Moray Council

Moray life

Rich lowland farming, fishing villages, mountains, moors and lochs are the essence of Moray. Stretching from Brodie in the West to Cullen in the East and South to the Cabrach and the Lecht, the area encompasses some of Britain’s most remote and magnificent countryside with an abundance of rich natural beauty and many isolated villages and hamlets. The Rivers Spey, Avon, Deveron and Isla start their journeys high up in the Grampian Mountains and wind their way down to the sea lining our coast.

The majority of Moray’s 96,000 population live in and around the towns of Elgin, Forres, Keith, Buckie, Dufftown and Lossiemouth, each with its own strong local identity. The large presence of RAF and Army personnel spread over the RAF base at Lossiemouth and the army at Kinloss contribute significantly to our local economy and culture.

Known as Scotland’s Sunshine Coast, Moray is popular with visitors and businesses partly due to its geography and climate. With almost 60% less rain than Scotland as a whole averages a year, Moray takes shelter from the Grampian Mountains to maintain our micro-climate. A popular holiday destination in the Victorian era, Moray is still famed for its drier and sunnier climate than most of Scotland. With near continuous daylight in mid-summer, Moray is a great choice for year-round adventure and living renowned for the friendliness and welcoming attitude from Moravians.

The great outdoors

From mountain to sea, we have it all in Moray. If skiing is your thing we’ve got you covered for snow sports.

Prefer the rush of the sea on your surf or paddleboard? We can do that too.

If you’re looking for a weekend hike or pedal there are numerous munros and corbetts, tracks and paths to choose from. You’ll never be stuck for outdoor inspiration in Moray.

The Speyside Way runs from Buckie on the Moray Coast to Aviemore in the Cairngorms National Park and links up the communities in the Badenoch & Strathspey area of the Park.

A spur of the Speyside Way runs also from Ballindalloch to Glenlivet and Tomintoul.

The Dava Way runs from Forres near the Moray Coast to Grantown-on-Spey in the Cairngorms National Park.

For more information on Moray Paths and Outdoor Access visit Moray Ways.

Find out loads more here: https://morayspeyside.com/.

Sport

With 16 golf courses in Moray there’s ample opportunity to play for leisure or competitively. There are football teams from welfare league to League two that will welcome your support with Inverness and Aberdeen easily accessible on match days too.

Rugby, cricket, lawn bowls, tennis, badminton, swimming, ice sports and so much more is all on your doorstep through private hires and clubs, friendly groups and leisure centres.

Culture

Moray’s rich history dating back to the 10th century borders the Banffshire and Highland regions. From textiles to crofting, ancient monuments to modern exhibitions, you’ll find cultural offerings in every town and village in Moray.

Forres is noted for the town’s ancient history as a Royal Burgh, its mysterious Pictish Sueno’s Stone and as the home of the real Macbeth.

The historical ruins of Elgin’s Cathedral, the Lantern of the North, tell of Moray’s infamous Wolf of Badenoch and the local museum houses an impressive collection showing the development of Moray and our contributions to the world.

Keith proudly boasts Scots Toun status alongside some of the most ancient and picturesque bridges and buildings as well as a world famous traditional music festival.

Findhorn hosts an ever-evolving arts festival annually and is just one of many beautiful coastal villages to be discovered along the Moray Coastal Path with their fishing heritage on display.

Of course, Moray is the whisky capital of Scotland with the world renowned Malt Whisky Trail taking you on a memorable journey through the area.

Education

There are eight secondary schools and 45 primary schools in Moray with two Independent schools and a University of the Highlands and Islands campus in Elgin.

With over 100 funded early learning and childcare (ELC) providers in the region there is a variety of options to suit families.

We also have an active adult and family learning team offering free support across Moray helping to improve confidence with words and numbers wherever you are in your learning journey.

Transport

Moray is around 30 minutes from Inverness airport and 60 minutes from Elgin to Aberdeen airport, both with regular flights to the rest of the UK and Europe.

The railway runs through Moray with stations in Forres, Elgin and Keith on the main line from Inverness to Aberdeen, linking to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

A number of public travel routes are offered by bus from larger urban areas to smaller rural settlements. The council’s own demand responsive service, m.connect, can be booked via the dedicated app and connects the whole of Moray.

An increasing number of active travel routes also now connect Moray towns and countryside villages with more being developed.

Healthcare

NHS Grampian cover the Moray area with a number of GP surgeries in local towns and the main hospital, Dr Gray’s, in Elgin.

Health & Social Care Moray delivers a wide range of community health and social care services under the direction of the Moray Integration Joint Board, including: social care services for adults; community hospitals; GP practices; district nursing; health visiting; mental health; drug and alcohol services; occupational therapists; dental, ophthalmic and pharmacy services.

