Employee statement of terms and conditions
Please read and then confirm that you have read and accepted the terms and conditions relating to your employment:
Statement of terms and conditions confirmation
Your terms and conditions of employment are in accordance with your Offer of employment, this statement of terms and conditions and:
- collective agreements negotiated from time to time by the National Joint Council (the NJC) for Local Government Services (later referred to as the National Scheme), set out in the National Agreement on Pay and Conditions of Service (commonly known as the Green Book) and the West Midlands Local Government Association
- local collective agreements reached with trade unions recognised by the Council (whether you are a member of the appropriate trade union or not)
You will be informed of any future changes in the terms and conditions of your employment within four weeks of the operative date.
1. Rules, Policies and Procedures
It is a condition of your employment that you comply with the rules, policies and procedures which are adopted by the Council. This includes but is but not limited to the Code of Conduct
For the avoidance of doubt, such rules, policies and procedures are not incorporated by reference into your Contract of Employment, and they can be changed, replaced or withdrawn at any time at the discretion of the Council following consultation with Trade Unions recognised by the Council. Breach of the Council rules, policies and procedures may result in disciplinary action.
Details of rules, policies and procedures are available for reference in your Service Area and from HR and on the Intranet.
It is your responsibility to ensure that you are familiar with these.
2. Employment Checks
This contract is subject to the appropriate employment checks being successfully undertaken, for example Disclosure and Barring Service and medical checks, along with evidence of any required qualifications and registrations held.
3. Right to Work Checks
You will be required to produce documentation as proof of your eligibility to work in the UK before your start date. If you have a pending application for permission to work or have time limited rights to work in the UK, the Council will conduct follow up checks on your documentation in accordance with Home Office guidance. If your permission to work rights change or are withdrawn, you must inform your manager immediately. If you are unable to produce satisfactory evidence that you are eligible to work in the UK your employment will be terminated immediately.
4. Duties
The duties and responsibilities for your post and its reporting relationships will be as set out in the job description which does not form part of your contract. Accordingly, the duties of your post may change from time-to-time following consultation with you, to reflect changing needs of the service.
5. Probation
For all employees joining the Council your employment will be subject to a probationary period, which will normally last for six months. Should there be any reasons why a probationary period is not completed satisfactorily then this period may be extended. At the end of the period, subject to your performance being satisfactory, your employment with the Council will be confirmed.
6. Place of Work
Your normal place of work is stated in your offer of employment. However, the Council may require you to carry out your duties on a temporary or permanent basis at other locations within Warwick District.
7. Pay and Allowances
Your starting salary and grade is as included in your offer of appointment. The spinal column points used by the Council are linked the pay scales of the National Joint Council for Local Government Services. Subject to satisfactory service, your salary will rise by annual increments as indicated in your offer of appointment, on the anniversary of your start date each year until the maximum of the grade is reached. However, if you are then appointed to a new role, receive a promotion or your job is regraded, the next increment date will be 12 months after this new date.
Notification of any future changes to your salary, including the payment of increments and general increases, will either be contained in your monthly pay statement or in a separate letter.
Your salary and any eligible allowances will be paid on the 19th of the month it is due, or the preceding working day, into your bank or building society by bank credit transfer.
8. Deductions from Salary
The Council has the right to deduct from your salary any sums due including, any overpayment of salary, expenses, exceeded annual leave entitlement and any advances of loans made to you by the Council or learning agreement entered in to. In the event of such sums being due to the Council on the termination of your employment, and if your final salary payment is insufficient to allow for the whole of any such deduction, you will be required to repay the outstanding amount due to the Council within one month of the date of the termination of your employment, unless agreed otherwise.
In accepting your contract of employment, you are deemed to agree to a recovery of overpayments of salary. Where is it clear that an overpayment has been made, you must contact your manager immediately to notify them. Failure to do so could result in disciplinary procedures.
9. Hours of Work
The Council’s standard working week is 37 hours, anything less is considered part-time. The working week can be arranged over a 7-day period, including weekends. Your contracted weekly hours are stated in your offer of appointment. Your normal working hours will have been discussed with you at appointment and will be notified to you by your manager.
Your working pattern may be changed, after consultation with you, at a future date to take into account Service requirements.
If your post is eligible for flexitime working, you will have been notified and asked to record the information. Please refer to the Flexitime and Time Recording Policy.
Overtime
Overtime or additional hours must be approved in advance.
