West Dunbartonshire Council

West Central Scotland is served by one of the best road links in the UK, putting the rest of Scotland, and the UK, within easy reach. West Dunbartonshire itself is just half an hour from Glasgow and our modern and spacious corporate headquarters at Church Street, Dumbarton are just 15 minutes from Glasgow International Airport. Plus, a half-hourly train service provides connections to Loch Lomond, Glasgow and beyond.

We serve the region's 90,000 people and thriving business community from our headquarters in Dumbarton and Clydebank, as well as several smaller offices across the region.

Excellent Terms and Conditions of Employment

West Dunbartonshire Council provides excellent terms and conditions of employment and career opportunities.

❖Financial Benefits

A competitive and modern pay package, access to our pension schemes and access to salary sacrifice arrangements for childcare.

❖ Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) in Scotland is a funded, defined benefit, statutory occupational pension scheme and it is one of the main public service pension schemes in Scotland. The Scottish Public Pensions Agency is

responsible for the LGPS regulations, but it is administered by Strathclyde Pension Fund. The LGPS is one of the best pension schemes there is.

It delivers:

•  a pension that increases each year in line with inflation
•  a pension payable to your surviving spouse or partner on your death after retirement
•  a tax free lump sum in exchange for some of your pension
•  death in service protection of three times your pay as a tax free lump sum
•  a pension for your surviving spouse or partner on your death in service
•  an ill health pension paid from any age if you have two years’ service but are permanently unable to work.

❖Holidays

West Dunbartonshire Council offers generous leave entitlement, starting from a minimum of 33 days per year (25 days annual and eight days public holiday entitlement) rising to 43 days per year after 10 years’ service. This is based on full-time working and pro-rata for part-time employees.

❖Family Friendly Policies

We also offer a range of family friendly policies with generous entitlements, including maternity leave, maternity support, adoption and parental leave.

❖Career Development Opportunities

We provide access to a wide range of jobs, training and development opportunities to support your career aspirations.

❖Discounts and Benefits

A staff benefits scheme offers a wide range of exclusive discounts.

❖Wellbeing Support

We provide support for the mental and physical wellbeing of staff, including independent Counselling Services, Occupational Health Service and Physiotherapy Services.

West Dunbartonshire, nestled between Glasgow and the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, is often considered the gateway to the Scottish Highlands. Made up of rural, urban and waterfront locations it offers a range of new-build and traditional homes, all within easy reach of Glasgow, but without the price tag.

Our schools perform well above the national average, with many benefiting from our £100+ million modernisation programme. We also have a brand new, state-of-the-art specialist educational establishment designed specifically for children with additional needs.

Throughout West Dunbartonshire, you’re surrounded by natural beauty. From our Green Flag Park at Levengrove which overlooks the River Clyde and historical Dumbarton Rock, to Loch Lomond National Park which provides some of the best water-sports, fishing, camping, hill-walking and golf in Scotland. If that wasn’t enough, easy access to the West Highland Way and an abundance of Monroe’s are on our doorstep.

West Dunbartonshire also hosts the Scottish Pipe Band Championships in Dumbarton each year, along with the Loch Lomond Highland Games in Balloch during the summer months.

West Dunbartonshire Council is an award winning sector leading authority that is recognised as one of Scotland’s Top 10 Flexible Employers.

We’re committed to ensuring that our children and young people get the best start, led by motivated, inspirational leaders who can offer our children and young people the opportunities they deserve. We aim to deliver a transformational educational experience that has a legacy of achievement, attainment and increased life chances for all our young people.

How do we know we are succeeding? West Dunbartonshire Council was one of the first authorities to fully implement the 1140 hours of free early learning in Scotland and our recent Care Inspectorate reports graded our centres as very good with improved learning, raised attainment and narrowing of the poverty-related attainment gap.

We have invested £9.7m in our early years workforce and £5.8m in our Early Learning Centres. To accommodate the expansion, we have opened 10 new centres, completely refurbishing 15 existing centres and built four new centres offering high quality early learning and childcare and the best start for our children.

We are continuing to see steady progress when it comes to exam results with our schools outperforming the national average in all levels from N3 to Higher, and all of our pupils achieving qualifications.

We are committed to supporting the professional development of our staff.

We believe that high-quality teaching is central to raising the attainment of our young people, and we are committed to helping all our teachers develop as “leaders of learning”.

Our professional learning programme helps employees to work collaboratively to enhance their practice and succeed as a teacher, working within the unique context of West Dunbartonshire Council - no matter what stage their teacher journey.

We’re investing in our schools and local area

Our school population is increasing and we have continually invested in our learning estate to meet our future needs. In 2017 we launched the new £25m Our Lady and St Patrick’s High School while in 2018 the £16m Balloch Education Campus opened its doors.

Our new £15.1m Renton Primary School, Language and Communication Base and Early Learning and Childcare Centre opened in 2022 and plans are progressing well on the £28.86m Faifley Campus which is due to open in 2025.

A £100m capital investment programme is underway to regenerate our town centres, develop new public buildings, construct hundreds of affordable new homes and attract businesses to improve our economy. With excellent transport links, Glasgow is within easy reach but our homes don’t come at city prices.

The area has a rich heritage, shaped by its world-famous shipyards along the Clyde, and boasts many attractions ranging from the iconic Titan Crane and Dumbarton Rock, to the stunning natural scenery of Loch Lomond.