The SPCB recognises that diverse and often conflicting demands and priorities impact on the lives of many individuals in modern society. It is committed to assisting staff to effectively balance the responsibilities of their employment with their family and other personal commitments whilst ensuring that the needs of the business can continue to be met effectively. To support this commitment, a range of working arrangements designed to provide greater flexibility for individual staff members are potentially available. These arrangements operate on the basis that flexibility is a two-way process.
Many of the flexible working arrangements potentially available can be implemented informally on either an ad hoc or temporary basis, at the discretion of your line manager in consultation with your Head of Group/Office. There is no requirement to follow the procedures set out in this policy to request flexible working on such terms. The terms of an informal flexible working arrangement are subject to change to accommodate business requirements.
Should, however, you wish to apply to formally change your working arrangements on a permanent basis; this policy details the provisions which apply and the procedures which must be followed in such circumstances. Requests for career breaks, home working and partial retirement will also be managed through this procedure and reference should be made to the provisions of the Career Break Policy, the Home Working Policy and the Retirement Policy as appropriate. The SPCB reserves the right to refuse a request for a flexible working arrangement on business grounds. This policy and procedure is non-contractual.
During the pandemic, colleagues who wished to apply to make a change to their working hours were encouraged to do so on a temporary and/or informal basis. As we progress through the recovery phase of the pandemic and, pending the outcome of the New Ways of Working review, colleagues who wish to make a change to their working hours due to:
can apply for these changes to be made on a permanent basis. All other applications for flexible working will continue to be considered on a temporary/informal basis while we finalise our approach to New Ways of Working.
If you are thinking about requesting a formal change to your working arrangements, you should arrange to speak to your line manager at the earliest opportunity in order to explore the opportunities potentially available to you. This will allow a view to be formed at an early stage of the implications for your business area if your request should be accepted and allow your line manager to plan to manage these as appropriate. The People Services Team can provide professional advice and guidance tailored to your individual circumstances.
If you have any queries regarding this policy and procedure, you should contact People and Culture.
The SPCB is committed to ensuring that staff with flexible working arrangements are treated no less favourably than staff employed on a standard full-time basis and receive equal treatment, for example, in relation to pay, leave, promotion and development opportunities and access to training. All reasonable efforts will be made to schedule training activities and team meetings at times when all relevant colleagues can attend.
Any formal change to your working arrangements which is approved through this procedure will constitute a permanent change to your terms and conditions of employment with the SPCB. You will not have the right to revert back to your previous pattern of work unless the SPCB agrees otherwise, taking account of the circumstances of any such request you may make and business needs at the particular point in time.
Your Head of Group/Office may adjust the commencement date of an agreed flexible working arrangement to meet business needs, for example, to allow appropriate cover to be sourced where hours of work are to be reduced. The date for reviewing arrangements will be similarly adjusted. In particular circumstances, it may be appropriate to agree that a new working arrangement will take place for a trial period (normally three months) to determine if the arrangement is suitable in practice to both you and the SPCB.
Requests for a formal change in working arrangement or a career break may be refused if the SPCB has a clear business reason for doing so. Business grounds for refusing an application are:
Compressed working hours is an arrangement whereby you work your normal contractual hours over fewer days than the traditional work pattern.
The most common compressed working hours arrangements involve working:
Other arrangements will be considered, for example, two half non-working days per week. This type of working pattern can be accommodated within our existing flexible working hours system, provided your Head of Group/Office agrees to the change. However, if you wish to formalise the change in working pattern you should apply under the Flexible Working Arrangements procedure.
Non-working times under a compressed working hours arrangement will normally be fixed, but may be varied from time to time by mutual agreement to take account of business demands. Your Head of Group/Office will determine your normal daily start and finish times, in accordance with service needs. Such arrangements will operate within the spirit of the Working Time Regulations and in scheduling your day, Heads of Group/Office will ensure your working hours do not exceed the bandwidths for your business area and sufficient time is allowed for appropriate rest breaks.
It must be recognised that compressed working hours will not be a viable option for particular posts due to their nature. Some posts, for example, those requiring a high degree of face-to-face contact with customers do not lend themselves to such arrangements. Other roles will require attendance on specific days of the week, for example when Parliamentary business is scheduled and any agreed arrangements will reflect this.
Job Sharing is a form of part-time working, whereby two or more people are appointed to share the tasks and responsibilities of one full-time job. The job share can be divided on the basis of hours worked, days worked, the tasks covered, or any combination of these. This section sets out jobsharing arrangements, as defined and implemented by the SPCB. As effective communication and co-operation are required between job share partners, a provision for overlap time may be included to facilitate and maintain continuity of the whole role.