Overtime is additional to the standard 37 hours working week. Part-time staff cannot be paid overtime rates unless 37 hours have been worked in one week.
For employees on WDC spinal column point 24 and above, all overtime will be paid in accordance with the rate for WDC Spinal Column point 24.
10. Annual Leave Entitlement
The annual leave year is based upon your start date with the Council e.g. if you start on the 14th April, your annual leave year will end on 13th April the following year.
Employees leaving the Council will be paid any accrued outstanding annual leave entitlement. If, however, a member of staff has taken more annual leave than they have earned, then the Council will deduct the value of those days from their final pay.
- Up to 5 years’ continuous Local Government Service: 24 days
- Between 5 and 10 years’ continuous Local Government Service: 29 days
- Over 10 years’ continuous Local Government Service: 32 days
Previous continuous service with other local authorities will count for leave entitlement, with the exception of any long service year anniversary awards.
Leave dates must always be agreed in advance with your manager. Every effort will be made to accommodate your wishes on the timing of annual leave, but there may be occasions when your manager cannot meet these because of the needs of the service.
The above entitlement is in addition to statutory Bank Holidays and other public holidays, together with one Concessionary day to be taken at Christmas on a day to be determined by the Council. Annual leave and Bank Holiday entitlement is calculated on a pro-rata basis if you are employed on a part-time basis.
11. Sickness
If you are absent from work on account of illness or injury you should ensure that you call your manager regarding your absence and when your illness commenced, no later than 1 hour after you should have started work, on the first day of absence. If you cannot speak to them direclty, please contact them and expect them to return your call. You are required to complete and return a Council self-certification form to your manager for absence of a part day and up to seven days. For absence beyond seven days, you are also required to obtain a Fit Note/medical statement signed by a doctor. Saturdays and Sundays are deemed to be working days for this purpose.
The Council reserves the right, at any stage of absence to require you to provide a medical certificate and/or to attend an Occupational Health appointment with an Occupational Health Advisor specified by the Council.
Your entitlement to sickness allowance in the event of your absence because of illness or injury is described in the National Agreement on Pay and Conditions of Service of the National Joint Council for Local Government Service and shown in the chart below:
| Years of Service | Entitlement |
|---|---|
| During the first year | 1 month’s full pay and (after completing four months service) *2 months half pay *4 months service must be completed prior to the start of the sickness period to be eligible for half pay |
| During the second year | 2 months full pay and 2 months half pay |
| During the third year | 4 months full pay and 4 months half pay |
| During the fourth and fifth year | 5 months full pay and 5 months half pay |
| After five years’ service | 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay |
At the start of any period of illness your entitlement to sick pay will be calculated and will include the aggregate of all the sickness absences taken during the preceding twelve months.
12. Notice to Terminate Employment
The minimum notice period you are required to give to terminate your employment is;
| Grade | Notice you are required to give |
|---|---|
| All grades during probationary period | If you are in your probationary period, the notice you are required to give, and entitled to receive, is one week |
| All grades on a fixed term or temporary contract after successful completion of probationary period | One month |
| Grades G, H & I | One month |
| Grades F, E1, E2, D & C | Two months |
| Grades A & B | Three months |
The minimum period that the Council is required to give you to terminate your employment is either the notice period specified above or below whichever is the greater.
| Period of Continuous Service | Minimum Notice Period |
|---|---|
| One month or more but less than two years | One week |
| Two years or more but less than twelve years | One week for each year of continuous service |
| Twelve years or more | Twelve weeks |
On termination of your employment, you shall immediately return to the Council all property of the Council of whatsoever nature or description.
13. Temporary Appointments
In the event of a temporary/fixed term appointment ending on the grounds of redundancy the redundancy payment will be calculated in accordance with the maximum statutory redundancy payment as determined by the Employment Rights Act 1996. There is no entitlement to Council enhanced severance payments scheme or early retirement benefits. However previous continuous service in accordance with the Redundancy Modifications Order will be included within the calculation.
14. Disciplinary and Grievance Procedure
The Council’s Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures apply to your appointment. If you have a grievance in the first instance you should speak to your manager. Copies of the Council's Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures are available on the Intranet. They are for guidance only and do not form part of your contract of employment.
15. Pension Arrangements
If you have a contract of employment for 3 months or more, you will be brought into the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) automatically from the first day of employment and must complete a membership form which will be posted directly to you by pensions after your first WDC pay day. You can choose to opt out of the LGPS if you wish.
