SCRUTINY REPORT
for
Social Care Scrutiny Panel

21st March 2006

Pip Schofield, Senior HR Client Officer

Purpose of the report

  1. The purpose of the report is to inform the Social Care Scrutiny Panel of Middlesbrough Council’s responsibilities to its employees who are carers, the support provided and the implications of all of this these to the Council.

Introduction

  1. The Carers Act 2004 gives clear direction to Local Authorities and other agencies regarding their roles and responsibilities. Middlesbrough Council is committed to supporting employees who have caring responsibilities away from the workplace. The council has a range of policies in place to assist employees who have caring responsibilities; these policies include parental leave, paternity leave, maternity support leave, adoption and maternity leave, flexible working and special leave. Carer leave is at present included in the special leave policy, however a new carer leave policy is being has been developed and this is covered in more detail in section 9 - Future Developments.

Middlesbrough Council’s Responsibilities

  1. There is a legal requirement upon employers and therefore the Council to provide the following support to employees:
  • Parental leave
  • Maternity support leave
  • Adoption and maternity leave

Some but not all of the above are required as paid leave.

  1. The Council has policies in place for all of the above and in addition to its legal requirements the Council also has in place policies for:
  • Flexible working hours
  • Special leave

Existing Provision

  1. In all cases the council’s policies meet the minimum standard legal requirements for the provision of support to employees with caring responsibilities and in some cases exceed these.
  1. The existing policy provision is as follows:-

6.1Parental leave

Employees with 1 year’s continuous service are entitled to take 13 weeks unpaid leave (18 weeks for parents of a disabled child) for the purpose of caring for a child under the age of 5 years. Employees qualify if they have a child born on or after 15 December 1999 or adopt a child on or after 15 December 1999. The parents of a disabled child may take parental leave until the child is 18 years old.

6.2 Maternity support leave (including paternity leave)

The statutory requirement is for 1 week’s leave at full pay to be granted to an employee who is the child’s father or the partner or nominated carer of an expectant mother at or around the time of birth. The council’s policy exceeds the legal requirements for those employees with 26 weeks continuous service, extending the entitlement to two weeks’ leave, one week at full pay, the second week on Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) of £100 or 90% of the employee’s average earnings if this is less than £100.

6.3 Adoption and Maternity Leave

All pregnant employees regardless of the number of hours worked or their length of service are by law entitled to take maternity leave which can commence up to 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth. The actual amount of maternity leave to which an employee is entitled depends on the amount of Local Government Service completed by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of confinement. The legal requirement is that all employees are entitled to up to 26 weeks’ maternity leave (ordinary maternity leave). The council exceeds the legal minimum standard for employees with more than 26 weeks continuous service who are entitled to a further 26 weeks maternity leave (additional maternity leave). Entitlements to maternity pay are dependent on both length of continuous service and length of service with the council.

6.4 Flexible Working Hours

This policy aims to give employees maximum flexibility with their working hours with the proviso that service provision must not be affected. Due to the nature of their work some employees are not covered by the scheme. The policy gives employees flexibility as to their starting and finishing times, the times of the working day during which flexibility is allowed are 7.30am to 6.00pm. Attendance at work is mandatory (unless otherwise authorised) from 9.30am to 12.00 noon and 2.00pm to 3.30pm.

6.5 Special Leave

The special leave policy makes provision for employees to take paid leave of absence in certain circumstances, these include:

  • Serious illness – up to 3 days leave in any one annual leave year for the serious illness of a close relative/dependant
  • Carers – up to 3 days leave in any one annual leave year to allow for the care of a dependant, e.g. child, disabled or elderly parent
  • Death – up to 5 days leave in any one annual leave in the case of the death of a close relative/dependant

In addition, the council will consider requests for unpaid leave, in exceptional circumstances, from employees with over two years’ service.

Other support mechanisms

  1. In addition to the existing policies outlined in this report, the Department of Social Care has recently set up a Working Carers Group for employees. HR Client will assist the Department of Social Care in promoting this group and will include the group along with other established focus groups for consultation purposes. This will provide the group with the opportunity to comment, for example, on the impact of new/revised HR policies on those with caring responsibilities. HR will attend these meetings.

Future developments – Carers’ Leave

8.1In response to the Carers’ Act 2004 and also the need to reflect more accurately the true reasons for employees’ absence from work, a new Carers’ Leave policy has been in development developed. Following much discussion and wide consultation involving the Corporate Management Team, Managers, Trades Unions, Corporate Diversity Group and Employee Focus Groups, the final draft policy has been amended to incorporate wherever possibleas much as possible of the feedback received. The final draft policy is now due to be submitted to CMT and Trade Unions for final approval.

8.2The council recognises that carers, from time to time, may need additional support to help them to balance their contractual obligations at work with their domestic responsibilities, may need some time away from work. The Carers’ Leave policy has been developed to help carers to this and to ensure that their needs are provided for on a consistent basis across the organisation.

8.3The new policy allows employees to take up to a maximum of 5 days paid leave in any leave year to care for a dependant child or adult, leave will be pro rata for employees working less than 37 hours per week. Leave is not an entitlement but may be granted subject to the needs of the service and to approval by the relevant Head of Service.

8.4As well as considering assisting with paid leave, Managers can also consider agreeing temporary variations in working hours or patterns and, in line with legislative provision, unpaid carers’ leave can be granted.

8.5It is not intended that an employee will normally take 5 days carers’ leave in a block, although occasionally circumstances may merit it. In most cases, it is anticipated that one day or less should be sufficient to deal with the problem. If there are problems with the longer term care arrangements then the employee will be expected to use annual leave or flexi-leave if available. In exceptional circumstances more than 5 days carers’ leave per year may be granted with the approval of the appropriate Director with advice from HR.

8.6The policy will be piloted for a period of 1 year so the use can be monitored centrally. At the end of this period the policy will either be discontinued, amended or confirmed.

Cost implications for Middlesbrough Council

9.1 The existing policies for carers such as parental leave, maternity support

leave have been in place for some time and remain unchanged, there is therefore no anticipated additional cost in relation to these policies.

9.2It is generally recognised that at present employees needing to take leave in order to fulfil their caring responsibilities account for a proportion of sickness absence. One anticipated impact therefore of the introduction of the Carers’ Leave policy is that this type of absence will be recorded appropriately and this should ultimately contribute to a reduction in sickness absence. The reassignment of this leave to carers’ leave will not have a cost implication for the council since employees would have been paid in accordance with the council’s occupational sick pay scheme.

9.3In monitoring the impact of the Carers’ Leave policy particular attention will be paid to those service areas whose work is subject to competitive tendering so that any additional costs incurred in supporting employees with caring responsibilities in these service areas are assessed.

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