Policies and Procedures

This Policy has been developed in accordance with employment law and sets out the procedure for managing the following:

• Staff Management

• Hours of Work

• Paid Overtime

• Annual Leave and Time Off in Lieu

• Special Leave

• Annual Appraisal System

• Managing Performance

 

The Working Time Regulations (1998 Rev 2007) govern the hours anyone can work.  They determine the maximum weekly working time, pattern of work and holidays, plus the daily and weekly rest periods.

 

Croft Parish Council is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The Parish Council recognises the effective management of its resources will ensure that its functions are efficiently carried out. This Policy is designed to ensure that the work/life balance of the Parish Council’s employees is taken into consideration, for the benefit of both employees and the employer.  

 

The use of flexible working is an important aid to ensure that overtime is kept to a minimum and where necessary is properly managed.

 

Parish Clerk - The Parish Clerk is directly responsible to the Parish Council.

Caretaker - The Caretaker is directly responsible to the Parish Council.

 

Fixed Hours

Paid employees of Croft Parish Council have a contract of employment which specifies the weekly hours of work. These hours will remain constant unless there is a requirement for additional hours to be worked for any of the following reasons:

• When essential work cannot be completed by the target/required deadline

• During one-off occasions in the Parish Council’s annual cycle, e.g. Mayor making, community consultation, financial deadlines and when additional work outside of the paid employees’ normal duties is required due to exceptional circumstances.

 

Additional Hours

As the Proper Officer of the Parish Council, the Parish Clerk may be expected to work some additional hours, including those out of normal office hours.

 

Additional hours worked by the Parish Clerk will be actively monitored and managed through discussion between the Parish Clerk, the Chair and Vice Chair so that it does not become unreasonable.

 

In order to manage the day-to-day workload effectively, the Parish Clerk will consider the Parish Council’s work programme and apply the following procedure:

• If the Parish Clerk feels that additional overtime is necessary for any paid employee to meet deadlines, then the Parish Clerk will apply to the Chair or Vice Chair for agreement.  The Chair or Vice Chair may authorise up to a maximum of 5 hours as required.

• If the Parish Clerk feels that exceptional additional overtime is necessary for any paid employee to meet deadlines, then the Parish Clerk will advise the Parish Council of the cost implications as soon as possible.

• If the cost of overtime required is likely to exceed the Parish Council’s budget for staff cost, the Parish Council must decide whether the work should be continued or ceased.

• A paper record must be kept recording the additional hours worked and authorised by the Chair or Vice Chair.

 

Once approved, the paid employee may be reimbursed at the normal NJC rate for these hours.

 

Annual Leave and Time Off in Lieu must be co-ordinated and approved by the Chair. It is expected that the Parish Clerk does not book time off when there is a Full Council.

 

Absences must be agreed beforehand and noted on the Annual Leave sheet and signed by the Chair.

 

The Employment Rights Act 1996 S57A makes provision for all employees to take reasonable time off during working hours if the following applies:

• The illness of a dependant, a birth, an injury or assault

• To make arrangements for the provision of care for a dependant

• The death of an independent

• The unexpected disruption or termination of arrangements for the care of a dependant

• To deal with an incident that involves an employee’s child which occurs unexpectedly during school/college hours.

 

Emergency/Dependants Leave

All Employees with dependants can take reasonable unpaid time off to deal with unforeseen emergencies. It covers all instances where you may need to take unplanned absence to attend to urgent or serious situations affecting your dependants and where no alternative provision is available.

 

Emergency leave is designed to provide carers with the opportunity to make alternative arrangements for the care of dependants. It is not intended to be used to allow carers to look after dependants on an ongoing basis (although time off may be available under other policies).

 

Taking Emergency Leave

Dependants include parents, spouse/partner/civil partner, children or individuals living as part of the family for whom you are the main carer or an individual who depends on you for care, e.g. an elderly neighbour.

 

Emergency leave is only intended to cover unplanned absence to attend to urgent or serious situations affective your immediate family or dependants. It is impossible to provide a complete list of circumstances that are covered under the policy; however, the most common circumstances are as follows:

• To provide assistance on an occasion when a dependant falls ill, gives birth or is injured or assaulted.

• To make arrangements for the provision of care for a dependant who is il or injured.

• As a result of the death of a dependant.

• Because of the unexpected disruption or termination of arrangements for the care of a dependant; or

• To deal with an incident which involves a child of the employee, and which occurs unexpectedly when the child is at School.

 

As soon as is reasonably practicable in the circumstances, contact the Clerk (or Chair of the Council) by telephone to explain the circumstances, and if possible, an indication of the length of time off you are likely to need in order to make alternative arrangements. If the Clerk (or Chair of the Council) is unavailable, you must contact the Deputy Chair or Chair of the Personnel Committee.

 

If you need to stay and care for a dependant on an ongoing basis you can agree with the Clerk (or Chair of the Council to take annual leave, or where you have insufficient annual leave to take a period of unpaid leave. Alternatively, you may be able to take unpaid Parental Leave where the care is for your child.

 

Compassionate Leave

The Council aim to extend sympathy, compassion and understanding should employees suffer a bereavement. At all times, we will try to assist employees to come to terms with their loss.

 

Application for bereavement leave should be made to the Clerk (or Chair of the Council) at the earliest opportunity. If the Clerk (or Chair of the Council) is unavailable, you must contact the Deputy Chair or Chair of the Personnel Committee.

