Flexible Working Patterns (Including Part time Working) Chapter

Flexible Working Patterns Policy

The Insolvency Service (the Service) recognises the importance of employees maintaining an appropriate work/life balance and is committed to helping its employees to achieve this subject to operational needs. Flexible working patterns can be a key component in achieving this objective for some employees and be helpful to the Service in supporting its aim of being an employer of choice.

The advantages to the Service of having flexible working patterns and allowing employees to balance work and life better include:

  • Retention of employees who might otherwise leave
  • Ability to recruit a greater mix of experience and skills especially within a small team
  • Provide flexibility in managing peaks and troughs of work
  • Maintain energy, enthusiasm, and motivation over the long term
  • Reduce stress and may, therefore, have a positive effect on employees’ health
  • Reduce unplanned absenteeism

Whilst the advantages to employees include:

  • Facilitates the ability to be able to work or continue to work
  • Allows the opportunity to maintain and improve skills
  • Increases motivation and satisfaction with their working lives
  • Gives more time to spend with family and friends
  • Gives more time to deal with personal, or domestic issues
  • Enables other life goals to be achieved resulting in improved levels of satisfaction with life in general
  • Provides more relaxation time and less stress and may, therefore, have a positive effect on their health

Whilst there is not a specific obligation for employers to help all employees achieve an appropriate work-life balance, employment legislation does encompass some areas that facilitate this, including:

  • Minimum requirements for maternity, adoption, paternity and parental leave
  • Right for parents and careers of adults to request flexible working arrangements.
  • Regulations on working hours
  • Minimum holiday entitlements
  • Equal rights for part-time workers
  • Minimum requirements regarding provisions for employees with disability
  • No disadvantage rules for part-time or fixed term employees
Scope

Flexible working is available to permanent employees, both full time and part-time, with the exception of the Senior Civil Service. The Service does not have delegated power for Senior Civil Servants as their terms and conditions are managed by BIS.

Principles

a.All employees, regardless of their position or where they work, are eligible to seek flexible working arrangements

b. The reason for the request will not influence the decision. Each application will be treated individually and assessed on the practicalities of making it work satisfactorily both for the employee and for the Service.

c.This may mean that not everyone can be expected to be treated exactly the same, as what may work in one circumstance may not necessarily work in another.

d.Changes will be managed in a supportive and sensitive manner especially in regards to ensuring the support of other employees.

e.The ability to maintain the quality of service provision is key to all decisions on flexible working.

External Recruitment

All managers should give consideration to whether a post can be effectively covered in a way that enables a flexible working pattern to be offered. Where this is so they should ensure that the advertisement is worded appropriately to attract the largest pool of suitable candidates possible. This will not only assist the Service in achieving its diversity targets, but will also increase the choice of appropriately qualified and experienced candidates from which to source the best person for the job.

Common internal application process (Please see flowchart )

Whatever form of flexible working arrangements existing employees wish to pursue, the application process is common:

Employees making an application for flexible working should complete Flexible Working Request Application Form (FWR1), giving the Service as much notice as possible of their request, and not less than 3 months from the date on which they would ideally like the change to take place.

Applications will be proactively considered with the decision ultimately depending on the ability to provide meaningful work and to maintain the quality and efficiency of the service delivered whilst being mindful of the costs versus benefits to the Service, and the effect on other employees.

The application will be accepted where the above factors can be adequately addressed. Generally, wherever possible, managers are expected to find ways of making the new arrangement work rather than find reasons why it will not.

Should an application, after due consideration, be refused the employee will continue to work on their existing arrangements maintaining satisfactory standards of performance, attendance, etc. Managers will advise the employee of the decision in writing ensuring that a full explanation of the reasons for refusal is given – advice should be sought from Human Resources to ensure legal criteria have been met.

A request for flexible working will normally be dealt with within 28 days of the request being made either by giving the employee a positive response or by holding a meeting to discuss the request further, ultimately giving an answer within a further 14 days. The employee has the right to be accompanied by a trade union representative or a work colleague, should they wish, to any meeting held. If any extension is required to this time frame, advice should be sought from Human Resources.

Where an application is refused, the employee has the right to appeal against the decision by lodging a written request to appeal through the Grievance Procedure. This must be done within 5 days of the decision being communicated. Whether they appeal the original decision or not, they may make a similar application after one year has elapsed.

