Employee handbook

The SPCB recognises that diverse and often conflicting demands and priorities impact on the lives of many individuals in modern society. It is committed to assisting staff to effectively balance the responsibilities of their employment with their family and other personal commitments whilst ensuring that the needs of the business can continue to be met effectively. To support this commitment, a range of working arrangements designed to provide greater flexibility for individual staff members are potentially available. These arrangements operate on the basis that flexibility is a two-way process.

Many of the flexible working arrangements potentially available can be implemented informally on either an ad hoc or temporary basis, at the discretion of your line manager in consultation with your Office Head/Team Leader. There is no requirement to follow the flexible working procedure to request flexible working on such terms. The terms of an informal flexible working arrangement are subject to change to accommodate business requirements. If your requested change involves an increase to your working hours, please discuss with your line manager in the first instance as the workforce planning request process will have to be followed.

Should, however, you wish to apply to formally change your working arrangements on a permanent basis; this policy details the provisions which apply and the flexible working procedure sets out the procedures which must be followed in such circumstances. Requests for home working and partial retirement will also be managed through this procedure and reference should be made to the provisions of the Home Working Policy and the Retirement Policy as appropriate. The SPCB reserves the right to refuse a request for a flexible working arrangement on business grounds, examples provided below. In handling a request, and any information you disclose as part of the request, the SPCB will not discriminate unlawfully against you in relation to any of the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010. This policy and procedure is non-contractual. 

Advice and support

If you are thinking about requesting a formal change to your working arrangements, you should arrange to speak to your line manager at the earliest opportunity in order to explore the opportunities potentially available to you. This will allow a view to be formed at an early stage of the implications for your business area if your request should be accepted and allow your line manager to plan to manage these as appropriate. People Services can provide professional advice and guidance tailored to your individual circumstances.

Enquiries

If you have any queries regarding this policy and the flexible working procedure, you should contact People Services. Further information about home working and health and safety arrangements can be accessed on the intranet.

Flexible working arrangements

The SPCB is committed to ensuring that staff with flexible working arrangements are treated no less favourably than staff employed on a standard full-time basis and receive equal treatment, for example, in relation to pay, leave, promotion and development opportunities and access to training. All reasonable efforts will be made to schedule training activities and team meetings at times when all relevant colleagues can attend.

Any formal change to your working arrangements which is approved through the flexible working procedure will constitute a permanent change to your terms and conditions of employment with the SPCB. You will not have the right to revert back to your previous pattern of work unless the SPCB agrees otherwise, taking account of the circumstances of any such request you may make and business needs at the particular point in time, in line with the workforce planning process.

Your Office Head/Team Leader may adjust the commencement date of an agreed flexible working arrangement to meet business needs, for example, to allow appropriate cover to be sourced where hours of work are to be reduced. The date for reviewing arrangements will be similarly adjusted. In particular circumstances, it may be appropriate to agree that a new working arrangement will take place for a trial period (normally three months) to determine if the arrangement is suitable in practice to both you and the SPCB.

Requests for a formal change in working arrangement may be refused if the SPCB has a clear business reason for doing so. Business grounds for refusing an application are:

• Burden of additional costs
• Detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
• Inability to reorganise work among existing staff
• Inability to recruit additional staff
• Detrimental impact on quality
• Detrimental impact on performance
• Insufficiency of work during the period the member of staff wishes to work
• Planned structural changes

Further information can be found in the flexible working procedure.

Compressed working hours

Definition

Compressed working hours is an arrangement whereby you work your normal contractual hours over fewer days than the traditional work pattern.

Compressed working hours arrangements

The most common compressed working hours arrangements involve working:

• 37 contracted hours over a 4 day period
• 74 contracted hours over a 9 day period

Other arrangements will be considered, for example, two half non-working days per week. This type of working pattern can be accommodated within our existing flexible working hours system, provided your Office Head/Team Leader agrees to the change. However, if you wish to formalise the change in working pattern you should apply under the Flexible Working procedure.

Non-working times under a compressed working hours arrangement will normally be fixed, but may be varied from time to time by mutual agreement to take account of business demands. Your Office Head/Team Leader will determine your normal daily start and finish times, in accordance with service needs. Such arrangements will operate within the spirit of the Working Time Regulations and in scheduling your day, Office Heads/Team Leaders will ensure your working hours do not exceed the bandwidths for your business area and sufficient time is allowed for appropriate rest breaks.

Suitability

It must be recognised that compressed working hours will not be a viable option for particular posts due to their nature. Some posts, for example, those requiring a high degree of face-to-face contact with customers do not lend themselves to such arrangements. Other roles will require attendance on specific days of the week, for example when Parliamentary business is scheduled and any agreed arrangements will reflect this.