 

The Council will grant 2 days paid Compassionate Leave (per year) in the event of the death of an immediate relative (spouse/partner/civil partner, parent, stepparent, grandparent, sibling, child, mother-in-law and father-in-law). If the employee requires further leave, reasonable unpaid compassionate leave can be requested, by submitting a request (for up to a further 5 days unpaid leave per year) to the Personnel Committee who will take into account such factors as the relationship with the deceased person, the timing and location of the funeral and the employee’s wellbeing. If any further leave is required by the employee for their wellbeing, a new requested will need to be submitted to the Personnel Committee. The Personnel Committee may consider this leave as Sick Leave.

 

The Council recognises that other circumstances may arise that require Compassionate Leave such as the death of an extended family member or friend and will grant unpaid Compassionate Leave taking into account such factors as the relationship with the deceased person, the timing and location of the funeral and the employee’s wellbeing.

 

The Council accepts that sometimes the need to take this leave can arise at very short notice, but request that employees should discuss their requirements with the Clerk (or Chair of the Council) before taking any time off and, in any event, at the earliest opportunity. All requests for compassionate leave will be dealt with on a confidential basis.

 

The Personnel Committee will write all staff appraisals. This will not include the Chair or Vice Chair of the Parish Council who were in office during the relevant reporting period.

 

The reporting period is from 1st April to 31st March.

 

A six-monthly review is due mid-term.

 

A written record of the appraisal is to be placed on the employee’s personal file so that the objectives form part of the next appraisal.

 

Croft Parish Council recognises that from time-to-time staff may experience difficulties which impact on their ability to carry out their work. The Parish Council recognises that poor job performance due to incapability cannot be treated as a disciplinary offence. It also recognises its responsibilities for employees and duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Equality Act 2010, to manage issues relating to staff capability sensitively, in so far as is reasonable and able to do so.  

 

This supports both the Parish Council and you to bring about positive changes in work performance and attitude when needed. 

 

It applies to all staff following successful completion of a probationary period, whether full time, part time or temporary. It does not apply to volunteers or agency staff.

 

The procedure for managing performance will apply where an employee is clearly making every effort to fulfil the requirements of the post, but is unable to do so due to reasons such as, changes in the role, loss of skills, ability and/or knowledge, impact of physical or mental impairment.

 

The cause of poor performance will be investigated and established by Croft Parish Council. The Employee will be asked to provide an explanation as to the reasons for poor performance and the explanation will be checked.

 

Incapability/poor performance will arise where the Employee has been set realistic targets and objectives and cannot achieve them through no fault of their own. An example of capability is failure due to medical conditions.

 

If realistic targets and objectives have been set out but the Employee fails to take action of which they are capable, their performance may be treated as misconduct under the Disciplinary Procedure.

 

At each stage of the procedure and as specified below the Employee will normally be interviewed by the Parish Clerk or a member of the Council, as appropriate, to review the relevant factors.

 

At any interview or an appeal meeting, the Employee will have the opportunity to state their case and will be encouraged to do so. The Employee also has the right to be accompanied by a work colleague, or recognised Trade Union Representative. Legal representation will not be permitted; Croft Parish Council’s Capability Procedure is an internal process and will be conducted as such. A work colleague will be allowed time off to accompany the Employee to the meeting and the Council will support any work colleague who agrees to be a companion. A companion must feel able to agree to the request on the basis that they will not be treated to any detriment if they accept. However, the companion can decline a request. It is the Employee’s responsibility to ensure their companion is aware of the meeting arrangements and that they have any documentation in good time. If the chosen companion is not available at the time proposed for the meeting, the Employee must provide alternative dates when both are able to meet. These dates must be within the following 5 working days unless the Council can agree to alternative arrangements. If the Employee and their representative are unable to meet with the Council within a reasonable time, the Council will discuss alternative arrangements to enable the Employee to respond to the concerns. If the Council are unable to meet with the Employee personally, this may mean that the Council considers the concerns in their absence with their companion attending on their behalf or considering a written response.  

 

No formal warnings will be given until the causes of poor performance have been considered.  All warnings will be confirmed to the Employee in writing.

 

Where the reason for poor performance is a lack of capability, the Employee will be invited to comment and to contribute to a discussion about steps to assist them to reach the required standards. They may include:

• Appropriate training in-house and/or externally sources, if this has not already been done.

• More frequent supervision and support, and

• Assessment of the post to ensure the role is not inconsistent with your selection for the appointment.

 

Arrangements will be made to carry out any remedial measures and to review progress and performance at the end of an appropriate period of time. The Employee will be advised that failure to meet the specified standard of improvement will result in the next stage of the procedure being implemented.

 

If, despite following the agreed measures and at the end of the review period, the required improvement in performance is not forthcoming, the Employee will be given a First Written Warning. This will state:

• The reason for the warning;

• The level and improvements in performance required;

• A realistic time limit for achieving that performance;

• The form in which monitoring will take place;

• That the consequence of failure to achieve and maintain the improvement would result in a final written warning being given; and

• The duration of the warning held on the Employee’s personnel file.

 

First written warnings will have a time limit of 6/12 months.

 

If there is no improvement or not sufficient improvement or it is not maintained for the period stated, the Employee will be given a Final Written Warning setting out the details as above with a First Written Warning that failure to improve may result in dismissal.

 

If there is still no improvement or not sufficient improvement or it has not been maintained for the period stated above, the Employee will normally be dismissed with notice.  

 

If the Employee wishes to appeal against stages 2, 3 or 4 they must put their request in writing to the Council, setting out the grounds of appeal, within 5 working days of the decision being communicated to them. The appeal will be heard by an Appeal Panel made up from members of Croft Parish Council. The appeal hearing will be conducted within a reasonable period of the appeal being lodged. The outcome will either:

• To reject the appeal and confirm the original disciplinary action, or

• To uphold the appeal and reduce or revoke the original disciplinary action.

 

The result of the appeal will be confirmed in writing within 10 working days of the hearing.  The decision at the appeal stage is final of this internal policy.