The employee’s reasons for applying for flexible working will not be used as grounds for refusing a request unless it involves additional employment which could:

i. Lead to a conflict of interest

ii. Involve a breach of contract

iii. Give reasonable cause to suspect it might damage the Service’s reputation.

Written consent enabling the employee to take additional employment must be obtained from the Service and this will not be unreasonably withheld.

Responsibilities

Role / Responsible for
Employee /
  • Discuss interest in flexible working arrangements with their line manager.
  • Submit a written request under the Flexible Working Policy, including all relevant information.
  • Respond promptly and positively to requests for further information and with regard to arrangements for meetings.

Line Manager /
  • Respond constructively to informal discussions with employee about flexible working.
  • Give consideration to formal requests for flexible working arrangements, taking a positive and creative approach to enabling requests where possible in light of the needs of the business.
  • Ensure the Countersigning Officer has all relevant information, including operational needs and factors affecting the well-being of all staff, to enable a fair decision to be made.
  • Follow the procedure when dealing with requests for flexible working. In particular, ensuring time-scales are met.
  • Monitor how effectively the flexible working arrangements are operating during any trial period and notify HR of the outcome of any review.

Countersigning
Officer /
  • Establish and maintain a culture that is supportive of a positive work-life balance and enabling in its approach to flexible working.
  • Give consideration to formal requests for flexible working arrangements, taking a positive and creative approach to enabling requests where possible in light of the needs of the business.
  • Follow the procedure when dealing with requests for flexible working. In particular, ensure time-scales are met
  • Advise HR of the outcome of any requests.
  • Ensure the Service’s Equal Opportunities principles are applied in matters relating to flexible working.

Human Resources /
  • Provide guidance and advice to employees, line managers and Countersigning Officers regarding the Flexible Working Policy and the relevant legislative requirements.
  • Provide formal notification to employees and Payroll of changes to contractual arrangements (where applicable).
  • Monitor and review the working of the policy, including monitoring for equal opportunities impact.

CWS – Asset Team /
  • Providing equipment for flex workers

Common Terms & Conditions

Where the approved form of flexible working pattern results in less than full-time hours being worked, the effect on terms and conditions is common:

a.Pay will be based on the equivalent full time grade and pay range but will be pro-rata based on the actual hours worked.

b.Salary increments will be made subject to the normal process and applied pro-rata.

c.Time off in lieu (TOIL) will be accrued on an hour for hour basis where the normal working pattern is exceeded and is subject to the same rules that apply to full time employees.

d.Additional hours authorised and worked will be paid at the normal hourly rate up to the total hours of full time staff if TOIL cannot be taken.

e.Overtime over the full time working week will be paid on the same basis that applies to the equivalent full time role.

f.Holiday entitlement is based on the equivalent full-time entitlement pro-rata to reflect the actual working pattern. To ensure consistency across the Service and to avoid inconsistency caused by complicated working patterns, the following formula should be followed:

Full Time Annual Leave Entitlement
(inc. Bank Hols and Stat Days) / x / Full time hours per day / x / Part time hours ______
Full time hours / = / Annual Leave entitlement in hours
(which can then be converted to days by dividing by 7 hours 12 minutes for the London pay area, 7 hours 24 minutes nationally)

Annual leave is subsequently taken from this yearly entitlement. If a Bank Holiday falls on a day that is part of the normal working pattern then the day must be booked as holiday and taken from the yearly entitlement. If a Bank Holiday falls on a day that is not part of the normal working pattern then no leave is booked, as no time off work has been taken.

g.Performance Management, Appraisal and Supervision processes are fully applied.

h.Equal access applies to training opportunities, budgets and facilities. In exceptional cases where attending training requires working on a day outside of the agreed working pattern, Flexi credit will be authorised.

i.The Civil Service Pension Scheme is open to employees who work a flexible working pattern, subject to eligibility criteria. Existing employees considering working less than full-time hours are advised to take advice from the Pension Administrators’ at DWP (Tel: 0870 0100597, email: ), as pension accrual will be affected.

j.Access to Occupational Sick Pay is subject to the normal administrative rules but payment will only be made for periods of sickness that fall on days the employee is expected to be at work as part of the normal working pattern.

k.Eligibility for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is dependent upon the rules on qualifying days being met.

l.All other HR policies and procedures continue to apply as for full time staff except, where appropriate, they will be reduced in proportion to the hours worked.

Definition - Types of Flexible Working Patterns Available

The sections below provide details of common forms of flexible working patterns.