To be treated as if you were never a member of the LGPS for this employment you must opt out within three months of commencing employment. You can choose to opt out within two years of commencing employment and receive a full refund of contributions, but you will suffer a deduction of tax.
Temporary employees
If your contract is 3 months or less, you can elect to join the LGPS if you wish to do so and must complete a membership form. Temporary employees with a contract of more than three months will be enrolled in the LGPS on commencement of employment or, if your contract is less than three months, if it is extended beyond three months.
50/50 Scheme
An alternative to full membership of the LGPS is to join the 50/50 scheme, where a member can choose to pay a half rate contribution for a pension of half the full entitlement.
Automatic enrolment
If you are not a member of the LGPS or the LGPS 50/50 scheme and if you meet certain criteria, you are required to be re-enrolled into the LGPS every three years under our legal requirement for Automatic Enrolment.
As an alternative to joining the LGPS you can either:
- · make arrangements for a personal pension with an independent provider or
- · make arrangements for a stakeholder pension or
- · make no pension arrangements
Contribution rates can be found on the LGPS website and on the Intranet and are subject to variation. Contribution rates are assessed each pay period in accordance with the Council’s Pension Discretions.
Further information on the Local Government Pension Scheme and membership and other forms can be obtained from Pensions Services, Warwickshire County Council, Shire Hall, Warwick and at: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/pensions
16. Trade Union Membership
The Council, as your employer, supports the system of collective bargaining and believes in the principle of solving employment relations problems by discussion and agreement. For practical purposes, this can only be conducted by representatives of the employers and employees.
The Council is associated with other local authorities represented on the National Joint Council for Local Government Services dealing with local authorities’ services. The Council has a recognition agreement with the following Trade Unions as representing employees: Unison.
17. Cars/Car Parking
If you are required to travel away from your normal place of work, you are required to provide a car or make reasonable equivalent arrangements which are satisfactory to the Council. You must ensure that you have appropriate insurance for business use. Please see the Driving at Work Policy.
You will be reimbursed for mileage incurred whilst carrying out your role in accordance with HMRC mileage rates.
The use of any car parking facilities which the Council makes available at or near your workplace are provided on a discretionary basis only and should not be regarded as a contractual entitlement.
18. Politically Restricted Posts
If your post is politically restricted this is indicated in your offer of employment. A document explaining the political restrictions, the implications of this as well as exceptions can be found on the Intranet.
19. Continuous Service
If you have continuous service with an organisation covered by the Redundancy Payments (Local Government) Modification Order 1983 (as amended), this will be accepted as your continuous service date for the following purposes:
- Annual Leave
- Occupational Maternity Scheme
- Occupational Sickness Scheme
- Redundancy
The Employment Rights Act (1996) (ERA) states that a week, Sunday to Saturday, in which a person has been under a contract of employment, counts as a week of work. To break continuous service there must be a gap of one complete week, Sunday to Saturday, in which the person was not employed.
Continuous Service and Maternity/Caring for Children or other Dependants
Where an employee returns to local government service following a break for maternity reasons, or reasons concerned with caring for children or other dependants, he/she will be entitled to have previous service taken into account in respect of the sickness and maternity schemes provided that the break in service does not exceed eight years and that no permanent paid full-time employment has intervened. For the purpose of the calculation of entitlement to annual leave, the eight years’ time limit does not apply provided that no permanent full-time employment has intervened.
TUPE
Where an employee is transferred to an organisation not covered by the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment in Local Government etc) (Modification) Order 1999, continuity of service is protected under the TUPE Regulations where there is a TUPE transfer. However, if that employee returns voluntarily to local government service, continuity is broken. Where an employee returns in such circumstances, without a break between employments, all previous continuous service will be recognised for the purposes of calculation of entitlements to annual leave, occupational maternity leave/pay and occupational sick pay. This is subject to the return to service being within five years of the original transfer.
20. Health and Safety
The Council always expects you to act reasonably and to observe all duties imposed on you by statute, Council Policy, and local arrangements, to protect and preserve the health, safety and welfare of yourself and other employees at work and any other persons who may be affected by your actions or work.
You should make yourself familiar and comply with all employee responsibilities as detailed in the WDC Health and Safety Policy along with any specific arrangements, procedures, risk assessments, and safe systems of work pertinent to your work activity or workplace.
You should report to your manager any health and safety hazard, risk or hazardous/dangerous occurrences which come to your notice. For further details of your obligations under health and safety legislation and policy, please refer to the Health and Safety Policy on the Intranet.
