Our branch in Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes
Learn, collaborate and network with CIPD members and people professionals in Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes
Learn, collaborate and network with CIPD members and people professionals in Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes
Thank you for visiting our branch page; we're a knowledgeable and influential local community of people professionals. Our branch CPD sessions welcome CIPD members and their guests where we're keen to share principles-led ideas towards our purpose of championing better work and working lives. We hope this will contribute to improved skills and knowledge, defined by the CIPD Profession Map.
Ours is an active branch with around 30% of our 2,700 members regularly meeting face-to-face and virtually at our CPD and networking sessions. We run a branch mentoring scheme for those in CIPD membership.
Particularly useful for members with busy working lives and time constraints we send out a branch mailing every two weeks inviting you to our events plus a longer quarterly branch newsletter for a deeper dive into our activities. We ask you in those newsletters to share information about good practice, learning, ideas exchange and the latest on volunteering news and activities.
We want to bring us all back together because we all benefit from networking and sharing good practice while recognising that we are here to support each other in a challenging and pressurised profession.
Chizoma Okaro, Chartered FCIPD
Branch Chair
Our members rate their access to a local branch in their top three membership benefits. Come along to our branch events to discover other CIPD benefits. Explore the issues and trends impacting our profession. Network, learn and share ideas with people professionals in our area.
We want you to gain maximum benefit from your CIPD membership and share ideas with other people professionals. Being outcomes driven, we know we are not fulfilling our roles unless we spread good practice and test new ideas. Our 40+ branch volunteers talk with members about their skills and knowledge gaps when planning branches activities, so we can help. We deliver over 30 high quality CPD sessions annually to create, share and embed learning.
Branch committee members bring the ideas together from our groups: Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire, Learning Matters, Membership Engagement and Mentoring. Branch and group committee members create the branch business plan, making the best use of the funding granted to us from your subscriptions.
Branch committee members run two branch-level sessions annually where we invite CIPD staff to present the latest thinking and evidence-based research impacting the world of work. Branch committee members run two branch-level sessions annually where we invite CIPD staff to present the latest thinking and evidence-based research impacting the world of work. We run the SME Heads of HR Forum workshops, which facilitate forward-thinking discussions on strategic imperatives for organisations. Membership of the Heads of HR Forum ensures wider sharing of learning with meaningful debates. When face-to-face, these workshops are hosted by a large employer from our branch area. Workshops are continuing to be run virtually to reduce commuting time.
We can strengthen our HR community by sharing interesting experiences and opportunities to learn, and welcome contributions from our members to our newsletter. Do you have an idea, HR solution or a success story to share? Please do send us your ideas to bedford@cipdbranch.co.uk, so we can help support each other and grow together. Our HR community is only meaningful if we are partners together.
The CIPD runs two Council meetings a year which are attended by either our chair or vice chair. These events, and other informal interactions with CIPD head office, facilitate dialogue and feedback.
Our branch annual meeting each summer is held virtually, to ensure that every member in can participate, view the annual reports from our groups and vote if eligible. We clarify who will be on the branch committee for the coming year.
We're keen to hear from you so let us know what is important to you. If you have a suggestion or development need which would make a good CPD session, please let the branch chair or a committee member know so we can consider it at our next committee meeting. The branch is looking for more volunteers to help with the delivery of CPD sessions in support of the CIPD strategy. If you are interested in joining one of the geographical groups, special interest groups or the branch committee, please email us.
With workshops, round tables, panel discussions and expert speakers, our thought-provoking events cover everything our community needs. Network, learn and stay up to date.
Keen to get involved, give back or raise your profile? Whatever your skills and interests, learn more about branch volunteering.
The branch Student Engagement Lead and professional advisers work closely with Bedford College, Milton Keynes College and with the University of Bedfordshire and welcome new student members to our branch, encourage them to attend our events, to join the mentoring scheme and contribute ideas.
At the university, our professional advisers attend course committee meetings and have contributed to course validations and accreditations. They have put together a programme of support for CIPD students including a used text book marketplace, student awards’ ceremonies with guest speakers, and follow up discussions around next steps for post graduates which include how CIPD membership can benefit their careers.
The CIPD member to member mentoring programme connects people professionals to help you develop your skills, learn from one another and progress within your career.
Whether you are looking for a mentor, want to share your expertise as a mentor or perhaps both, it has never been easier with our online platform.
Want to get involved? Got an idea for an event? We want to hear from you!
Email usThe group committee members run up to six evening sessions each year for all members of the CIPD Brabcg in Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes but aimed at L&D professionals. Sessions provide networking and learning opportunities with inputs from specialists within the field. Group committee members have experimented with formats, including facilitating an practical action learning set addressing L&D issues being experienced in the attendees’ organisations.
The group committee members run up to four evening sessions each year for all members of the CIPD Branch in Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes interested in their own professional development. We want our members to benefit from CIPD membership and tell us what we can do better to keep you engaged as people professionals. Consultation with early attendees suggested 45 topics of interest. Sessions provide networking and learning opportunities with knowledgeable input from people professionals.
The branch is continuing to build a network of Heads of HR which allows high-level discussions of topical HR areas of interest to those professionals who are formulating strategy while working cross-functionally with other directors in their organisations. If you are a Head of HR, this is your opportunity to participate in this network and contribute to progressing strategic HR thinking across our branch as well as influencing CIPD’s perspective on regional policies and positions, especially in relation to SMEs. The hosts are Dr Janice Johnson, Branch Membership Engagement Lead and guiding the development of professional management qualifications for post-graduate students at Coventry University and Sinead Trudgill, HR Director, National HR team at Network Rail. They introduce facilitators at each workshop who start the discussions around key strategic improvements.
Email the branch to find out more.
In a half-day CPD session, CIPD members from Milton Keynes and portions of Buckinghamshire learn from expert speakers delivering topical events. This aims to raise the profile of the CIPD’s work and influence locally in line with the overall aim of improving working lives.
The group committee members organise two half-day CPD sessions and seven evening sessions each year for CIPD members in Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Luton. Feedback from past attenders suggests topics of interest. The programme includes two sessions for CIPD students and a Mock Employment Tribunal anonymised from a real case. Networking before these sessions ensures that new members are introduced to long standing branch members and occasionally are reacquainted with former colleagues.
Get in touch to find out more. And let us know your ideas for other special interest groups.
Tackling barriers to work today whilst creating inclusive workplaces of tomorrow.