Staggered working hours

i.Staggered working hours offers some flexibility on the starting and finishing times for employees working a full-time work week. It may be attractive to employees who have children, or have other care commitments, or have travel or other personal issues that can be facilitated by agreeing alternative start and finish times to their working day.

ii.When considering an application for staggered working hours, managers will also need to take account of the total team’s working arrangements to ensure suitable cover is available to maintain operational requirements.

iii.Staggered work hours arrangements are often agreed with employees who continue to work full-time hours, in which case the paragraph above entitled ‘External Recruitment’ is not applicable and their normal conditions continue to apply.

Part-time working

i.Part-time working can be attractive to employees for many reasons. It also helps the Service in achieving a diverse work force and offers additional flexibility in its resourcing strategy.

ii.Where an application for part-time working has been accepted in principle, the employee and line manager will agree the working pattern. This working pattern can be whatever is deemed appropriate to meet the needs of both the employee and the Service providing that it is regular.

iii.Once this working pattern is agreed it becomes the normal working hours for the employee and is subject to the usual timekeeping and attendance standards.

iv.A formal part-time contract of employment will be issued and the arrangement will be deemed for an indefinite period unless a specific term has been agreed.

v.If an employee on an indefinite part-time flexible working pattern wishes to change their hours or transfer to full-time working then they would need to make a separate application which would be treated on its merits and be dependent upon operational requirements and a suitable vacancy.

Compressed Hours

Compressed hours is when an employee works the equivalent of full-time conditioned hours (36 hours in London and 37 hours per week Nationally) but in fewer days than the normal five working days per week or fewer days in a fortnight or monthly period. The full-time hours are worked over fewer days in a given period (i.e. during a week, fortnight or in a month) but longer hours are worked on each working day. The Service does not allow staff to work less than four days a week on compressed hours, but will consider other arrangements, such as 10 days compressed into 9 days over a fortnight.

Job Sharing

i.Job Sharing is where, normally, two people work ‘as one’ to discharge the duties of one full time role. It requires close communication to be successful, especially where the role involves management or supervision of other employees.

ii. All posts are open to consideration for a job sharing arrangement unless the appropriate Director, in consultation with Human Resources, accepts an operational business case for exemption.

iii. Two existing employees who wish to share one job may apply together through the same application process.

iv.External applicants may apply alone or with a partner. If two potential job sharers apply jointly they must be assessed individually and appointed separately.

v.Where a job sharing arrangement has been approved in principle, the line manager, in consultation with the job sharers, will determine how the actual working arrangements and responsibilities are shared. These arrangements will be monitored and varied as appropriate to ensure the objectives of the role are met. In agreeing this split the following will be considered:

  • The requirement to organise the job effectively
  • The degree of supervision required
  • The need for handovers or overlap periods
  • Any special skills or abilities of each sharer
  • The pattern and number of hours the job sharers wish to work

vi.A formal contract will be put in place once the arrangements have been agreed.

vii.Whilst it is necessary that job sharers work ‘as one’ to achieve the best result for themselves, their team, their role and the Service, they will not be held accountable for the performance of each other. Performance management processes such as Probationary Reviews, Appraisal, Supervision, etc. will be undertaken individually and separately.

viii.Where a formal changeover/overlap period is deemed to be an essential requirement in order to ensure continuity, such arrangements must be achieved within the normal established total hours. Not more than 10% of the equivalent full-time week may be used for these arrangements.

ix.In the event of one job sharer leaving the partnership for any reason, the original job-share agreement becomes void. The manager, in consultation with the remaining employee, can consider the following options:

  • The job is re-structured and remaining job sharer continues as a part-time employee
  • The remaining employee moves to the position on a full-time basis
  • The role is advertised as a job-share position
  • The remaining job sharer is redeployed

x. With due consultation and notice to the employees concerned, the manager may discontinue a job-share arrangement where operational business needs are not being met.

Flexible Working Hours is covered by a separate policy and guidance.

Casual working

Other ad hoc working arrangements can be accommodated through a casual agreement. Examples of these include people who wish to work as ‘bank staff’ or students that only want to work during their holiday periods. It should be noted, however, that casual workers are not employees of the Service and that there is no obligation on the organisation to offer work nor on the worker to accept work at any given time. The Service’s normal employment policies & procedures and benefits, as referred to in ‘Common terms and Conditions’, do not apply to casual workers. They are employed through an entirely separate agreement issued to each individual worker.