Staffing and Employment Contract Handbook
Staffing and employment contract handbook.
- Hours of Work
Employed hours, to be worked as appropriate to Council business. The Council will normally hold 6 meetings per year, which shall be attended by the Clerk.
Due to the nature of the Council’s work, all staff are expected to be flexible and supportive of
one another. It is a condition of employment for all Employees that everyone is expected to
co-operate with management to ensure work is completed within the necessary time scales
and to the required standard.
Additional Hours:
If you are required by the Council to work more than your normal working hours they will be
paid at your normal rate.
- Holiday Entitlement
Full time staff are entitled to 22 days paid leave per annum, increasing to 25 days after five
years continuous employment, plus 8 Bank Holidays (Spring Bank Holiday, Good Friday,
Easter Monday, May Day, August Bank Holiday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s
Day), pro-rata for part-time staff. If staff are required to work on a Bank Holiday they will be
entitled to Time Off in Lieu.
All holiday requests will be considered by the Full Council, depending upon:
1 How many other Employees have already requested leave during the same period.
2 No more than a maximum of two weeks are requested at any one time.
3 The request is made with a minimum of two weeks prior notice.
The Council’s holiday year runs from 1st April to 31st March each year. No unused entitlement
can be carried over into the following year. In the event that an Employee has been prevented
from using their full holiday entitlement because of reasons outside of their control, they need
to discuss their concerns with the Council’s Management.
Employees who leave or join the Council during the holiday year are entitled to a pro-rata
holiday allowance, based on how much of the year they work for the Council.
Employees who leave and have not fully used their pro rata entitlement will be reimbursed
by payment in lieu. Similarly, those Employees who have exceeded their pro rata holiday
entitlement when they leave will have the appropriate amount deducted from their leaving
pay.
- Parental Leave
Employees with more than 12 months continuous employment and who are parents of
children aged under eighteen years old, are entitled to 18 weeks unpaid leave; pro rata for
part time staff.
This entitlement can be taken as a minimum of one week per annum, up to a maximum of
four weeks per annum.
When taking Parental Leave, the Council needs to be given the same period of notice as for
holidays, and informed that it is specifically Parental Leave that you are taking.
- Illness and Statutory Sick Pay
Employees should report all accidents immediately, or as soon as possible, to the Chair or
Personnel Committee; or whoever is deputising in her absence.
In the event of time off due to illness:
1. Notification should be given as soon as possible during the first day of incapacity.
2. Employees need to complete a Council Sickness Self Certification Form after 3
consecutive days of sickness absence.
3. A GP’s Statement of illness is required after seven consecutive days absence.
4. Note unacceptable absenteeism will be addressed through disciplinary procedure.
Please note that failure to comply with the sickness reporting requirements may result in the
Employee losing their sick pay for the period in question.
Employees are entitled to Council Sick Pay paid at the following rates:
Length of continuous Employment Council Sick Pay Entitlement
|
|
Full pay |
Half pay |
|
Up to 12 months |
1 month |
1 month |
|
Up to 2 years |
2 months |
2 months |
|
Up to 3 years |
3 months |
3 months |
|
Up to 4 years |
4 months |
4 months |
|
Up to 5 years |
5 months |
5 months |
|
Over 5 years |
6 months |
6 months |
These payments include Statutory Sick Payments for those Employees whose weekly wage
exceed the National Insurance Lower Earnings Limit.
The Council may ask Employees who have been absent for six weeks or more through
sickness, or whose health is a cause of concern, to attend a consultation with a Doctor
appointed by the Council. The Employee concerned does not have to give their consent to
this request, however failure to provide consent may be seen as a deliberate act to prevent
a reasonable investigation by the Council’s Management.
Employees whose weekly wage exceeds the National Insurance Lower Earnings Limit are
entitled to claim Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).
If the period of sickness exceeds twenty eight weeks, SSP will end and the Employee will be
required to claim Incapacity Benefit.
Medical Appointments: Staff are required to make GP and Dentist appointments outside of
normal working hours. Staff attending hospital appointments are required to show an
appointment card to the Full Council prior to attending the appointment.
- Time off for Dependants
Employees are entitled to reasonable unpaid time off where:
1) A dependant is ill.
2) Death of a dependant.