Job-sharing

Definition

Job-sharing is a form of part-time working, whereby two or more people are appointed to share the tasks and responsibilities of one full-time job. The job share can be divided on the basis of hours worked, days worked, the tasks covered, or any combination of these. This section sets out job-sharing arrangements, as defined and implemented by the SPCB. As effective communication and co-operation are required between job-share partners, a provision for overlap time may be included to facilitate and maintain continuity of the whole role.

Job-sharing arrangements

When it has been agreed in principle that a particular post is suitable for job sharing and a partner is needed, the remaining part of the post will normally be advertised, unless a suitable partner has been identified in some other way. For example, if someone has requested job-sharing or part-time working on return from Maternity or Adoption Leave or has otherwise registered their interest in job-sharing via People Services.

Once a suitable partner is identified, contracts will be offered on the basis that all job-share partners accept the terms of the contract. This means that if your partner(s) rejects our offer, the offer made to you will be withdrawn and you will be required to return to full-time working until such times as another partner can be identified.

If a suitable partner cannot be identified, your Office Head/Team Leader will explore with you other potential options to assist you in achieving an appropriate work-life balance. If there are no suitable alternative options, you will be required to continue working your contractual hours.

From the outset of a job-sharing arrangement, the working patterns of each partner will be clearly stipulated along with the division of duties and sharing of responsibilities. Your agreed working pattern may be subsequently changed only in consultation and with the agreement of your job-share partner and your line manager/Office Head/Team Leader.

You will be responsible for communicating effectively with your job-share partner. As well as overlap periods, other methods of maintaining strong communication links should be established in agreement with your partner and your line manager. It is also important that you and your line manager and/or Office Head/Team Leader agree individual targets and clearly define your areas of responsibility and objectives. This will ensure that you are accountable only for the delivery of your own objectives.

Part-time working

Definition

Part-time working is an arrangement where you are contracted to work less than full-time hours (which are the equivalent to 37 hours per week). You may make a request to your Office Head/Team Leader to work part-time on a temporary basis without going through the formal procedure. If your circumstances are such that you wish to work part-time on a permanent basis, a request will require to be made under the formal procedure.

Part-time working arrangements

The pattern of work under a part-time working arrangement will vary according to the needs of the business. Your individual preferences will also be considered. Attendance is not necessarily required on every working day. Some examples include working only mornings, afternoons or school hours or working only on certain days per week. Before a part-time working arrangement commences, it is important that you and your line manager agree how your workload will be adjusted to fit your reduced working hours.

Suitability

All posts will be considered as open to part-time working unless it can be positively demonstrated that this is inappropriate owing to the particular nature and accountabilities of the role.

Specific conditions attached to part-time working

You will be employed on terms and conditions of employment pro rata to full time staff. You may from time to time be offered the opportunity to work additional hours, for example, to cover the absence of a colleague. If you do not wish to, or are not able to, provide such cover, then other arrangements will be made.

Term-time working

Definition

Term-Time Working is an arrangement whereby you are contracted to work part weeks/hours for part of the year. It is a form of part-time working but for part of the year only. In that sense, if you work term time, you are a part-year employee. Your non-working time is scheduled at regular, planned periods which are accounted for by a combination of annual leave and unpaid leave.

Designated working weeks will normally coincide with Parliamentary sitting periods and/or school terms. You are expected to take paid and unpaid leave during Parliamentary recess periods and/or school holidays.

Certain roles will specifically require term-time working and this will be clearly stipulated within the job requirements. You may request to be considered for term-time working where your role normally requires full-year working. Term-time working may however not be an option for certain roles due to their nature. For example, term-time working may be more easily accommodated in business areas where service demand traditionally reduces during Parliamentary recess periods.

Term-time working arrangements

The designated working weeks under a term-time working arrangement will not exceed 44 weeks per annum. A designated working week is a week you are required to work. All other weeks are referred to as non-working weeks. Designated working weeks will be detailed within your contract of employment/contract variation letter.

The number of hours per week that contractually require to be worked per designated working week will be determined by the needs of the business area as agreed in advance with the Office Head/Team Leader. A maximum of 37 contractual hours will apply to each designated working week, unless your contract of employment specifies otherwise.

Your salary will be calculated based on your average working hours per week. This includes your entitlement to annual leave, public and privilege holidays. You are entitled to accrue leave in periods of non-working and have the same entitlement to leave as a full-time member of staff (8.3 weeks per year) in line with the current legal position. This includes your entitlement to public and privilege holidays.

Your average working hours per week will be based on your proportion (number of working weeks per year + 8.3 weeks paid leave) of full weeks in a year (52.18 weeks) and your contractual weekly hours.

