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28/08/2009

Terms and Conditions for Competitors

Download Word version of Terms and Conditions for Competitors here. 

Download a PDF version of Terms and Conditions for Competitors here.

You should review the Terms and Conditions on the competition website immediately prior to submitting your application as you will be asked to confirm your acceptance of them when submitting your application.

Entry into the Local Government Challenge (“the competition”) is subject to acceptance of these terms and conditions:

1.    Applicants must be full or part time employees, including those on fixed term contracts, who are employed by an LGA member authority from 1st September 2009 to 8th July 2010 (inclusive).  You can change jobs during the period, but you must remain an employee of an LGA member authority throughout.  The LGA member authority/ies that employ(s) you must be in membership of the LGA throughout the same period.  If you are on secondment at any stage during the competition period, your substantive employer must be an LGA member authority and your hosting organisation must be in the public or voluntary sectors.  You can apply to take part in the competition if you are on leave (e.g. maternity, paternity or sick leave) at any stage between 1st September 2009 and 8th July 2010 (inclusive), provided that your employer is an LGA member authority and that you can comply with all the other terms and conditions of this competition.

    For the avoidance of doubt, the competition is not open to temporary, casual or agency staff.  Consultants, contractors or self-employed people can only apply if they are employed by an LGA member authority under a contract of employment.

2.    There are no age restrictions for applicants.

3.    You must have your line manager’s permission to take part in the LG Challenge.  You must provide the requisite written permission at the time you apply, in accordance with the requirements set out in the application form.  If you are on secondment at any point from 1st September 2009 to 8th July 2010 (inclusive), you must have the permission of your line manager in both (or all) organisations, including your substantive employer, to take part in the LG Challenge.  If you change jobs during the competition, you must provide supplementary evidence of your new line manager’s consent for you to continue to participate in the competition.

4.    You must apply on-line at http://www.localgovernmentchannel.com/lgchallenge.  Postal entries will not be accepted.  Applications open on 1st September 2009.  The closing date for the receipt of applications is 10am on Monday 19th October 2009 - now extended to 5.00pm on Thursday 22 October 2009.  The LGA reserves the right to change the closing date where the entries are of insufficient quality.  Your application must be complete by the closing date, including the provision of any necessary supporting statements/consents as these cannot be accepted after the closing date.  An acknowledgement of receipt of your application will be sent to you electronically.  If you do not receive such an acknowledgement, please contact info@lgchallenge.org who can assist you and may ask you to re-submit your application.  Incomplete entries, entries on behalf of another person and joint entries will not be accepted.  Only one entry per person can be accepted.

5.    The competition is not open to staff working on secondment at any organisation within the LGA Group (i.e. the LGA, IDeA, LGIH, LACORS, LGE, Local Partnerships, Centre for Public Scrutiny or Leadership Centre).

6.    The competition is not open to staff designing or running challenges.  

7.    The competition is not open to any of the judges.

8.    The competition is not open to close family members (partners, parents, siblings or children) of:
(a)    the judges, or
(b)    an employee of the Local Government Channel, or
(c)    anyone else directly connected to the competition.

Shortlisting and judging

9.    Shortlisting and judging throughout the competition will be done by a judging panel.  Competitors will be assessed on the following skills:
•    Leadership
•    Innovation and creativity
•    Problem solving, solution finding
•    Visionary and forward thinking
•    Ability to inspire and motivate others
•    Communication.

10.    Scores will be allocated based on the competitors’ demonstration of these skills and the competitors will be ranked at each stage according to their relative scores.  The overall winner will be the one with the highest ranking at the end of the final interview.

11.    The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into concerning the outcome of the competition.  Full details of the judging panel will be provided on the competition website.

12.    Shortlisting will commence on Monday 19th October 2009 and be completed by Friday 13th November 2009.  If you have not heard from us by 13th November 2009, please assume that you were unsuccessful, as we may not be able to notify all unsuccessful applicants.  We will not enter into any correspondence with unsuccessful applicants and we will not provide feedback as to why you were unsuccessful.  

13.    Shortlisting will be carried out in two stages:
(i)    “First sift”- judges will assess all the application forms submitted by applicants against the skills set out in paragraph 9 above.  A “longlist” of competitors will be put forward to the next stage (the “second sift”).

(ii)    “Second sift” – those competitors on the longlist will be invited to attend and make a presentation at a filming day during week commencing 26 October 2009, filmed by the Local Government Channel. Details will be provided to longlisted competitors. The LGA will pay those competitors’ reasonable travel, accommodation and subsistence costs.  The judges will assess the films of all the longlisted competitors and select a short-list of ten (10) competitors, plus a first reserve and a second reserve

14.    We will notify the 10 shortlisted competitors and the two reserves by Friday 13th November 2009.  Their names will be published on the Local Government Challenge website on Friday 20th November 2009.  The 10 shortlisted competitors will progress to the challenge stage.  Reserves will only fill a vacancy if it arises before the date of the first challenge. Reserves will not be substituted into the competition after that date if someone drops out of the competition.

The challenge stage

15.    There will be five challenges held across England and Wales from January 2010 to May 2010 (inclusive) and each challenge will last for one day.  Competitors must make themselves available for all challenges, some of which may require travel and overnight stays or unsocial hours, possibly including weekends.  The dates of the challenges will be confirmed by 11th December 2009.  The LGA will pay competitors’ reasonable travel, accommodation and subsistence costs.  Whilst the LGA and its partners will try not to alter dates, times and locations of the challenges after 11th December 2009, we reserve the right to change these if necessary, but we will try to provide as much notice as possible of any such changes, and in any such case at least one week’s notice.

