"All this information provides a tool to assess officers' knowledge in a particular area which is extremely useful. It allows the trainer to clearly identify the needs of the individual and the local authority which helps them develop their training plans."

Judith Johnson - Benefits Manager, Cherwell District Council

IRRV develop Training Needs Analysis tools to identify learner requirements for individuals and local authorities

The Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation (IRRV) is the professional body for those involved in local taxation, benefits and valuation. They promote best practice and support the professional activities of their members who work in government and commerce.

They have an extensive range of training products available to individuals and local authorities. This includes the Euclidian suite of online training programmes developed in conjunction with Nelson Croom. Euclidian Benefits: Basics was launched in 2005 and made an immediate impact in the Benefits arena. To date over 93% of all councils in England, Scotland and Wales have registered for the course and there are in excess of 3700 individual learners who have enrolled.

The Problem

Training has always been key in local authorities, who are keen to ensure their staff have the appropriate support to do their jobs. Identifying what training is required and where is the challenge.

Training managers need to be able to identify the individual training requirements of staff and ideally this should be on an ongoing basis. In the past the only way of assessing requirements was by commissioning consultants to conduct a Training Needs Analysis (TNA). This is costly, time consuming and distracting for the local authority and its workforce.

Streamlining the process of identifying learner requirements would help benefits officers be more effective in the provision of training.

The solution

The IRRV recognised this need and set about developing the Euclidian Training Needs Analysis tools with Nelson Croom.

There are both Basics and Professional versions available, consisting of a number of questions designed to identify an individual's strengths and areas requiring development.

The TNAs can be accessed at any time to suit the user. Once the TNA has been completed there are a number of reporting tools that training managers can access to analyse the results, which is all done online.

Training managers can see an individual's score, broken down into a number of areas. They can see how that individual compared with others at their local authority and across the country.

By looking at their local authority as a group, training managers can see trends in training requirements and identify particular areas where the local authority scored low.

"All this information provides a tool to assess officers' knowledge in a particular area which is extremely useful," explains Judith Johnson, Benefits Manager at Cherwell District Council.

"It allows the trainer to clearly identify the needs of the individual and the local authority which helps them develop their training plans" she continues.

The Results

The TNA tool for Benefits was launched in February 2007. Training managers in local authorities are now able to access this tool online and the initial response has been universally positive.

Once an individual, team or authority has been assessed and their training needs identified, there are a range of training options available. The IRRV provide training on all areas and at all levels in Revenues and Benefits via the Euclidian suite of online programmes.