Management Information Sheet
Fit for the Future - Possible Changes to Employment Policies and Practices
As you will be aware, the County Council has been undergoing a period of significant change in order to react to financial pressures and the need to adapt our working practices to deliver our new core role and meet customer expectations.
Building on the foundations of the Modern Reward Strategy, the County Council has been reviewing its policies and practices to support the need to work more efficiently and minimise barriers to change. It has also given us the opportunity to review policies that have become outdated, or out of line with other authorities. As with MRS, changes to some policies will have implications for school based employees and we wanted you to be aware of what is happening.
Amongst areas where we are considering changes that might have implications for schools are;
We have begun discussions with the trade unions about how we can modernise these practices, making sure our scarce resources are properly aligned to responsive service delivery and removing unnecessary costs which present a barrier to change. We are looking to make these changes over the next few months, and for anything that requires a contractual change we will be seeking to reach agreement with the trade unions.
We have also had early discussions with the Schools Steering Group that was established as part of the MRS project, and continues to meet to talk about developments in the delivery of HR services.
At the same time as introducing these changes, we want to improve the understanding of the full value of the employment package and, as a step towards this, will shortly include information on pay slips to show more transparently how much value is added by the monthly employer contribution to pensions.
We also want to explore flexible benefits - finding ways of giving employees access to specific things which they value, for example, getting services more cheaply through an organisational discount arrangement.
Although most of any proposed policy changes will only apply to support staff, aspects such as employer pension contributions appearing on payslips and flexible benefits, will also eventually extend to teachers.
The support staff trade unions will be letting their members know that discussions are taking place and will be balloting their members later in the Spring. We will also be sending out communications to staff shortly to explain the proposed changes. Your co-operation in ensuring that your support staff have access to this information will be much appreciated. We will keep you informed and let you know as soon as there is any further information.
Anne Gibson
Head of HR and OD
Building on the foundations of the Modern Reward Strategy, the County Council has been reviewing its policies and practices to support the need to work more efficiently and minimise barriers to change. It has also given us the opportunity to review policies that have become outdated, or out of line with other authorities. As with MRS, changes to some policies will have implications for school based employees and we wanted you to be aware of what is happening.
Amongst areas where we are considering changes that might have implications for schools are;
| Future disturbance allowances – payments made to employees who are required to change their work base (although this may not happen very often in a school situation, the policy used to calculate support with additional home to work mileage would be same | |
| Future salary compensation payments – payments to employees who are redeployed to a post at a lower grade | |
| Subsistence allowances | |
| Post entry training payments | |
| Flexible benefits |
We have begun discussions with the trade unions about how we can modernise these practices, making sure our scarce resources are properly aligned to responsive service delivery and removing unnecessary costs which present a barrier to change. We are looking to make these changes over the next few months, and for anything that requires a contractual change we will be seeking to reach agreement with the trade unions.
We have also had early discussions with the Schools Steering Group that was established as part of the MRS project, and continues to meet to talk about developments in the delivery of HR services.
At the same time as introducing these changes, we want to improve the understanding of the full value of the employment package and, as a step towards this, will shortly include information on pay slips to show more transparently how much value is added by the monthly employer contribution to pensions.
We also want to explore flexible benefits - finding ways of giving employees access to specific things which they value, for example, getting services more cheaply through an organisational discount arrangement.
Although most of any proposed policy changes will only apply to support staff, aspects such as employer pension contributions appearing on payslips and flexible benefits, will also eventually extend to teachers.
The support staff trade unions will be letting their members know that discussions are taking place and will be balloting their members later in the Spring. We will also be sending out communications to staff shortly to explain the proposed changes. Your co-operation in ensuring that your support staff have access to this information will be much appreciated. We will keep you informed and let you know as soon as there is any further information.
Anne Gibson
Head of HR and OD