When it has been agreed in principle that a particular post is suitable for job sharing and a partner is needed, the remaining part of the post will normally be advertised, unless a suitable partner has been identified in some other way. For example, if someone has requested job-sharing or part-time working on return from Maternity or Adoption Leave or has otherwise registered their interest in jobsharing via the People Services team.
Once a suitable partner is identified, contracts will be offered on the basis that all job-share partners accept the terms of the contract. This means that if your partner(s) rejects our offer, the offer made to you will be withdrawn and you will be required to return to full-time working until such times as another partner can be identified.
If a suitable partner cannot be identified, your Head of Group/Office will explore with you other potential options to assist you in achieving an appropriate work-life balance. If there are no suitable alternative options, you will be required to continue working your contractual hours.
From the outset of a job-sharing arrangement, the working patterns of each partner will be clearly stipulated along with the division of duties and sharing of responsibilities. Your agreed working pattern may be subsequently changed only in consultation and with the agreement of your job-share partner and your line manager/Head of Group/Office.
You will be responsible for communicating effectively with your job-share partner. As well as overlap periods, other methods of maintaining strong communication links should be established in agreement with your partner and your line manager. It is also important that you and your line manager and/or Head of Group/Office agree individual targets and clearly define your areas of responsibility and objectives. This will ensure that you are accountable only for the delivery of your own objectives.
Part-time working is an arrangement where you are contracted to work less than full-time hours (which are the equivalent to 37 hours per week). You may make a request to your Head of Group/ Office to work part-time on a temporary basis for a period of up to 6 months without going through the formal procedure. If your circumstances are such that you wish to work part-time on a longerterm basis, a request will require to be made under the formal procedure.
The pattern of work under a part-time working arrangement will vary according to the needs of the business. Your individual preferences will also be considered. Attendance is not necessarily required on every working day. Some examples include working only mornings, afternoons or school hours or working only on certain days per week. Before a part-time working arrangement commences, it is important that you and your line manager agree how your workload will be adjusted to fit your reduced working hours.
All posts will be considered as open to part-time working unless it can be positively demonstrated that this is inappropriate owing to the particular nature and accountabilities of the role.
You will be employed on terms and conditions of employment pro rata to full time staff. You may from time to time be offered the opportunity to work additional hours, for example, to cover the absence of a colleague. If you do not wish to, or are not able to, provide such cover, then other arrangements will be made.
Term-Time Working is an arrangement whereby you are contracted to work a particular number of weeks per year on either a full or part-time basis. Your non-working time is scheduled at regular, planned periods which are accounted for by a combination of annual leave and unpaid leave. Designated working weeks will normally coincide with Parliamentary sitting periods and/or school terms.
Certain posts will specifically require term-time working and this will be clearly stipulated from the outset. You may request to be considered for term-time working where your post normally requires full-year working.
The designated working weeks under a term-time working arrangement will not exceed 42 weeks per annum. A designated working week is a week you are required to actually work. All other weeks are referred to as non-working weeks.
Designated working weeks must be determined from the outset of any term-time working arrangement. Your total number of designated working weeks does not include your pro rata entitlement to annual leave, public or privilege holidays. Your leave entitlement must be taken during non-working weeks. Your leave entitlement will be added to your designated working hours to form the basis of your contract of employment.
The number of hours per week that contractually require to be worked per designated working week will be determined by the needs of the particular business area as agreed in advance with the Head of Group/Office. A maximum of 37 contractual hours will apply to each designated working week.
It must be recognised that term-time working will simply not be a viable option for particular posts due to their nature. For example, term-time working may be more easily accommodated in particular business areas than others, such as, areas where service demand traditionally reduces during Parliamentary recess periods. It may therefore be an option which is more difficult to accommodate in areas of the business where service demand remains constant throughout the year although due consideration will be given.
You may choose to have your salary paid to you only in the months where you actually work. Alternatively, your total annual salary may be averaged and paid to you over 12 months to spread the loss of salary associated with your non-working time over the year. The Human Resources Office will discuss your salary options with you. The second payment option means that at certain points in the year you will be in an underpaid or overpaid situation. Agreement to rectify this, if the need arises will form part of your contract of employment.
As annual leave is to be taken at designated periods of time as set out in the contract of employment, you are not required to apply for this. You will not normally be allowed to take Annual Leave during your designated working weeks. Other forms of leave such as Special Leave and Family Care Leave may be authorised in relevant circumstances.
