Appendix E:
Human Resources Policies for NHWN Staff (NCVO report)
1. NWHN STATEMENT OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE
In accordance with the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Employment Relations Act 1999 and subsequent relevant employment legislation.
Part I of this statement set out particulars of the terms and conditions on which the Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network will employ:
[Enter first name & surname here]
Your employment with the Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network (hereinafter known as NHWN) began on
[Enter start date here]
Your employment with your previous employer(s) does not count as part of your continuous period of employment.
You are required to work at Beaumont Enterprise Centre. 72 Boston Road, Beaumont Leys, LeicesterLE4 1HB, or any other location within a reasonable distance on a temporary or permanent basis any such change will not constitute a change in the terms and conditions under which you are employed.
PART I
1.Period of Employment
1.1Your employment with NHWN is for an indefinite period, terminable on notice or otherwise as set out in this contract
2.Job Title
2.1Your job title is INSERT
2.2In addition to the normal duties associated with your post, you may be required to carry out additional or alternative tasks as requested from to time to time.
3.Probationary Period
3.1You agree that your appointment will be subject to a THREE MONTH probationary period at its outset during which NHWN may in its absolute discretion and for whatever reason terminate your employment giving one-week’s notice or payment in lieu of notice. You are also required to give one-week’s notice during the probationary period.
4.Salary
4.1Your salary is £X per annum.
Salaries are paid monthly in arrears on the 27th day of each month or the nearest working day before that day and are normally paid by bank transfer.
4.2NHWN shall be entitled to deduct from you salary any loan, overpayment of salary or payment of expenses which subsequently are disallowed by NHWN or make any deduction to your salary in accordance with the disciplinary policy and procedures.
5.Hours of Work
5.1Your normal hours of work are 37.5 per week. However, employees are expected to be flexible and you may occasionally be required, to work additional hours to meet the needs of the business. This has been taken in to consideration in determining your salary and other conditions of employment.
5.2Full time hours of work are 37.5 hours per week (excluding time taken off for meals). The office is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
5.3The Working Time Regulations do not allow you to carry out more than 48 hours of work in total each week averaged over a 17-week reference period, without making an individual agreement to do so with your employer. It is your responsibility to ensure that your working hours do not contravene the Working Time Regulations 1998 regarding maximum weekly hours.
5.4Time off in lieu will be allowed in accordance with that outline in 5.5 for work done with the prior approval of your line manager on weekday evenings or on Saturdays, Sundays or Bank Holidays. Such time off must not be accumulated and must be taken as soon as reasonably possible after the evening or day concerned in consultation with your line manager.
5.5Period WorkedTime Off
1 evening half day (am or pm)
(min 3.5 hours)
Saturday/Sunday1 day
Whole Weekend2 days
Bank Holiday2 days
Weekend either side of a
Bank Holiday3 days
6.Annual Holidays and Holiday Pay
6.1The NHWN annual leave year runs from 1 April to 31 March. With the agreement of your line manager, a maximum of five days holiday entitlement can be carried forward from one annual leave year to the next, but must be taken prior to 30 June the following year. Holiday accrues on a monthly pro-rata basis for all staff starting after 1 April.
6.2Adequate notice for all leave must be given.
6.3Annual holiday with pay is 25 working days in each year April - March (pro rata for part timers, job sharers and those who join at any time other than April during the calendar year). This entitlement is in addition to all statutory Bank Holidays. You may be required to work on statutory holidays. In such circumstances you will be paid at your normal rate and will be entitled to time off in lieu in accordance with clause 5.5 above.
6.4Part-time and job share employees are entitled to:
(a)A pro-rata annual leave entitlement based on their hours of work.
(b)A pro-rata entitlement to Bank Holidays and office closures (apart from the Christmas closure) based on their hours of work.
6.5NHWN reserves the right to require you take any unused holiday during your notice period.
6.6On termination of employment you will be paid in lieu of any accrued but untaken holiday entitlement.
6.7If, on termination, you have taken in excess of your accrued annual leave entitlement, you agree that NHWN can deduct this excess holiday pay from your final salary.
7.Sickness Absence and Pay – this is outlined in the Sickness Absence policy
8.Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Rights
8.1NHWN provides parental, paternity leave and pay and adoption leave and pay in line with statutory requirements.
