Is work being too nosey?

[stressystressed]

I work for an organisation that is within a county council.
Many of us work part time.
We have been told we have to submit a "Conflict of Interest" form for any similar work we do outside of our county council job.
So imagine…you are a sports teacher, and go round different schools teaching PE lessons. You are employed by the county council education team part time, and also on a self employed basis to private schools.
To me, it feels too nosey. Why should I have to tell the county council what I do when I'm not working for them? Or AIBU?

Declaring a potential conflict of interests is completely reasonable for all public sector posts and has been for decades, particularly above a certain level.
It is usually a blanket request nowadays because who has time to try and assess which posts might have influence over something or other in the future.

I've been asked to declare potential conflict of interests in public sector, private sector and voluntary/charity sector - and for junior, senior, full time, part time and unpaid roles.
For some of them I also had to declare family interests, too.
All completely normal.

Asks the woman who claims to have worked as a public servant for many years.

Maybe a little less calling your employer nosy & a little more active curiosity from you about the obligations of publicly funded organisations would stand you in good stead OP.

Completely normal. Normal to ask about the interests of direct family members as well. It's just basic due diligence.

I am amazed that you don't understand this basic concept after working for the council for years.

@Comefromaway It is normally a blanket policy because nobody in the council will have time to look at each post and decide whether or not it might have some impact on some decision in the future.

It isn't personal. Nobody is sitting in county hall thinking, "well, we'd better make sure to check all the music teachers because they're really risky" or whatever.

In any case, conflict of interest doesn't just cover awarding of contracts or tenders, it could be favouritism in other ways, such as giving certain people preferential access to services, even on a small scale.
(Not saying that your dh would do this, of course)

I was thinking the same thing - and much more recently than that.

Even in private sector we've been asked to declare, very normal and I'm surprised you're surprised?

Standard practice nowadays. I've only been in work since 2017 and I've had to ask permission to do any other work outside of my role in every job I've been in.

Anything at all from retail to pub work has to be cleared and a non-compete is clearly enshrined.

They have told you. They want you to fill out a Conflict of incase form incase there's a conflict of interest. The clue is in the name.

This.

It has been standard practice for all NHS staff in all of the organisations/trusts I have worked in.

Op it is no nosy at all. Can you imagine the outcry if the office clerk is married to someone awarded a contract and the potential conflict had not been declared and managed?

Perfectly normal OP, private sector businesses largely have similar policies of expecting staff to report any second jobs or other business interests to ensure no conflict of interests and helps manage anti corruption practises.

Given the opportunities for corruption in certain local government roles and departments , this feels very sensible.

This is fairly standard in many jobs

The only thing that is surprising is that you've not been asked before.

It's probably come up in an audit or a new senior person has started and picked up on this gap.

Gosh you greatly overestimate the interest that your employer have in your activities outside of work. Remember they only wanted to know about anything that could potentially lead to a conflict with your current role – they don't care in the slightest if you are making handmade soaps or candles on the days that you're not working for them! the only surprising thing about your post is that you haven't been asked to do this years ago, I suspect the council have had some kind of audit and realised that this is something which should have been actioned a long time ago.

I'm surprised you've only just found this out.

I had to get permission to become a board member of a charity that didn't even work within the local council area. I didn't think it was "being nosey" but being transparent and protecting both me and the council.

Hahaha ‘nosey’ 🤭 I volunteer at a public sector organisation and I have to formally declare all my interests on an annual basis - it’s completely normal and sounds like OP’s employers have belatedly realised their legal duties.

Many places have conflict of interest forms.eg if you work in development of housing estates but your husband works for Bellway Homes, it's a possible conflict of interest as you could tweak tender applications so your organisation favours your dhs employer for big contracts.

Perfectly normal. It's not nosey.
If you don't like it or don't want to do it then stop working for them.

Totally normal. I’ve had to do it for government, NHS, financial services and charity roles.

This completely standard. I work in the private sector and have always had to disclose conflicts of interest (including voluntary/unpaid positions).

not doing this is how you get government contracts going to some private company that am mp also happens to be a director of etc.

What's nosy about it?

The only person I've ever known think it was nosy was using information gained from their public sector role to benefit their private interest.... exactly why these sorts of disclosures are 100% necessary.

In general i find people who are concerned about other's "nosiness" usually have something to hide.

It’s to ensure it’s politically neutral, isn't something that could bring the council into disrepute and doesn’t conflict with your role.

YABU