Total Annual Figures for Compromise Agreements, etc.
Paul Cardin made this Freedom of Information request to Allerdale Borough Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear Allerdale District Council,
Please supply totals for the following:
Since the inception of Allerdale District Council, or as far as records go back, the annual figures for the total number of current employees or ex-employees of Allerdale District Council who have signed compromise agreements directly related to the resolving of dispute(s) / grievance(s) / internal and external investigation(s) / whistleblowing incident(s).
In addition to this, annual figures for the number of current employees / ex-employees who have agreed, following the matter being raised and made conditional as part of a compromise agreement drawn up by the body acting as Allerdale Disrict Council's legal team, to forgo their right to approach the council in the future with Freedom of Information and/or DPA Subject Access requests under the relevant Acts.
Please note that I do not seek or require any personal information such as names and addresses – only the total figures for each subject area.
Yours faithfully,
Paul Cardin
The office is currently closed and this mailbox will not be monitored until Tuesday 4 January 2011. All FOI requests will be considered as 'received' on this date. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
Allerdale Borough Council
Allerdale House, Workington, Cumbria, CA14 3YJ
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Our Ref: F11/00005
Your Ref:
This matter is being dealt with by:
Information and Records Officer
Direct Line: 01900 702701
Fax: 01900 702908
Email: [Allerdale District Council request email]
5 January 2011
Mr Paul Cardin
Paul Cardin [[FOI #56248 email]]
Dear Mr Cardin
Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Information Request
Thank you for your request for information about compromise agreements
dated 1 January 2011 and received on 4 January 2011.
Your request is being considered and you will receive the information
requested within the statutory timescale of 20 working days, by 1 February
2011, subject to the information not being exempt from disclosure. If you
require the information in an alternative format, please let me know.
For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent the release of the information you have requested. There will be
an assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then the
information will not be released. You will be informed if this is the
case, including your rights of appeal. In some circumstances a fee may be
payable and if this is the case, I will let you know. A fees notice will
be issued and you will be required to pay this before we will proceed to
deal with your request. Information about the Act can be found on our
[1]website.
If you have any further queries or concerns then please contact the
Information and Records Officer at Allerdale Borough Council, Allerdale
House, Workington CA14 3YJ, telephone 01900 702701, or email
[2][Allerdale District Council request email].
Further information is also available from the Information Commissioner
at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF,
telephone 0303 123 1113 or see www.ico.gov.uk.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Gilbert
Information and Records Officer
[3]Text Box: Allerdale - a great place to Allerdale Borough Council
live, work and visit
Allerdale House
Workington
Cumbria CA14 3YJ
Tel: 01900 702702
Fax: 01900 702507
Allerdale Borough Council
Allerdale House, Workington, Cumbria, CA14 3YJ
Follow us on:
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Twitter: http://twitter.com/allerdale
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EMAIL DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in this document are those of the individual and are not necessarily the same as the Council's.
This electronic transmission is only intended for the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient or
employee or agents responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication and its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have
received this communication in error please notify us by telephone and return the original communication and
attachments to us at the e-mail address above. The Council is not responsible for any changes made to this message
after it has been sent.
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses.
References
Visible links
1. http://www.allerdale.gov.uk/council-and-...
2. mailto:[Allerdale District Council request email]
Please see attached, in response to your Freedom of Information request.
Allerdale Borough Council
Allerdale House, Workington, Cumbria, CA14 3YJ
Follow us on:
Web: http://www.allerdale.gov.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/allerdale
Facebook: http://www.allerdale.gov.uk/facebook
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/allerdalebc
EMAIL DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in this document are those of the individual and are not necessarily the same as the Council's.
This electronic transmission is only intended for the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient or
employee or agents responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication and its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have
received this communication in error please notify us by telephone and return the original communication and
attachments to us at the e-mail address above. The Council is not responsible for any changes made to this message
after it has been sent.
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses.
Dear Andrew,
Thanks very much for your response. I appreciate your position
however this query is identical to one which has been sent to ALL
English councils. So far, I have had 144 (one hundred and forty four) full and detailed positive responses. These councils did not have any difficulty in responding to a reasonable request.
I am currently involved in research in this area and in order to
make the task somewhat more manageable, can I make the following
changes?
Please can you exclude compromise agreements drawn up in the
following circumstances:
1. Purely redundancy situations
2. Purely PILON (payment in lieu of notice) situations
3. Equal pay claims
4. TUPE situations
5. COT3 agreements (where tribunal proceedings may or may not have
been initiated)
Also, to assist you further, I will narrow the time period down to
between the years 2005 to 2010 i.e. the last six years.
Given that a total of 144 councils have not found any difficulty, I
imagine that they may be taking a different approach to searching
for the information.
Can I suggest that you query your Accounts Department? I ask this
because when employees leave in the circumstances I am describing,
they are offered a financial incentive to end their working
contracts. Your Accounts department is required to keep a detailed
electronic record of all such payments. As they should be keeping
an adequate data storage / retrieval system, it will not be too
arduous a task for them to provide Annual total figures for
compromise agreements drawn up in these circumstances.
You could also put in a call to your Legal Department who may keep
a similar searchable database.