Your annual salary will be calculated on a pro-rata basis to your average working hours per week. This will be paid in 12 monthly instalments. Changes to contractual working hours will require your salary to be recalculated therefore you and your manager should seek input from the Pay and Pensions Office on the salary implications before any change takes effect. Where such changes result in an over/underpayment of salary you will be advised accordingly before appropriate salary deductions are made.

Example 1

The salary for a full-time (37 hours per week), full-year (52.18 weeks inclusive of 8.3 weeks' paid leave) Education Officer is £28,003 per annum (based on the 2020-21 salary scale).

If you work 37 weeks of the year, your salary will be calculated as follows:

• Total number of weeks per year in respect of which salary (including annual leave) is payable = 37 + 8.3 (being the weeks worked in the year plus the entitlement to paid leave in that year) = 45.3 weeks.
• This is then pro-rated as a proportion of the full year worked by a full-time member of staff. 45.3 / 52.18 x 100 = 86.8149%
• The salary you receive is then pro-rated accordingly. In this case, as follows: £28,003 x 0.868149 = £24,310.78.

If you also work part-time during the weeks you do work, the salary is adjusted accordingly. For example, if you work 37 weeks of the year and work 25 hours a week for each of those weeks, your salary is adjusted as follows:

• 25 / 37 x 100 = 67.568% of full-time hours.
• £24,310.78 x .67568 = £16,426.31

In both scenarios, your salary would then be spread over 12 months to give a monthly pay figure.

Example 2

The salary for a full-time (37 hours per week), full-year (52.18 weeks inclusive of 8.3 weeks' annual leave) Official Reporter within Official Report is £35,586 per annum (based on the 2020-21 salary scale).

If you work for 37 weeks of the year, your salary would be calculated as follows:

• Total number of weeks per year in respect of which salary (including annual leave) is payable = 37 + 8.3 (being the weeks worked in the year plus the entitlement to leave in that year) = 45.3 weeks.
• This is then pro-rated as a proportion of the full year worked by a full-time member of staff. 45.3 / 52.18 x 100 = 86.8149%
• The salary you receive is then pro-rated accordingly. In this case, as follows: £35,586 x 0.868149 = £30,893.95.

If you also work part-time during the weeks you do work, the salary is adjusted accordingly. For example, if you work 37 weeks of the year and work 25 hours a week for each of those weeks, your salary is adjusted as follows:

• 25 / 37 x 100 = 67.568% of full-time hours.
• £30,893.95 x .67568 = £20,874.42

In both scenarios, your salary would then be spread over 12 months to give a monthly pay figure.

Where a public or privilege holiday falls on one of your normal working days in any given year, we will make a deduction from your salary to reflect that the proportion of the year worked has fallen below your contractual working weeks.

You will be notified annually of any such deductions in advance.

Conditions Attached to Term-Time Working

Your leave entitlement must normally be taken during non-working weeks, i.e. Parliamentary recess periods and/or school holidays. You are required to apply for annual leave in the normal way using the Time and Recording System (TRS) at the beginning of the leave year. Full details of these arrangements can be found in your contract of employment.

Other forms of leave such as Special Leave and Family Care Leave may be authorised in relevant circumstances.

Roles and Responsibilities

Office Heads/Team Leaders are responsible for:

• Determining the term time working arrangements in their Office based on business needs and in accordance with the terms of this Policy
• Ensuring the consistent application of this Policy in their Office.

Line Managers are responsible for:

• Agreeing and approving team members’ leave at the beginning of every leave year ensuring it is applied in accordance with this policy and contractual arrangements
• Informing the Pay and Pensions Office of any changes to leave which occurs during the leave year
• Consulting with the Pay and Pensions Office about any changes to working hours/patterns prior to changes taking effect

Staff Members are responsible for allocating all of their leave allowance on TRS at the beginning of each leave year.

Pay and Pensions Office are responsible for:

• Administering pay arrangements and the TRS system in accordance with this policy and contractual arrangements
• Providing advice to staff and managers on the pay implications of changes to working hours/patterns

People Services are responsible for:

• Providing contracts of employment and other contractual documentation
• Maintaining this Policy in consultation with the Pay and Pensions Office

Home working

Requests for home working will be assessed sensibly and realistically, with due consideration given to the viability of arrangements in terms of the particular role and the impact on the business and colleagues. It must be recognised that Home Working will simply not be a viable option for particular posts due to their nature. Each case will therefore be assessed on its own merits.