3) Disruption occurs to the care of a dependant.
4) Unexpected occurrences to your child.
The Council recognises a dependant as: an Employee’s children, partner, parent, or other
member of their immediate family. Should an Employee care for other dependants who don’t
fall within this definition, they should discuss the matter with the Chair of the Parish Council
or Chair of the HR Committee.
The Council recognises that most of these events can occur without a great deal of warning,
however we request that Employees provide as much notice as possible in the event of taking
time off for dependents.
- Bereavement Leave
All Employees are entitled to up to two weeks Bereavement Leave in the event of the death
of a dependent child aged from week 24 of the pregnancy up to 18 years old.
For those with 26 weeks continuous employment payment will be equal to that of Statutory
Maternity Pay.
- Maternity Leave
All female Employees are entitled to 52 weeks Maternity Leave, which consists of 9 months
ordinary paid leave (if eligible) and an optional 3 months additional unpaid leave.
All female Employees are entitled to 9 months paid Maternity Leave, and will receive Statutory
Maternity Pay (SMP) if their average weekly wage exceeds the National Insurance lower
earnings limit and have been employed for a period of 6 months at the 15th week prior to the
birth of their child. Employees need to discuss all arrangements with their Partner prior to
beginning this leave.
Employees will need to give the Council 8 weeks prior notice if they wish to return to work
early from Maternity Leave.
Employees are required to give the Council 28 days’ notice prior to their intended return date
from ordinary Maternity leave. No notice is required from Employees who have taken 12
months Maternity Leave.
Employees on Maternity Leave will be able to arrange up to 10 ‘Keep in Touch Days’ with
Management, to return to work for short periods during their leave and receive their normal
rate of pay on these working days, without damaging their entitlement to Maternity Pay.
- Flexible Working Time Requests
Employees with six months continuous employment, are able to request shorter working
hours than their full-time colleagues.
The Council will not be obliged to accept this request, however refusal will be based on one
or more of the following:
1 The additional costs to the business.
2 Reduced ability to meet the needs of customers.
3 Inability to share the person’s workload amongst other staff.
4 Potentially damaging effects upon the quality of work produced.
5 Potentially damaging effects upon performance.
6 Inability to recruit extra staff to provide cover.
Requests to change working hours must be made in writing to the Full Council. The process
of holding a meeting with the Employee making the request and providing a written response
to them should take no more than 28 days.
If the Employee who made the request is unhappy with Management’s decision, they must
address the issue through the Council’s Grievance procedure.
- Paternity Leave
New Fathers with more than twelve months continuous employment, are entitled to two
weeks paid Paternity leave, paid at the same rate as SMP.
This leave must be taken within the first eight weeks of the child’s birth.
Employees are required to show the Council’s Management a relevant MAT B1 when making
a request to take this leave.
- Shared Parental Leave (SPL)
Parents who both have 26 weeks or more continuous employment, and who earn above the
National Insurance Lower Earnings Limit, can take SPL for children born after the 4th April
2015.
Both Parents can share a total of 37 weeks statutory paid leave and 12 week’s unpaid leave,
following their child’s birth.
Mothers must take two weeks compulsory Maternity leave immediately after the birth, (four
weeks for manual workers). Following that compulsory period, both Parents can request
dates to take leave totalling 37 weeks paid (35 for manual workers) and 12 weeks unpaid.
Leave can be taken by both Parents at the same time, or in alternating periods.
To take leave:
1. Both Parents must qualify in terms of earnings and length of service.
2. The Mother must give her Employer eight week’s notice that she is ending her Maternity
Leave. This can be done as early as eight weeks before the birth, (starting from
February 2014).
3. The Council requires eight weeks prior notice of the dates an Employee wishes to take
SPL.
4. The Council requires the following evidence that an Employee’s Partner/Spouse is also
entitled to SPL:
The Partner/Spouse’s name.
Their National Insurance number.
Copies of the Partner/Spouse’s pay slips for the past eight weeks.
A letter from the Partner/Spouse’s Employer to confirm that they are entitled to
SPL.
5. The Council will automatically allow any requests for just one continuous period of leave.
6. If an Employee requests two or more separate/discontinuous periods of SPL, the Council
can discuss dates with the Employee, which are unacceptable for business reasons.
