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'Recruitment of Social Workers'.
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Post-Interview This section contains: Heading
Offers of Appointment Although offers of appointment can be made subject to satisfactory medical, they must not be made subject to references. Every effort should be made to obtain references, including telephone contact for a verbal opinion. Offers must never be made to posts which have Access to Children and/or Vulnerable Adults until the necessary checks have been made through the Criminal Records Bureau. Post Interview Counselling Post-interview counselling may be requested by unsuccessful candidates and should be provided after a decision has been made. It will normally be provided by the Chair of the Interview Panel with a representative of Personnel and Policy if necessary. Such counselling should not seek to justify decisions taken but should provide constructive feedback to the candidate on her/his performance during the interview. Contracts of Employment
As letters offering appointment are crucial in the formation of the contract of employment ensure that these are carefully drafted to set out the main conditions.
Appreciate the difference between a contract of employment and the written Statement of Particulars which is required to be issued to each employee under Part I of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 (as amended by the Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993).
Ensure relevant documents are available at places of work, containing information about contractual obligations, terms and conditions of service, grievance and disciplinary procedures, etc.
Ensure that all newly engaged employees, including temporary employees, irrespective of statutory requirements are issued prior to commencement with a written statement, either:
Form M9 Former Manual Employees
Amend within one month any changes to the terms of employment by revising documents referred to above.
Fixed Term Contracts Fixed term contracts should not be issued by departments without prior consultation with Personnel and Policy. Chief Officers, on their application after twelve months' continuous service with this Council in that capacity, can be offered a fixed term contract which will guarantee them up to five years' employment and salary, providing their application is approved by the relevant Appointment Panel. Temporary Contracts The essential steps which departments take in respect of each temporary appointment (officer or manual employee) regardless of the reason for the appointment or its expected duration are as follows:
The offer of appointment must be expressed in writing as temporary and as estimate given of the likely maximum duration. In accordance with Council policy, this should normally be no longer than twelve weeks except in the case of temporary staff employed to replace employees absent on maternity leave. A statement should be included in the normal letter of appointment to the effect that "the employment will be for not more than a period of ..... weeks but may be terminated by .... weeks/months notice on either side". (Notice should be in accordance with the appropriate statutory and contractual periods.)
The reason for the temporary appointment must be explained to the employee when the post is offered and confirmed in the letter of appointment. If the reason for the termination of a temporary contract of employment is redundancy, e.g. for a specific task which will be completed, immediate reference should be made to the redundancy consultation procedure which is explained in the appropriate section of this handbook.
Confirmation must be requested from the employee that he/she accepts the appointment on the basis that it is temporary for a maximum of ...... weeks and may be terminated on either side in accordance with the notice provisions defined in the letter of appointment. (If the prospective employee does not confirm acceptance in accordance with these terms then he/she should not be employed.)
The written statement of particulars of the employee's contract of employment must confirm that the appointment is temporary and state the reason for it being so. It must also include information on the period of the contract, which in some cases may have to be approximate. The standard authority form should be used provided necessary amendments are made which should also include any relevant amendments to conditions/leave/sickness, etc.
Before the temporary employment is terminated, the employer should:
Give as much advance warning as possible but it must not be less than the period of notice defined in the appointment letter (which must be at least the minimum statutory provision).
Consider whether alternative employment is available to the employee within the organisation and if so consider whether it is suitable to offer it to him/her.
A letter should be sent on termination of employment stating that the temporary employment will be terminated with effect from ..... (date to be in accordance with the notice provision. Departments must ensure that the date does not exceed the twelve week limit.) No right of appeal should be given. The reason for dismissal must be clearly stated.