9.Emergencies Involving Dependents (Including Compassionate Leave)
9.1Employees have a legal right to reasonable time off work to deal with an unexpected or sudden emergency involving a dependent and to make longer-term arrangements. This can also cover time off to deal with the unexpected absence of a regular carer, or time off to make longer term arrangements for a sick or injured dependent. Employees will not be dismissed or victimised if they exercise this right to time off.
9.2NHWN will treat all cases reasonably and on a case-by-case basis.
9.3NHWN reserves the right not to pay part or all of any emergency time off taken.
9.4NHWN reserves the right to request an employee match any additional paid days granted, with their own annual leave days.
10.Pensions
NHWN does not offer a stakeholder pension scheme.
11.Retirement
11.1Existing contracts of employment will end for an employee on reaching the age of 65. Employees have the right to request to continue working after the age of 65 in accordance with the statutory procedure.
12. Termination of Employment
12.1 After successful completion of your probationary period, NHWN will give notice in writing as one month for Development Manager and Information and Database Officer, two months for Operations Director.]
12.2NHWN may terminate your employment without notice in the event of gross misconduct or continued or repeated misconduct or poor performance after warning.
13. Membership of Outside Bodies
13.1NHWN will allow reasonable membership of outside bodies time for employees to carry out:
Public Duties
NHWN will permit such time off work to be taken for public duties as is reasonable having regard to any time off already granted for activities undertaken as follows:
(i)A justice of the peace
(ii)A member of a local authority
(iii)A member of a statutory tribunal
(iv)A member of a Regional Health Authority or Area Health Authority
(v)A member of the managing or governing body of an educational establishment maintained by a local education authority
(vi)A member of a water authority
(vii)A member of a Board of visitors to prisons or Visiting committee to young offenders institutions.
(viii)A member of the Environment agency or Scottish Environment Protection Agency or
(ix)A trustee or
(x)A member of any other body at the discretion of the Chair.
Payment for time off spent on the above duties (i)-(x) will be at the discretion of NHWN.
14.Expenses
14.1You will be reimbursed all reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in or about the performance of your duties, provided that such expenses are approved by NHWN and evidenced in such a manner as NHWN may require. See separate Expenses Policy.
15.Other Employment
15.1If any employee is currently working for another employer or doing freelance work at the time of the commencement of the contract, then details must be given to the NHWN Board of Trustees before the contract is signed.
15.2You shall not work for, advise or in any other way assist (whether for financial gain or otherwise) any other organisation, business or company at anytime whatsoever whilst this employment subsists unless the written consent of the NHWN has first been obtained.
16.Email, Internet and Telecommunications Monitoring
16.1 You must not send emails that contain libellous, defamatory or derogatory remarks. You must not send material that could be considered racist, sexist, homophobic, obscene or offensive. NHWN may access any part of an employee’s computerised systems for monitoring purposes at any time and read all emails. Should unauthorised or extended use be found in this random monitoring, more detailed monitoring may be undertaken to determine the full nature of any misuse.
16.2You must not download or send any material that could be deemed obscene, offensive, defamatory, sexist, racist or homophobic. NHWN may monitor and record all sites visited by any computer with internet access.
16.3Any breach of these conditions renders you liable to summary dismissal.
17.Data Protection
17.1As part of your employment record we may need to hold some confidential personal data, both manually and electronically. We will take care of this information in secure personnel files and will not disclose it to others outside the line management structure, except in the following cases:
- In the case of relevant information in a genuine emergency
- Where the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the employer is party
- Where the processing is necessary for compliance with any non-contractual legal obligation the employer is subject to. This could include information needed for processing PAYE or National Insurance (NI) contributions for example. You will not be obliged to give this information.
17.2We also request to hold some information for equal opportunities monitoring purposes, such as age, sex, sexuality, race, disability, religion and belief - this information is given voluntarily. By signing this contract you are agreeing to us collecting, holding and using this information in this way. Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have the right to request to see all the information held on your file (barring those particular items under the terms of the Act) at any time during or after your period of employment. NHWN reserves the right to charge a fee of £10 for such a request for those staff who has left the organisation.
17.3Information known as “sensitive personal data” will also be processed as part of your personnel records, which includes details of any medical condition and you agree to NHWN processing such data. You understand that where this is the case, processing will take place in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
18.Gratuities
18.1You must immediately report to your manager any offer by customers, suppliers, distributors and other such persons having similar connection with NHWN any gifts or services. You must not accept or agree to accept such offers without the prior agreement of your line manager. This applies to gifts or services offered directly or indirectly from any person, firm or company with whom NHWN conduct business or may conduct business. You will immediately account to NHWN for any amount actually accepted by you which has not been authorised.
