacon was the first candidate to be awarded the Local Land Charges NVQ, completing it in record time. She had an incentive. Her boss, the manager of the local land charges section, was due to retire in six months and she knew that she would not have time to do it after she had left. When her boss’s job was advertised, she applied, and used her experience of the NVQ to help her secure promotion. Then, as soon as she completed her NVQ, the council awarded her an additional pay increment. The NVQ has brought benefits both to Christine and to the council. Christine now plans to use the NVQ as the basis for a training manual to help new staff perform to the local land charges national standards. |
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| South Gloucestershire Council has been involved with the Local Land Charges National Occupational Standards and National Vocational Qualifications since day one. Alison Walker, the Local Land Charges Manager, sat on the national steering committee which supervised the development of the standards and qualifications and she has championed their introduction within the authority, using them as the basis for job descriptions, for induction and training programmes and for qualifications and career development for her staff. Two members of her team have now completed their NVQs and another two are in the early stages. |
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| When advertising a vacancy that had arisen through the promotion of a colleague with 14 years’ experience to another department, Uttlesford’s Land Charges Manager, Val Rogacs, made it a requirement that the appointee should take the Local Land Charges NVQ Level 3. Jo Hayden got the job and quickly started work on her NVQ, completing it in just nine months. Being organised, having supportive colleagues and constructive feedback from her assessors were the keys to her success. |
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