Question

Who should be the manager of the Parish Clerk?

Answer 1

Manager is a term which does not really fit the relationship between a council and their clerk. The clerk is employed by the council and this relationship should be governed by normal employment practices. Job description, terms of employment, re-numeration, complaints procedure, work assessments and needs of the council etc. It would be normal for a council to delegate the oversight of employment matters to a specific committee ( preferably experienced in employment practices) who's terms of reference and responsibilities would be laid out and who would report to the council for any decision making to be made. This would be very much preferable and safer than a single person ( manager) who would oversee the employee and their employment.

Answer 2

I agree that a Clerk does not have a formal line manager.  Ideally the Clerk should be assessed by a staffing committee, and any complaints, requests for annual leave or training should be made initially to that committee.  If the clerk has to be off due to illness, the chair of the staffing committee would be the logical person to inform first.

Comments

I would add that, if the clerk is off ill etc, as a minimum the chair and vice chair of the staffing committee be informed - or the whole committee.  Just make sure its not a one on one issue (as the council has fallen foul of this a few times).  Decisions have been taken, and later, when a decision questioned, the answer was - well the chair agreed to it!