The Council will discuss problem dates with an Employee during the first two weeks of
the eight week notice period.
If agreement cannot be reached, the Employee will be entitled to one continuous period
of SPL, starting from the date the discontinuous leave request was due to start.
7. Parents are paid at the same rate as Statutory Maternity Pay when taking SPL.
11. Grievances & Discipline
11.1. Informal Grievances
If the Clerk feels that they have a grievance with the Council Management they should
initially discuss the matter with the Chair of the Council on an informal basis.
If the Employee feels uncomfortable about talking to the Clerk/Chair about their
concerns, they should be able to approach the Deputy Chair.
11.2. Informal Discipline - Employee Conduct / Performance
Should the Council be unhappy with either the conduct or performance of an
Employee, they will initially discuss their concerns with the Employee on an informal
basis.
The purpose of this meeting will be to guide and support the Employee to help them
address the problem and perform to a standard acceptable to the Council. For this
reason, notes will be taken during this meeting, the Full Council will decide what action
should result from the meeting, and ask the Employee to sign the notes.
Only a Panel of the Council and the Employee should attend this meeting. There will
be no entitlement to be accompanied.
11.3. Mediation
In the event that an Employee is unhappy with the outcome of the Informal Grievance
Procedure, or either party do not feel that performance / conduct issues are being
addressed effectively, either an Employee or the Council can request that the matter
be subjected to mediation.
This will involve the use of a third party Mediator. In its simplest form, Mediation will
involve the Mediator talking to either party individually, to listen to their side of the
issue. If the Mediator feels that a resolution to the problem is possible, a meeting will
be arranged between all parties at which the Mediator will set out their assessment of
the issues and invite both parties to reach their own resolution.
The resultant action plan should have the agreement and support of both parties, be
set out in writing and be signed by all involved in the Mediation process.
11.4. Formal Grievances
In the case of Grievances not being fully resolved at the informal stage, a formal written
approach is required by the Council. As a consequence, a formal Grievance Hearing
will be held to address the matter, within twenty-eight days of receipt of the Employee’s
letter.
The Hearing will be conducted by a Panel of between two and three Elected Members
who will be appointed by the Council or an appropriate subcommittee.
At this meeting Employees are entitled – and encouraged – to be accompanied by a
work colleague from the Council or Trade Union Representative. Employees will be
informed in writing of the outcome of the meeting within seven days.
If the Employee making the grievance is unhappy with the response to the meeting,
they can issue an appeal, in writing. This Appeal must be submitted within seven days
of receiving the response to the original grievance meeting.
Please Note
Any Formal Grievance complaint, which concerns the conduct of a Councillor, will be
addressed as a Code of Conduct complaint by the Council and will be referred to the
District Council’s Monitoring Officer. This Council will not address the Employee’s
Formal Grievance against an Elected Member. It will be addressed by the Monitoring
Officer.
11.5. Formal Discipline
If an issue regarding an Employee’s conduct, behaviour or performance isn’t fully
addressed by informal discussions, the Council will pursue the matter through its
formal Disciplinary Procedures. Typical examples of areas of concern may be poor
performance, unacceptable and unexplained absenteeism, poor conduct and
behaviour at work, or lack of capability by an Employee to carry out their job.
This is a four step procedure, which increases in the severity of its outcome if the issue
isn’t resolved at the previous step. Each step involves a formal hearing between the
affected Employee and the Council, at which the Employee will be given every
opportunity to put their side of the issue. Meetings will be conducted as soon as
reasonably possible after the incident(s) which are being investigated to ensure that
facts and witness statements are clear and up to date. At this meeting Employees are
entitled - and encouraged - to be accompanied by a work colleague from the Council,
or Trade Union / SLCC Representative
If the allegation of misconduct is proven, the meeting may result in the following action
being taken by the Council Management against the Employee:
|
STEP |
ACTION TAKEN |
LIVE PERIOD |
MANAGER RESPONSIBLE |
|
1 |
Formal oral warning |
Six months |
Disciplinary panel |
|
2 |
Formal written warning |
Six months |
Disciplinary panel |
|
3 |
Final written warning |
Twelve months |
Disciplinary panel |
|
4 |
Termination of contract of employment |
n/a |
Disciplinary panel |
Particularly severe acts of indiscipline may result in the Management bypassing Steps
1 and 2.
