A network update

A quick post to update our supporters and other interested parties. It has been quite a month since our launch event on October 20th! We wanted to reassure you that while we may have been keeping quiet, we have been incredibly busy.

The interest in our network has been phenomenal! SEEN has been noticed and discussed not only on social media but also in the mainstream press. We will continue to increase our visibility as a network across the Civil Service to promote who we are and what we stand for.

Several hundred people have so far expressed interest in SEEN membership from nearly 50 eligible organisations from across central government, the executive agencies and arm’s length bodies. Considering the short time since our launch this is an amazing and humbling response. If you have requested more information on membership and are waiting to hear back from us, please don’t fret. We aim to be in touch with you within the next week or two. We will also shortly activate our mailing list to keep people up to speed with our latest news by email.

We have also received many membership enquiries and requests from people that we sadly cannot extend membership to (given the permitted scope for cross-departmental staff networks), including in local and devolved governments, the NHS and police. We very much hope that SEEN will help to inspire equivalent networks to organise in other areas of the public sector. For those that have just reached out to express support we appreciate these messages too.

We’re looking forward to the journey ahead, and remain resolute in our commitment to further our mission. We have lots of ideas of things to do and events to run, so watch this space!

Exciting times ahead.

SEEN

8 Feb 2023 edit: On the basis of advice from the Cabinet Office we amend the eligibility paragraph from “local and devolved governments” to read “local governments”. Civil servants in the devolved governments are in fact eligible for SEEN membership.