I hope the above information assists you. I don't believe that the
possession of an inadequate data storage / retrieval system
warrants the use of an exclusion under the FOI Act and look forward
to your response,
Yours sincerely,
Paul Cardin
Many thanks for your email. I am out of the office until Wednesday 2 February 2011 and will deal with your email on my return. If you are making a request under the Freedom of Information Act please send this to [Allerdale District Council request email]
Allerdale Borough Council
Allerdale House, Workington, Cumbria, CA14 3YJ
Follow us on:
Web: http://www.allerdale.gov.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/allerdale
Facebook: http://www.allerdale.gov.uk/facebook
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/allerdalebc
EMAIL DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in this document are those of the individual and are not necessarily the same as the Council's.
This electronic transmission is only intended for the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient or
employee or agents responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication and its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have
received this communication in error please notify us by telephone and return the original communication and
attachments to us at the e-mail address above. The Council is not responsible for any changes made to this message
after it has been sent.
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses.
Mr Cardin,
Many thanks for your email. I've passed your comments on to our HR
department for consideration and will provide a response when received.
Andrew Gilbert
Our Ref: F11/00005
Your Ref:
This matter is being dealt with by:-
Information and Records Officer
Telephone No: (01900) 702701
Fax No: (01900) 702908
Email: [Allerdale District Council request email]
2 March 2011
Mr Paul Cardin
Paul Cardin [[FOI #56248 email]]
Dear Mr Cardin
Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Information Request
Thank you for your request for information originally dated 1 January 2011
and received on 4 January 2011 on compromise agreements. We responded on 1
February 2011, to which you offered a reduced request to take the request
below the appropriate limit. The Council's response to this reduced
request is below.
You asked:
Please can you exclude compromise agreements drawn up in the following
circumstances:
1. Purely redundancy situations
2. Purely PILON (payment in lieu of notice) situations
3. Equal pay claims
4. TUPE situations
5. COT3 agreements (where tribunal proceedings may or may not have
been initiated)
Also, to assist you further, I will narrow the time period down to between
the years 2005 to 2010 i.e. the last six years.
Our HR department has advised that there have been three agreements
between the council and staff as defined in your request, in the last six
years. No staff members have been asked to agree to wave their rights
under the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection Act.
I hope this satisfies your enquiry, however if you are dissatisfied with
the information provided please contact the Information and Records
Officer within two months of receipt of this letter at Allerdale Borough
Council, Allerdale House, Workington CA14 3YJ, phone (01900) 702701, email
[1][Allerdale District Council request email]. We will then make an internal review of the
decision.
You can also complain to the Information Commissioner at: Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF, Telephone: 0303 123 1113; [2]www.ico.gov.uk. Generally the ICO cannot
make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure
provided by Allerdale Borough Council.
Most of the information that we provide in response to Freedom of
Information Act 2000 requests will be subject to copyright protection. In
most cases the copyright will be owned by Allerdale Borough Council. The
copyright in other information may be owned by another person or
organisation, as indicated on the information itself.
You are free to use any information supplied for your own non-commercial
research or private study purposes. The information may also be used for
any other purpose allowed by a limitation or exception in copyright law,
such as news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example by
publishing the information in analogue or digital form, including on the
internet, will require the permission of the copyright owner.
For information where the copyright is owned by Allerdale Borough Council
details of the conditions on re-use can be found on our website at
[3]www.allerdale.gov.uk . For information where the copyright is owned by
another person or organisation you must apply to the copyright owner to
obtain their permission.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Gilbert
Information and Records Officer
Allerdale Borough Council
Allerdale House, Workington, Cumbria, CA14 3YJ
Follow us on:
Web: http://www.allerdale.gov.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/allerdale
Facebook: http://www.allerdale.gov.uk/facebook
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/allerdalebc
EMAIL DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in this document are those of the individual and are not necessarily the same as the Council's.
This electronic transmission is only intended for the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain
information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient or
employee or agents responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any
dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication and its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have
received this communication in error please notify us by telephone and return the original communication and
attachments to us at the e-mail address above. The Council is not responsible for any changes made to this message
after it has been sent.
This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Allerdale District Council request email]
2. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
3. http://www.allerdale.gov.uk/
Dear Gilbert, Andrew,
Thanks for your response.
Please could you break the total down into Annual calendar figures, as requested, and re-advise?
Can I stress that this is not a new request, not additional and has already been requested but not delivered? Therefore I'd be grateful if you didn't avail yourselves of another 20 working days' grace.
Many thanks in advance,
Yours sincerely,
Paul Cardin
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Paul Cardin left an annotation ()
Allerdale District Council were one of the slowest respondents of the 345 councils asked, taking 43 working days (over twice the statutory period) to respond positively and in full.
Please link here to read about the further aspects of this request:
www.easyvirtualassistance.co.uk/page4.html
...including councils who have attempted to prevent individuals from exercising their statutory FOI / DP querying rights.
There is a growing trend for the use of compromise agreements, not just in the area of disputes or whistleblowing, but also in general redundancy or equal pay claims. Some councils have yet to answer this query - and to date, 65 working days have elapsed