16.    Competitors must attend all five challenges, unless there are exceptional circumstances and non-attendance is agreed with the judges.  The judges may disqualify a competitor if he/she does not attend at least four of the challenges.

The semi final and final

17.    The four (4) highest ranked competitors at the end of the challenge stage will go forward to the semi final which will be held during the LGA Group Annual Conference in Bournemouth from 6th July 2010 to 8th July 2010 (inclusive).  If any of the four semi finalists cannot attend the LGA Group Annual Conference in Bournemouth, the LGA reserves the right to remove that individual from the competition and replace him/her with one of the remaining competitors who took part in the challenge stage of the competition.  The LGA will pay the semi finalists’ reasonable travel, accommodation and subsistence costs.

18.    The two highest ranked competitors at the end of the semi final will go forward to the final which will also be held during the July 2010 LGA Group Annual Conference in Bournemouth.  The final will consist of a televised interview before the judging panel.  The panel will judge the competitors on the basis of
•    the criteria set out in paragraph 9 above
•    the competitors’ costed proposal for use of the Bruce-Lockhart Scholarship, to fulfil the objectives set out in paragraph 17 below.

The Bruce Lockhart Scholarship

19.    The winner of the competition will receive the first Bruce-Lockhart Scholarship.  The Scholarship will offer up to £10,000 for the winning competitor to undertake a project of up to 6 months in duration to:
•    promote localism and local government through the exchange of ideas with the UK, USA and Europe
•    encourage successful ideas to be put into practice locally
•    publish findings to promote best practice and raise the status of local leadership and local government in the UK.

20.    The winner will be expected to use the money on the basis of the proposal that he/she presented to the judging panel during the final interview (and as endorsed by their employer) and to give prominent credit to the Bruce-Lockhart Leadership Programme in all published material arising from the project.

21.    Payment of the Scholarship will be in instalments, agreed in advance with the winner. The final payment will only be made on completion of the project.

22.    The winner must remain an employee of an LGA member authority for the full period of the Bruce-Lockhart Scholarship.  Failure to satisfy this requirement may result in some or all of the scholarship having to be repaid by the winner.

23.    All reports and findings produced by the winner will be published on-line as best practice case studies by the Bruce-Lockhart Leadership Programme, and recipients of the Scholarship may be required to present their findings at an event or workshop.

General

24.    Competitors will be filmed by the Local Government Channel (and/or its subcontractors) and competitors’ names, business profiles and images will be used throughout the competition and at the awards ceremony.  In addition, from 9th July 2010 onwards, competitors’ names, business profiles and images may be used to promote future LG Challenge competitions and/or to promote working in the public sector.  The shortlisted competitors will be required to consent to such use of their names, business profiles and images.  It is expected that the competition will attract local and national media coverage and so it is realistic to assume that competitors’ names, business profiles and images may be reproduced widely in the media and via the internet.  Whilst all reasonable steps will be taken to ensure the accuracy of press statements and other material issued by the LGA and the Local Government Channel, the LGA cannot be held responsible for inaccurate onward reporting.

25.    Competitors must sign a confidentiality agreement if they are given access to confidential information as part of the challenges.

26.    We will ensure that appropriate insurance cover is provided throughout the competition and that relevant health and safety requirements are adhered to, so far as those are within the LGA’s control.

27.    Competitors will assume sole responsibility for their own actions and their own safety during the challenges, the semi final and the final for such periods when they are not accompanying representatives of the LGA or its partners on any organised element of the competition.  Each competitor agrees to act in accordance with any reasonable instructions given to him/her by or on behalf of the LGA or its partners, to act at all times with due and proper consideration for others and to observe, respect and abide by any applicable laws, guidelines or reasonable instructions.  The LGA accepts no responsibility for and excludes all liability to the fullest extent permitted by law for any breach by any competitor of this clause and for competitors’ own actions and their own safety during the competition for such periods when they are not accompanying representatives of the LGA or its partners on any organised element of the competition, providing that the LGA does not seek to exclude any liability to the competitor for any death or personal injury caused by the negligence of the LGA.

28.    Applicants must sign an acceptance of these terms and conditions at the time they apply and competitors must adhere to all the terms and conditions throughout the competition.

29.    This Agreement does not constitute any form of employment by the LGA of the competitors.

30.    The LGA may terminate this Agreement in relation to any competitor with immediate effect for any of the following reasons:

•    if he/she is unable to take part in any of the challenges and/or the semi final and/or the final at the LGA Group Conference;

•    if he/she brings or seeks to bring the LGA or its partners into disrepute;
•    if he/she breaches any term of this Agreement.

31.    The LGA and its partners reserve the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue (temporarily or permanently) this competition with or without prior notice due to reasons outside their control.

32.    The LGA reserves the right at any time to change these terms and conditions and competitors will be bound by any such changes.  The LGA will post revised terms and conditions on the competition website.

33.    These terms and conditions set out the entire Agreement between the competitor and the LGA and supersede any and all previous agreements whether written or oral.  This Agreement is personal to the competitor and cannot be assigned to anyone else.  This Agreement shall be subject to and interpreted in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and the parties shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.


Promoter: The Local Government Association on behalf of the LGA Group, Local Government House, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HZ

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