Employees will be informed by letter that they are required to attend a formal
disciplinary meeting. This letter will include details of the allegation they are to answer,
the date, time and venue of the meeting, and also inform them of their right to be
accompanied by a work colleague from the Council, or Trade Union / SLCC
Representative.
11.6. Gross Misconduct
Acts of Gross Misconduct, if proven after an appropriate investigation (including
searches of bags, coats and other personal effects, as well as cars, vehicles and any
appropriate Council property) and a Disciplinary Hearing, will result in Dismissal
without notice.
Employees accused of Gross Misconduct will be suspended on full pay and receive a
written invitation to a Formal Disciplinary Hearing, giving them details of the allegation
they are to answer, the date, time and venue of the meeting, and also inform them of
their right to be accompanied by a work colleague from the Council or trade union /
SLCC representative. The letter will provide a minimum of 2 working days prior notice
to the meeting.
The Management recognises the following as acts of Gross Misconduct:
1) Theft.
2) Abusive or threatening behaviour of any nature toward any person.
3) Being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
4) Dishonesty in dealings with Management.
5) Sexist, racist or any other behaviour against an individual, which could be classed
as creating a hostile, intimidating or threatening environment.
6) Breach of confidentiality.
7) Failing to carry out reasonable Management instructions.
8) Fighting and acts of aggression.
9) Deliberately damaging Council property.
10) Deliberate breaches of Council Health and Safety procedures.
11) Unauthorised access to Council computer files, software or any other such breach
of confidentiality.
Employees who have been dismissed for acts of Gross Misconduct do have a right to
Appeal against their dismissal.
Appeals should be submitted within a reasonable timescale following the dismissal,
and addressed to the Chair of the Council. A reasonable timescale would normally be
no longer than a week following the dismissal.
Employees submitting an Appeal must make it clear that they are appealing against
the decision to dismiss them, and set out the reasons for their Appeal.
Once the Council has received notice of the Employee’s decision to Appeal, they will
follow the Appeal Procedure detailed below.
11.7. Appeal Procedure
Employees have the right to appeal against a decision made at any formal disciplinary
step. Appeals should be made to the Chair of the Council in writing, and submitted
within seven working days of the disciplinary meeting having occurred.
A Formal Appeal Hearing, involving the Employee and a panel of two to three
Councillors selected by the Full Council, who have not been involved in in the prior
Grievance / Disciplinary action, will be held within fourteen days of receipt of the appeal
request. At this meeting Employees are entitled - and encouraged - to be accompanied
by a work colleague from the Council, or Trade Union / SLCC Representative.
The Employee making the appeal will be informed in writing of the outcome of the
Appeal Hearing within seven days.
12. Settlement Agreements
Either the Council or an Employee may wish to terminate their employment with the Council
by way of a Settlement Agreement.
The Council may wish to address problems of poor performance, conduct or any other
reasonable employment problem by offering an Employee who has been employed for two
years or more, a mutually agreed cash incentive to terminate their employment:
The Employee is not obliged to accept this offer.
If they do wish to consider an offer, they have ten days to do so.
An Employee who has been offered a Settlement Agreement must be able to take legal
advice on the offer, paid for by the Council at a reasonable expense. Agreements will
not be implemented unless endorsed by the Employee’s Legal Adviser in the form of an
Adviser’s Certificate.
Once an offer has been accepted by both parties the employment contract will terminate
with full and final effect, without prejudice to either party, and a mutually agreed sum of
money will be paid at an agreed date to the Employee.
The offer of a Settlement Agreement is made by the Council on a Without Prejudice
basis.
13. Redundancy
It is the aim of the Council to avoid making Employees redundant wherever possible. Ideally
this will be achieved through finding an alternative position within the Council.
Should redundancy be unavoidable, the Council will follow the following procedure:
1. Issue a Notice of Threat of Redundancy; this will include notice of a period of
consultation and the date Consultation will begin.
2. Provide those individuals affected with a period of Consultation. During this period the
Council will discuss with the affected Employees:
Finding alternative work within the Council.
Reasons for the redundancy.
Calculating the amount of redundancy compensation Employees with two or more
years continuous employment are entitled to, based on the Statutory Formula.
