Policy and Legislation
Employment
Unfair or unlawful discrimination in employment not only disadvantages an individual who may be denied a job or access to vocational training, the organisation also denies itself access to the widest pool of talent available. Devon County Council expects staff and elected members to recruit and employ people fairly. This means that we can all share the benefits - such as increased motivation, lower turnover of staff and access to wider markets that a diverse workforce and effective equality policy can bring.
Equal Opportunities Statement
Throughout its work, Devon County Council is committed to:
- To reflecting the full diversity of the community it serves and to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone.
- To ensuring equal access to our services by all citizens on the basis of need and to provide services in a manner that is sensitive to the individual whatever their background. We will represent the needs of our diverse communities to other agencies and make equal opportunities a key guiding principle in all of our work with our partners. We will ensure that our workforce reflects the community it serves. We will take positive action to realise our equality of opportunity policy.
- We are committed to eliminating discrimination on the grounds of:
- Age, disability, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, national origin or race, gender or gender identity, HIV status, marital status, religion or belief, responsibility for dependants, sexual orientation, and unrelated criminal convictions.
- It is the responsibility of every employee of the council to uphold and implement this key principle
- It is the responsibility of each individual manager, at all levels, to plan and provide their services to realise this statement.
Find out 
(1.91MB - pdf help) about what some of our staff have to say about working for the Council.
Equal Pay
The national Single Status Agreement required all local authorities to give equal pay for work of equal value and to ensure that pay and grading are fairly and appropriately implemented.
Job evaluation is the means by which the size of jobs are measured by an objective and transparent methodology. Jobs are evaluated by trained, joint panels made up of management and Trade Union representatives. Panels decide a level for each key feature (known as factors) of each job. Each factor level equates to a number of points, the sum of which gives a total score for the job. The job score indicates the overall size of the job and its relative position in the pay and grading structure.
Devon County Council uses the GLPC (Greater London Provincial Council) Job Evaluation Scheme to evaluate all NJC posts as it is recognised by Authorities as a robust process that is comprehensive and straightforward to use. The scheme has been tried and tested; has Trade Union support and complies with Equal Pay and Single Status requirements.
Devon County Council also uses the Hay Job Evaluation Scheme to evaluate all JNC Chief Officer posts and this scheme is also well established, widely used and compliant with Equal Pay and Single Status requirements.
All jobs in DCC have now been sized in this way (apart from Soulbury and Teachers jobs whose terms and conditions are subject to separate negotiating bodies) and we have now fully implemented a new Pay & Grading Structure. For more information about this please email employeereward@devon.gov.uk or call on 01392 381858.
The Council is committed to maintaining Equal Pay and regular reviews will be undertaken in order to support this principle
Useful links