Staff in posts categorised as suitable for homeworking may normally work from home for most or all their weekly contracted hours. Staff in posts identified as suitable for homeworking will not be required to work from home but may take the opportunity to work from home. Holyrood will be identified as their contractual base where they will be required to attend for team meetings or other necessary face to face contact as required.

Homeworking arrangements will remain at the discretion of the Office Head/Team Leader and may be withdrawn or amended at any time. Similarly, a staff member can return to working all their contracted hours from Holyrood.

Both hybrid and homeworking require staff members to attend the workplace, as required. This means that they could be required to attend the workplace at short notice, out with any planned arrangement to be in the workplace as part of a hybrid and homeworking arrangement.

Your ability to attend the workplace as required and potentially at short notice could be impacted by the distance or travel time between your home and the workplace (the commutable distance). The nature of the role will determine the acceptable commutable distance for the postholder. Therefore, the commutable distance will be a factor in determining individual suitability for hybrid or homeworking arrangements. Work from a home outside of the UK will not be agreed.

Enquiries

If you have any queries regarding home working provisions, you should contact People Services. 

Contractual home working arrangements

This is an arrangement whereby you work from home for the majority of your overall working time, following an agreed pattern as set out in your contract of employment. A formal application for this form of home working must be made using the Flexible Working Procedure.

You will continue to be covered by the policies of the SPCB, including the terms and conditions of employment set out in the Staff Handbook, the Equality Framework, and policies relating to health and safety, data protection and security. The actual hours you work at home need not be fixed to the bandwidths set out in the SPCB’s flexible working hours arrangements provided you complete your work within the prescribed timescales. You must ensure that you are able to work uninterrupted. If your caring responsibilities mean that you require to work out with the flexible working hours bandwidth for your business area to achieve this, you should clear any changes with your line manager. You should record all the hours you work at home in the normal way, using the Time Recording System (TRS). 

Trial period for contractual home working arrangements

Where your request for contractual Home Working is granted, your Office Head/Team Leader may seek your agreement to operate the arrangement for a trial period of 3 months in the first instance to ensure that the arrangement in practice is suitable for both you and your Office Head/Team Leader.  

If you accept a new job within the organisation, you must submit a new request under the Flexible Working Procedure should you wish to continue your Home Working arrangement.    

Eligibility to request a flexible working arrangement

You have a statutory right to request a flexible working arrangement from the first day of employment. 

The SPCB will assess each case on its own merits in a realistic and sensible manner, taking account of the impact on the business and colleagues. Decisions will be evaluated in light of any relevant statutory entitlements. All options will be reasonably explored with a view to achieving a solution which works for all parties.

General implications of a flexible working arrangement for Terms and Conditions of Employment

You continue to be employed by the SPCB during any non-working time associated with your flexible working arrangement. As such, you continue to be covered by the policies of the SPCB, including the terms and conditions of employment set out in the Employee Handbook and the Equality Framework. You will receive the salary applicable to the post, pro rated to the hours you are contracted to work. You are entitled to the same annual leave and public/privilege holidays as a full-time member of staff, calculated on a pro rata basis. For ease, your holiday entitlement for the year is calculated and expressed in hours and you can view your entitlement in TRS. You will be treated no less favourably than staff employed on a full time basis in relation to Maternity, Adoption and Paternity Leave and pay or sick pay. People Services can provide tailored advice on the application of these provisions to your specific circumstances. Your employment will be pensionable under the terms of the Civil Service pension arrangements. Your pension will accrue on a pro rata basis according to the hours and weeks worked. If you are asked to work, or attend a training course, at a time when you would not normally work, you will be paid for the extra hours involved or you may take time off in lieu of those hours. If your attendance is required on a weekend rest day, or a public or privilege holiday, the SPCB’s provisions on overtime will apply. If attendance at a time when you would not normally work requires you to arrange extra child-care cover, you should let your Office Head/Team Leader know immediately and check if you can make use of the SPCB’s crèche facilities. If your Office Head/Team Leader confirms that you are required to attend these additional hours, you will be reimbursed for the extra child-care costs.

Commencing and ending a flexible working arrangement

You may formally request a flexible working arrangement in respect of your current role in accordance with the Flexible Working Procedure. Alternatively, you may apply for a vacant post in the organisation which lends itself to a particular form of flexible working, subject to the normal recruitment procedures or the terms of the Redeployment Policy as applicable. Office Heads/Team Leaders will thoroughly assess vacant posts in advance in terms of the suitability of the various flexible working arrangements with reference to the business reasons set out earlier in the policy. The suitability or otherwise of a post for particular flexible working arrangements will be clearly stipulated from the outset.

Ending a flexible working arrangement

If you accept a new job within the organisation, you must submit a new request under the Flexible Working Procedure should you wish to continue your flexible working arrangement.