Statutory Formula:
- Employees Aged 18 – 21 years old ½ week’s pay for every year employed
under the age of 22
- Employees Aged 22 – 40 years old 1 week’s pay for every year employed
over the age of 21
- Employees Aged 41 + years old 1 ½ weeks’ pay for every year employed
over the age of 40
Maximum weekly wage limit - £475 Up to a maximum of twenty years
3 After the period of Consultation, a Formal Meeting will be arranged to discuss the
outcome of the Consultation. Individuals will be invited by letter to this meeting and
informed of their right to be accompanied.
4 Conduct an Appeal against the Formal Decision, should the affected Employee wish
to do so. Appeals must be submitted in writing within 7 days of the Formal Meeting.
14. Termination of Employment
EMPLOYEE TERMINATION
Should an employee wish to terminate their contract of employment with the Council, the
Council requests that a period of one month’s notice is provided prior to termination.
COUNCIL TERMINATION
In the event of the Council management needing to terminate an Employee’s contract, or
alter its terms and conditions, for any purpose other than disciplinary action, the Council will
provide the affected Employee(s) with a notice period equal to that of their statutory notice
period, i.e.:- One week for each year of continuous employment, up to a maximum entitlement
of twelve weeks’ notice.
15. Appraisal
You will receive an annual Appraisal/ Development Review. Should there be any concern
about your performance, other than matters of a disciplinary nature, the Council undertakes
to work with you to seek to ensure that necessary training, mentoring and support is provided
to ensure that agreed standards of performance are reached in a reasonable agreed time
frame.
16. Lone Working Policy & Procedure
The Council’s employees will predominantly work from home alone or may visit locations to
inspect property or land, conduct business or travel to meet a resident.
While working at home they should ensure that they are insured to work from home and ensure
that they undertake and comply with the DSE workstation risk assessment recommendations.
Employees should carry out a risk assessment if they need to work in any environment that
appears to pose a risk to them or others and this may need a dynamic risk assessment taking
into account the changing situation in that environment that may need fast-thinking judgments
to reduce risks.
17. Whistle Blowing Policy & Procedure
All organisations face the risk of things going wrong or unknowingly harbouring malpractice.
The Council believes it has a duty to identify such situations and take the appropriate
measures to remedy the situation. By encouraging a culture of openness within the Council,
it is hoped that such problems can be prevented.
This policy applies to all employees of the Council and other workers including temporary,
subcontracted and agency workers.
By encouraging a culture of openness, the Council wants to encourage Employees and
workers to raise issues which concern them at work. They may be concerned that by
reporting such issues they may be exposing themselves to detrimental treatment or risking
their job security. This is not the case. All staff have statutory protection if they raise concerns
in the right way. This policy is designed to give staff that opportunity and protection. Providing
they are acting in good faith it does not matter if they are mistaken. There is no question of
Employees having to prove anything about the allegation they are making, but they must
reasonably believe that the information they have implies acts of malpractice.
If there is anything which employees think the Council should know about, they should use
the procedure outlined in this policy. By knowing about malpractice at an early stage, the
Council has a good chance of taking the necessary steps to safeguard the interests of all
who are involved with and have a legitimate interest in its activities.
Typical examples of malpractice which are covered by this policy are:
Criminal offences
Miscarriages of justice.
Dangers to health and safety
Damage to the environment.
Breaches of any legal and / or statutory obligations
Deliberately concealing any of the above.
The Council’s Guarantee
The Council is committed to this policy. If an Employee uses this policy to raise a concern in
good faith, the Council gives them its assurance that they will not suffer any form of retribution
or detrimental treatment.
The Council will treat their concern seriously and act according to this policy. They will not
be asked to provide anything about the allegation they raise, but they must reasonably
believe that the information they have tends to show some malpractice. If an Employee
asks for a matter to be treated in confidence, the Council will respect their request.
If an Employee is concerned about any form of malpractice, they should raise the issue
with their immediate supervisor. There are no specific requirements to do this. They can
inform their supervisor verbally or in writing if they prefer.
If they feel that they cannot deal with their supervisor, for whatever reason, they should
address their concerns to either the Full Council or Chair.