Our shared goal is to make a difference to the area we serve. Our people play the most significant part in achieving our vision of a Moray where people prosper free from poverty and inequality.

Staff contribute to our values of being fair, ambitious, improving and responsive. We value our employees and offer a number of benefits for working with us including:

Flexible working

We encourage and support flexible working and, wherever possible, offer a variety of flexible working arrangements designed to support service needs and offer choices to employees which assist work-life balance.

Smarter working

At Moray Council we’ve created a progressive, dynamic and sustainable working environment that empowers our workforce to succeed and deliver excellent services. We make use of technologies and workstyles that enhance communication, collaboration and improve wellbeing while working in a hybrid way and in alternative locations.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Moray Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We’re proud to be a disability confident employer, a carer positive employer and an armed forces friendly employer. We are a Young Person’s Guarantee employer and also hold the Defence Employers Recognition Scheme Gold Award. We run regular events, activities and awareness raising initiatives with a focus on equality, diversity and inclusion across the organisation and have a number of policies and procedures which support this.

Annual leave

We offer a generous amount of annual leave to our employees. Employees on our non-teaching and non-craft terms and conditions get 28 days annual leave a year plus seven public holidays. After five years of continuous service, this increases to 33 days.

Our employees can opt in to our holiday buy-back scheme to purchase up to ten additional annual leave days a year.

For our craft employees the entitlement to paid leave begins on the first day of employment and will accrue in accordance with the local collective agreement.

Employees who, at the end of the leave year have or will have completed one year’s continuous service or more, shall be entitled to annual leave with pay of 28 days including five floating days in lieu of local holidays. This shall be increased to 33 days for employees having not less than five years continuous service at the commencement of the leave year.

In addition, the seven public holidays recognised by the Council will be granted as holidays with pay.

Pension scheme

Moray Council has a pension scheme run by the North East Scotland Pension Fund. As an employer we pay in two thirds of the cost of the pension for our employees who choose to be part of the scheme. To learn more, please visit North East Scotland Pensions Fund or SPPA for teaching staff.

Employee development

We offer training and development in all roles in the organisation with both corporate and role-specific training. Our Employee Review and Development Process (ERDP) allows employees to grow into their role as well as highlight opportunities for further career development.

Employee benefits

As an employee of Moray Council you’re entitled to a range of benefits from discounted EE perks and local retailer reductions to Hilton Worldwide deals and a Cycle2Work scheme.

Becoming a teacher

Teaching is a rewarding, exciting and challenging career. As a teacher, you will be supporting Moray’s children by sharing your knowledge and inspiring them to learn and discover new things, while supporting them to grow and develop.

You can work in areas such as primary education, secondary education, English as an additional language as well as additional support needs and support for learning.

For secondary education, subjects include English, Maths, Science (Physics, Chemistry & Biology), Home Economics, Art and Design, Business Education, Computing, Drama, Geography, History, Modern Foreign Languages, Modern Studies, Physical Education, Religious Education, Music and Technological Education.

To become a teacher, there are a few routes (we have provided links to courses offered by UHI Moray but these are available at a number of Scottish universities):

Undergraduate Course:

• Four-year PGDE (Primary Education) course.

Postgraduate Courses:

• One-year PGDE (Primary Education) course;
• One-year PGDE (Secondary Education) course;

Once you’ve successfully completed your qualification, you’ll undertake a 'probation year' as a teacher.  If you’re eligible, you can secure your probation year through the Teacher Induction Scheme. 

Qualified outside Moray

We welcome applications from teachers who qualified outside of Scotland. However, we have a requirement that you have your GTCS registration. To find out more about how to get GTCS registration, please visit the GTCS website HERE.

Relocation expenses and housing

Moray Council assists Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) coming to the area with temporary accommodation. This approach is intended to give teachers sufficient time to find a more permanent housing solution.

We also offer relocation packages up to £5,400 for teachers moving to Moray to take up a permanent, hard-to-fill post or promoted position.

Health & Social Care Moray

Moray is a community that cares and people who care work with us.

Our staff are passionate about improving lives and are proud to make a positive difference every day.

Health & Social Care Moray is the innovative partnership between Moray Council and NHS Grampian delivering community health, social care and social work services for people of all ages in Moray.

We’re here to support, care for, protect and empower people to live as well and as independently as possible. Our services are centred on helping people improve their quality of life and it’s important to us that people have positive experiences of our services.

Whether you’re new to a career in care or are searching for a job to suit your skills and aspirations, we offer opportunities working with children, young people, families and adults across a diverse range of settings and roles.

Our social care staff are employed by Moray Council which provides many employee benefits including excellent terms and conditions and opportunities for career progression.

Come and join Moray’s caring community!

You can learn more about Health & Social Care Moray on our website: https://hscmoray.co.uk/index.html.