Oakham Town Council to receive support from Uppingham while clerk and deputy clerk are on sick leave

Oakham Town Council will be getting support from a neighbouring council after its clerk and deputy clerk went on sick leave.

The town council is holding an extraordinary staffing meeting tomorrow (Wednesday, May 7) to sign off the temporary measure of administrative support from Uppingham Town Council to keep services running while it is short staffed.

The authority is also proposing to take on a new events coordinator to assist the deputy clerk and to take on the running of the new Discover Oakham website that the town council has funded. The website will showcase the businesses in the town.

The papers say: “Our deputy clerk has been expertly managing town events—a role she truly enjoys. However, with an events officer joining the team, she will be able to dedicate more time to supporting the town clerk, easing his workload and improving office efficiency.”

The authority will also receive four hours a week of administrative support from Uppingham Town Council while the deputy clerk and clerk are off.

Last week mayor Paul Ainsley told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “We will take all measures to ensure we keep the system going. We will be taking sensible steps to ensure our services are not compromised. We are trying very hard to keep things under control.

“I would describe it as a difficult situation.”

He said he was ‘fully supportive’ of both staff members who were on sick leave.

The LDRS is aware of a number of issues between some councillors and the office staff at the authority in recent months. There have been a few confidential staffing committee meetings held and at the last full council meeting in April it was decided in a private session that the authority would refer a matter considered by the staffing committee onto the monitoring officer at Rutland County Council.

The monitoring officer has responsibility for dealing with complaints made by parish councils and makes a judgement on whether it meets criteria for further investigation.

The minutes of the Oakham Town Council staffing committee held in March have now been published online and show that a complaint was made by Coun Martin Brookes about the clerk and deputy clerk regarding issues including data handling and response times to communications. A letter written by the council’s mayor to Coun Brookes said the matter would be reviewed. Coun Sally-Anne Wadsworth had also raised concerns about responses received from the clerk’s office to questions asked and it was agreed she would meet with the clerk.

An e-mail was also sent by the mayor to all staff and councilors emphasising the importance of staff wellbeing and said the code of conduct would be ‘strengthened’ and mental health support would be provided to staff.

Rutland County Council has been approached for comment about the situation and a spokesperson said: “Rutland County Council cannot share information about allegations of a breach of the member code of conduct until they are determined, at which point some details may be able to be made public. Information about member conduct complaints received by the monitoring officer during the 2024/25 municipal year will be included in a report to the member conduct committee at its next meeting.”

The date for the next meeting has not yet been set.