How the Council will respond
Once a concern has been raised the Council will decide how to respond in a responsible
and appropriate manner under this policy. Usually this will begin with internal enquiries,
but may progress to either a formal or informal investigation, depending upon the nature
of the concern. The Council will endeavour to complete the investigation within a
reasonable time scale.
The investigation may be conducted by either the Full Council alone, or a team of three
Councillors, selected by the Full Council, depending upon the nature of the concern.
The Council will keep the Employee informed of the progress of the investigation.
However the Council will not be obliged to reveal information which would infringe the
confidentiality of others, the Data Protection Act or any other statutory obligation.
Raising your Concerns externally
The purpose of this policy and procedure is to give Employees the opportunity and
protection they need to raise concerns internally. The Council would expect that in almost
all cases, raising concerns internally would be the most appropriate action to take.
However, if for whatever reason Employees feel that they cannot raise their concerns
internally and reasonably believe that the information and allegations are substantially
true, they can consider raising the matter with the appropriate regulator, such as the
Standards Board.
Public Concern at Work is an independent charity whose main objective is to promote
compliance with the law and good practice in the public, private and voluntary sectors.
They can be contacted at www.pcaw.co.uk
If you have any questions regarding this policy and procedure, please feel free to discuss
the matter with the Full Council.
18. Injury or Assault
In the event of death or permanent disablement arising from a violent criminal assault suffered
in the course of employment then all insurance payments will be made in accordance with
paragraph 7 of Part 3 of the Green Book Terms and Conditions.
19. Health and Safety Regulations, other Legislation & Council Policies
You are expected to familiarise yourself with all relevant Regulations, Legislation and Policies
applying to or made by the Council and ensure that you comply with and ensure others
comply with these as required.
20. Training and development
It is essential that the Employees of the Council maintain up to date knowledge of their
function and duties. To this end the Council will expect and support your necessary agreed
training and development and meet all course and examination expenses and any travel and
subsistence incurred on the scale set down as paid working hours. In addition, reasonable
agreed time for study in paid working hours will be given.
21. Internet Policy and Procedure
The use of the Internet is now an essential and commonplace tool for most Employees. Those
who use the internet have a responsibility to do so in a professional manner. To assist with
this we are issuing the following guidelines which you are asked to read and comply with:
The Council reserves the right to access and monitor any or all areas of any computer and
computer software systems which it owns (including email boxes and messages and
telephone calls) from time to time for business reasons and training purposes. You should
not therefore assume that any information held on the computer is private and confidential to
you.
Your email address can receive emails from anyone connected to the Internet. Used correctly
it is a facility that is of assistance to Employees. Inappropriate use however may cause many
problems including distractions, distress to others, time wasting and legal claims. This
procedure sets out the Council's position on the correct use of the E-Mail and the Internet.
You should ensure that your correspondents know that they should not send you “humorous”
or illegal attachments such as pictures or executable programs. Personal emails should be
dealt with outside of normal office hours and all external non-work related email messages
should be deleted on receipt. Anyone found with offensive or pornographic material on his or
her computer will be subject to investigation, which could result in disciplinary action and
dismissal for gross misconduct
If you receive an email from an unknown source, or “junk” email you should delete this from
your system immediately without opening it as it may contain a virus.
Emails may contain file attachments. These should not be opened unless they are received
from a trusted source, i.e. from another known Council, Employee or representative. If in
doubt ask a Councillor.
Emails to customers, suppliers and other business contacts should be restricted to Council
business. Confidential information about or relating to the business of the Council, its
customers, suppliers or contacts should not be transmitted outside the Council via email
unless done so in the course of business. You should ensure there is no infringement of
copyright when adding attachments to emails. Confidential information should not be left on
display on an unattended workstation.
You should be aware that deleted emails will remain held on the system for some time and
will be accessible from back up if required for investigation of complaints of systems abuse.
You must not distribute sensitive commercial data concerning the Council to competitive
sources. Doing so may result in disciplinary action leading to your dismissal without notice
for gross misconduct.
Guidance for appropriate use
Email is a non-secure medium and care should be taken when composing, sending and
storing messages.
Email should be regarded in the same way as any other business communication and should
be treated as a Council record. You should adopt a style and content for email, in particular
those sent to external recipients that present a professional image. It is recommended that
you adopt the same standards for email as for letters and memos, although the style may be
more informal.
