Close Personal Associations and Relationships Guidance - June 2026
In this section
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Scope
- 3. Principals
- 4. Roles and Responsibilities
- 5. Definition of Close Personal Associations / Relationships
- 6. Defining a Relevant Team or Establishment or Work Area
- 7. Recruitment and Appointment of Employees
- 8. Requirement to Disclose a Close Personal Association
- 9. Where there is a Relationship Between Applicant and Manager or Team Colleagues
- 10. Authority to Appoint
- 11. When Issues Cannot be Managed Effectively
- 12. When a Relationship Breaks Down
- 13. Conduct or Performance Issues
- 14. Close Personal Associations between an Employee and a Child / Young Person or Vulnerable Adult
- 15. Colleagues Affected by a Close Personal Association
- 16. Provision of References
- 17. Financial Regulations
- 18. Associations with Contractors or Potential Contractors
- 19. Failure to Disclose a Close Personal Association
- 20. Ensuring Equality of Opportunity
- APPENDIX 1 - Officers' Declaration of Personal Interests
- APPENDIX 2 - Relationship Protocol
6. Defining a Relevant Team or Establishment or Work Area
What constitutes a team, establishment or work area for these purposes will usually be self-evident, i.e. involves working under the same direct line management arrangement. For the purposes of this guidance an establishment is usually defined as a single location or workplace
There will, however, be occasions, where the association involves a senior manager within the authority and the definition and potential for conflict of interest will be wider e.g. across a service, or where a Head of Service has an association with a Councillor who has specific responsibility for their service group
Conflict could also arise where one of the parties is employed by the authority and the other is either a volunteer or employed by an organisation with which the authority has a contractual or partnership agreement, i.e. partnership working (Please refer to Employee Code of Conduct).