21. Code of Conduct and Declarations of Interest
The public is entitled to expect the highest standards of conduct from all employees who work for the Council. These are set out in the Code of Conduct for Employees and are aimed at ensuring that employees are aware of the standards of behaviour expected from them by the Council. Failure to observe the standards set out in this code will be regarded as serious and any breach will render an employee liable to disciplinary action, which may include dismissal. The Code of Conduct is available on the Intranet. This is subject to variation and does not form part of your contract of employment.
Employees on Grade E2 or above are required to devote your whole time and attention to the duties of the post and shall not engage in any other business or paid employment without the specific written approval of the Council. Permission may be withheld or withdrawn if it is deemed that it impacts on or conflicts with your Council employment.
22. Confidentiality, Data Protection and Privacy
You may have access to and handle confidential information relating to individuals, staff, other parties and Council business, during your employment. Information must be kept accurate, factually correct and handled correctly and securely. You must not whilst you are employed or after your employment ends disclose to any unauthorised person, that confidential information except where permitted by law, or authorised by the Council.
Staff must understand and agree to comply with the Council’s Information Security and Conduct Policy and associated standards and procedures for the handling and security of information. Links can be found on the Intranet. A breach of these will be regarded as serious and will render an employee liable to disciplinary action which may include dismissal.
Please refer to the ICT Security Policies on the Intranet.
23. Monitoring
You should be aware that the Council reserves the right to monitor and/or record your use of all telecommunications and computer systems. Accordingly, you should not expect any privacy in relation to your use of such facilities.
24. Consent to Data Processing
Certain personal data that you have supplied to the Council, such as information set out in your application for employment and the ‘sensitive data’ requested on the Council’s equal opportunities monitoring form will be held on the Council’s HR information system and database.
To enable the Council to carry out its legitimate HR management functions, and in particular its duty to monitor equality of opportunity in employment, it will be necessary to ‘process’ such personal data, in accordance with the provisions and principles set out in the GDPR Regulations May 2018.
By entering into a contract of employment you, as the data subject, will be deemed to have given your consent for such data processing to take place. Please refer to the HR Privacy Notice on the Intranet.
25. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
The Council is committed to the principles of fairness and equality in relation to recruitment, training, development, and treatment of all employees irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation. All the Council’s policies, practices and procedures relating to recruitment, training, development and promotion are administered equally and in accordance with the applicable laws.
All Council’s employees are expected and required to uphold these principles set out in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy Statement which can be found on the Intranet. Failure to observe these principles will be regarded as serious and any breach will render an employee liable to disciplinary action, which may include dismissal.
26. Uniforms
If required, you must wear a specified uniform as defined by your service or Manager.
27. Restrictions
In order to protect the confidential information and business connections of the Council to which you have access as a result of your employment, you agree with the Council that you shall not during the course of your employment, solicit or attempt to entice away from the Council the business, custom of or have any business dealings with anyone who is a customer or prospective customer which will also include any firm, company, organisation or person who is/was a customer or prospective customer of the Council, with a view to providing goods or services to that customer in competition with the Council.
If you do so during your employment, this will be regarded as serious and any breach will render you liable to disciplinary action, which may include dismissal.
“Confidential Information”: means information (whether or not recorded in documentary form or stored on any magnetic or optical disk or memory) which is not in the public domain relating to the business, products, affairs and finances of the Council for the time being confidential to the Council and trade secrets including, without limitation, technical data and know-how relating to the business of the Council or any of its business contacts.
28. Other Terms and Conditions of your Employment
Except where otherwise stated in this document and in the letter accompanying this statement, the terms and conditions of your employment are those set out in your conditions of service (commonly referred to as the 'Green Book'). In addition, your terms and conditions of employment are determined and can be amended by local agreements negotiated with the Trades Unions recognised by the Council for collective bargaining purposes.
The Council reserves the right to change any of your terms and conditions (excluding basic pay, sick pay and pension entitlements) from time to time to reflect the changing needs of the organisation and to comply with new legislation. Any changes that the Council deems to be significant will not be introduced without consultation with the recognised unions nor without reasonable notice being given of the change.
If you are unable to access them on the Intranet, your manager will be able to give you access to the documents referred to in this contract.
Revisions
- Updated 8 April 2021
- Updated for clarification 6 Dec 2021
- Updated for clarification 1 April 2023
- Updated for clarification November 2023
- Updated for clarification 20 March 2024
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