Duration of employment - temporary employees must not normally be employed for more than twelve weeks (Council Standing Orders). Employment in excess of twelve weeks is an undesirable personnel practice and is opposed by the trade unions. In special circumstances, however it may be essential to extend a period of temporary employment beyond the twelve week period. This can create some difficulty in relation conditions of service (including the expiry of the probationary period, ie three months for manual employees and six months for officers) and the redundancy consultation provisions of the Employment Protection Act, but consideration will be given by Personnel and Policy to requests in instances involving;
Sickness Maternity Leave Seasonal Employment Special Leave (where leave has been approved by the Personnel Sub-Committee in excess of twelve weeks) A permanent vacancy approved for filling but appointment pending Special employment task of a duration in excess of twelve weeks
The twelve week limitation does not, however, apply to temporary staff who are employed to replace employees who have exercised their right to return to duty following maternity leave under the provisions of the Employment Protection Act
The above steps must be repeated each time an offer of renewal of the temporary contract is made and accepted.
Apprentices' Statements of Particulars Apprentices should receive Statement of Particulars (Form M9 duly amended) for the period of their indenture and this must, where applicable, make reference to the terms of the Indenture Agreement. Continuous Service Date Date of commencement of continuous service with the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral includes continuous service with other authorities which merged to form the Council provided that service with a merging authority was immediately prior to taking up an appointment with the Council as a result of local government reorganisation in 1974. Completion and Issue of Statement of Particulars The completion and issue should be scrutinised at a senior level. The following section should be read in conjunction with the instructions on the form:
Detailed records of the issue of the Statement of Particulars must be maintained. In particular the date of issue and the initials of the individual officer who issued the document. A copy of the Statement of Particulars should be signed by the employee and retained on the employee's personal file.
The Statement of Particulars on the advice of LACSAB now includes a section which requires an employee to serve in any post appropriate to his grade "at such other place of employment in the Authority's service as may be decided at the discretion of the Authority". This must be drawn to the attention of the new employee at the interview stage. Departments must make every effort to ensure that new starters are aware of the terms of their appointments.
On engaging an employee from another authority the employee's new authority has to include a statement of his/her recognised continuous employment (Section 2 of the Statement of Particulars.) This continuous employment may be different from the aggregated service for pension and some other purposes where the local government service (or other related service) was broken by a period of non local government service.
Employees prior to reaching the normal retirement age are entitled to receive notice in accordance with the contract before they reach default retirement age (ie, the period of notice in accordance with their conditions of service should be served so as to end on the normal retirement day).
Code of Corporate Governance The CIPFA/SOLACE Guidance Note and Framework (2001) “Corporate Governance in Local Government - A Keystone for Local Community Governance” recommends as current best practice that each Local Authority adopts a Code of Corporate Governance. The Authority should be able to demonstrate compliance with the Code of Corporate Governance, and this in turn places a responsibility on all people involved in the delivery of Council services and functions to be able to demonstrate compliance with it. A Code of Corporate Governance was adopted by the Council on 24 September 2003. With effect from July 2006 all new employees appointed on Scale PO1 or above (SCP33) will receive a letter as part of the appointment process and be asked to formally confirm their acknowledgement and acceptance of the Code of Corporate Governance. Probationary Period All new appointments to the local government service are subject to a probationary period of six months in the case of officers and three months with discretion to extend to six months for manual employees. It is important that all probationary periods are closely monitored, during the probationary service, by the chief officer. This rule of probationary service shall not apply to anyone who has continuous local government service with another employing authority and therefore has already been subject to a probationary period (with no break in service between joining Wirral and the previous authority). Any issues over performance should be dealt with under the capability procedure. All employees should be made aware of their role and the standard of performance expected of them. They should be appropriately trained and informed at regular intervals of how they are progressing. Any problem about the employee's behaviour or work standards should be discussed straight away in order that the employee has an opportunity to improve/change his/her behaviour. Whilst supervision of probationers is an ongoing process, ideally the supervisor should set up a monitoring system whereby regular informal reports are produced about new employees within the first ten weeks. Then at the end of the probationary period, the employee's appointment should be confirmed only if the chief officer is satisfied as to the employee's suitability. If the employee is not achieving the required standard and despite regular supervision has not improved, then the appointment should not be confirmed. When this is the case, the stages outlined in the Council's Disciplinary Procedure and/or Capability Performance Procedure for probationary employees should be followed. Non-Acceptance or Subsequent Resignation
Candidate Comments Forms
Complaints
Post Interview Checklist
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