19. Deductions
19.1NHWN may deduct from salary or other sums due to the employee:
- All losses or damages sustained in relation to property or money of the employer, clients, visitors, or other employees, during the course of your employment caused through your act, carelessness, negligence, recklessness or through breach of the employer's rules or instructions or any dishonesty on your part.
- The amount of any accidental overpayment to you.
- The amount of any loan made to you for whatever purpose or the amount due to the employer under any agreement with you.
- NHWN shall notify the employee in writing of the details of any such deduction and provide the employee with copies of any supporting documents reasonably requested in connection with the deduction.
20.Health and Safety
21.1The Trustees are responsible for ensuring that all work undertaken complies with Health and Safety regulations. All members of staff are responsible for following NHWN’s Health and Safety Policy and procedures and for taking reasonable care for the health and safety of themselves and others who will be affected by their work and to co-operate with their employers in complying with their statutory duties.
21. Equality and Diversity
21.1NHWN is fully committed to the active promotion of equality and diversity in its capacity as an employer and in the provision of all its services to the community as a whole. It is the individual responsibility of each member of staff to seek to ensure the practical application of this policy. It is essential that every employee behaves at all times in accordance with the requirements of the equality and diversity policy. You will be provided with a copy of this policy.
22.Confidentiality
22.1You must not at any time either during or after your employment disclose, make use of or exploit any confidential information acquired by you during the course of your employment relating to NHWN, its business or clients.
23. Copyright
23.1Every work, improvement, invention, writing or design or concept in which rights may subsist, whether or not registered and or register-able, created by an employee during employment, arising out of or in consequence of such employment, shall be deemed to have been made on behalf of the employer and together with any benefit of any such work shall be considered to be the intellectual property of NHWN and shall belong to NHWN exclusively. The employee shall forthwith communicate to the employer the full particulars of all and any such work. The employee shall, at the request and cost of the employer both during employment and thereafter, if required, take all steps as may be necessary or desirable to substantiate the rights of NHWN in respect of any such work.
24. Variation
24.1NHWN reserves the right to make reasonable minor changes to any of the terms and conditions of your employment. You will be notified in writing of any minor changes of detail and any such change takes effect from the date of the notice or such other date as specified in the notice. Other changes will be made only after consultation and with at least one month's written notice.
25. Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures
25.1Your attention is drawn to the disciplinary procedure and grievance procedure applicable to your employment; you will be provided with copies of these procedures. These procedures do not form part of your contract of employment.
25.2If you wish to appeal against a disciplinary decision you should follow the appeals process set out in the disciplinary and grievance procedures.
25.3NHWN reserves the right to suspend on you on full pay for purposes of investigating an allegation of misconduct or neglect against you.
Signed on behalf of NHWN …………………………………….. Date ………………….
(Chair)
Print Name …………………………………………………………………………………..
Signed by new employee ……………………………………… Date ………………….
(Print name) ………………………………………………………………………………..
2. NHWN Grievance Procedure
Dealing with Grievances Informally
If you have a grievance or complaint to do with your work or the people you work with, you should wherever possible start by talking it over with your manager. You may be able to agree a solution informally between you.
Where appropriate, NHWN may use meditation as a tool to resolve disciplinary matters.
NHWN may seek and take professional HR advice at any stage during this grievance procedure.
Formal Grievance
If the matter is serious and/or you wish to raise the matter formally you should set out the grievance in writing to your line manager.
You should stick to the facts and avoid language that is insulting or abusive.
Where your grievance is against your line manager and you feel unable to approach him or her you should set out your grievance in writing to A TRUSTEE.
Grievance Hearing
Your line manager will call you to meeting, normally within working five days, to discuss your grievance. You have the right to be accompanied by colleague at this meeting if you make a reasonable request.
After the meeting the line manager will give you a decision in writing, normally within 2 working days.
OR
If the grievance is against your line manager, THE TRUSTEE will call you to meeting, normally within working five days, to discuss your grievance. You have the right to be accompanied by colleague at this meeting if you make a reasonable request.
After the meeting THE TRUSTEE will give you a decision in writing, normally within 2 working days.
Appeals
If you are unhappy with your line manager’s / TRUSTEE’S decision and you wish to appeal you should inform your line manager / THE TRUSTEE in writing within 2 working days of receiving the written decision.