Confidential information about or relating to the business of the Council, its customers,
prospects, suppliers or contacts should not be transmitted outside the Council via email
unless done so in the course of business and sufficient steps are taken to safeguard security.
Employees must take reasonable steps to guard against unauthorised access to, alteration,
accidental loss, disclosure or destruction of data.
Inappropriate use
You must not send internally or externally or obtain material (whether in the form of text or
images) which is libellous or defamatory, illegal, obscene, sexually explicit, bullying,
discriminatory or disparaging of others particularly in respect of their race, national origins,
sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, religious or political beliefs.
You are reminded that material that you find acceptable might be offensive to others. It is
recommended that you take care and give sufficient thought to what you send. Messages
can be misconstrued and should not become a substitute for "one to one" conversations.
You should not send humorous material to business contacts. It can frequently be
misunderstood or cause offence. In particular, the Council recommends that criticisms or
complaints are not dealt with by email.
Examples of inappropriate use include, but are not limited to:
1. Sending, receiving, downloading or displaying or disseminating material that insults
causes offence or harasses others.
2. Accessing pornographic, racist or other inappropriate or unlawful material.
3. Engaging in on-line chat rooms, on-line gambling sites, social networking sites or
blogging.
4. Forwarding electronic chain letters or similar material.
5. Downloading or disseminating copyright materials.
6. Transmitting confidential information about the Council or its customers externally and
not in the course of the Council’s business.
7. Downloading or playing computer games.
8. Copying or downloading software.
Serious instances of inappropriate use may be considered gross misconduct and lead to your
dismissal.
Internet access
Internet access is granted for business reasons only during working hours. Usage is limited
to work related activities. The availability and variety of information on the Internet has meant
that it can be used to obtain material considered to be offensive. Anyone found to have used
the Internet to access and/or distribute any kind of offensive material, or non-related
employment issues, are liable to disciplinary action which could lead to dismissal.
Under no circumstances must users download files without the consent of the Clerk.
If you wish to use the Internet out of office hours for personal purposes, please contact the
Clerk who will be able to grant you access and explain how to use this facility, if appropriate.
Anyone believed to have been visiting pornographic sites, downloading or circulating
pornographic material will be subject to disciplinary action. Offences of this nature may be
considered gross misconduct and lead to your dismissal, and if necessary, the police will be
informed.
Unauthorised Use of Internet, Email and Social Networking Sites
1 Unauthorised or inappropriate use of the Internet, Email and Social Networking Sites
may result in formal disciplinary action which could include dismissal.
2 The Council will not tolerate the use of E-Mail, Internet or any Social Networking Site
by Employees for unofficial or inappropriate purposes, including:-
i) Any messages produced by Employees, either during or outside of normal
working hours that could constitute bullying, harassment or other detriment to
colleagues, our business or anyone associated with the business.
ii) Personal use during working hours (e.g. social invitations, personal messages,
jokes, cartoons, chain letters or other private matters)
iii) On-line gambling.
iv) Accessing or transmitting pornography.
v) Transmitting copyright information and/or any software available to the user.
vi) Posting confidential information about other Employees, the Council or its
customers or suppliers.
vii) Posting any comments, opinions, views or remarks, either during or outside of
normal working hours, which could be considered detrimental to the Council, its
Employees, customers, suppliers or anyone else connected to the business, or
bring the Council into disrepute.
Please note, breaching these procedures will constitute an act of Gross Misconduct.
Consequently anyone who is accused of breaching these procedures will be subjected to a
Formal Disciplinary Investigation and may be dismissed if found guilty.
22. Expenses
The Council shall reimburse you at NJC rates in force at the time for mileage incurred in the
performance of Council business (“mileage expenses”) provided that mileage expenses have
been approved by the Council.
The Council shall reimburse you for other expenses which may include overnight accommodation, meals
and fares incurred in the performance of Council business (“other expenses”) provided that the other
expenses have been receipted and approved by the Council.
Expenses may include any of the following:
Purchase or use of office equipment
Purchase of office consumables
Connection, rental or use of telephone line and Internet/broad band
A sum to take into account the use of space, lighting, heating and electricity due to working from
your home