Home Working is an arrangement whereby you work from home for all or part of your working day or week, on either an ad hoc or contractual basis. The SPCB recognises that in appropriate circumstances Home Working can be an effective alternative mode of working which benefits both the business and the individual. Home Working is not a means of personally providing care to dependants and you must ensure appropriate arrangements are in place to allow you to work effectively and without undue disruption. This policy sets out the SPCB’s provisions on Home Working. This policy is supplemented by Guidance for Managers and Staff.
Requests for home working will be assessed sensibly and realistically, with due consideration given to the viability of arrangements in terms of the particular role and the impact on the business and colleagues. Whilst technological developments greatly facilitate Home Working and increase its accessibility, it must be recognised that Home Working will simply not be a viable option for particular posts due to their nature. Each case will therefore be assessed on its own merits. Any additional costs incurred as a result of home working arrangements must be justifiable and should be balanced against other potential savings.
If you have any queries regarding home working provisions, you should contact the People Services team.
Home Working can operate in various forms:
With the prior agreement of your line manager, you may work from home occasionally or on a regular but informal basis. Such arrangements may be appropriate, for example, in circumstances where specific tasks or projects demand your focussed and uninterrupted input or where you temporarily experience difficulty in getting to work due to adverse weather conditions or significant transport disruption. This type of home working does not require a variation to your terms and conditions of employment and an informal agreement with your line manager is sufficient. Regular informal home working is not intended to give rise to any contractual rights. You are required, however, to agree in advance with your line manager the activities you will undertake and timescales for completion of work.
This is an arrangement whereby you work from home for a percentage of your overall working time, following an agreed pattern as set out in your contract of employment. You would be based in SPCB premises for the balance of your working time. A formal application for this form of home working must be made using the Flexible Working Procedure.
Regardless of the form of Home Working undertaken, you will continue to be covered by the policies of the SPCB, including the terms and conditions of employment set out in the Staff Handbook, the Equality Framework, and policies relating to health and safety, data protection and security. The actual hours you work at home need not be fixed to the bandwidths set out in the SPCB’s flexible working hours arrangements provided you complete your work within the prescribed timescales. You must ensure that you are able to work uninterrupted. If your caring responsibilities mean that you require to work out with the flexible working hours bandwidth for your business area to achieve this, you should clear any changes with your line manager. You should record all the hours you work at home in the normal way, using the Time Recording System (TRS). You should also be aware that BIT telephone support will not be provided outwith their normal business hours of 8.00am to 6.00pm.
Where a post is considered appropriate for Home Working, Heads of Group/Office and line managers must also be satisfied as to your suitability to undertake this mode of work. Consequently, staff applying for Home Working arrangements should have acceptable records of attendance, time keeping, performance and conduct.
Your request for contractual home working should be made and will be managed in accordance with the Flexible Working Procedure. As with other requests made under this procedure, your request may be refused on business grounds. In such circumstances, you will have the right to appeal the decision. Your Head of Group/Office will need to be satisfied:
A Home Working arrangement cannot commence until the issues set out in the above paragraph have been considered and satisfactorily addressed. You should also be aware that it may take up to a period of 6 weeks for necessary equipment to be obtained and installed.
Where your request for contractual Home Working is granted, your Head of Group/Office may seek your agreement to operate the arrangement for a trial period of 3 months in the first instance to ensure that the arrangement in practice is suitable for both you and your Head of Group/Office. The views of your staff or colleagues and the impact on the business will also be taken into account.
At the end of the 3 month period, a meeting will be arranged to review arrangements. If the arrangement is working satisfactorily or any difficulties identified during the trial period can be easily overcome, the arrangement will continue.
Your Home Working arrangement will be reviewed thereafter as required at the discretion of your Head of Group/Office, for example, as a result of substantive changes to your role or to the needs of the business. The suitability of the arrangement will be formally reviewed on at least an annual basis, as part of the normal operation of the performance management system.
Where the Home Working arrangement does not seem to be working satisfactorily, your Head of Group/Office will consider and explain the reasons and will establish if there are ways in which these difficulties can be overcome. If these difficulties cannot be overcome, your Head of Group/Office will agree with you a period of notice whereby the arrangement will be withdrawn and you will revert to your original working arrangement.
After a contractual Home Working arrangement has been confirmed, you may end the arrangement and return to office based working by giving three months notice in writing. Similarly, your Head of Group/Office can, in consultation with your line manager and the People Services Office, end the agreement by giving you 3 months notice in writing. In such circumstances, written reasons will be provided.
If you accept a new job within the organisation, you must submit a new request under the Flexible Working Procedure should you wish to continue your Home Working arrangement.
In accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the SPCB is required to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of all staff. This duty extends to staff working from home and the SPCB’s Health and Safety policies apply equally to home workers. You also have obligations under the Act to ensure that you do not anything which might endanger yourself, your colleagues or visitors to your home engaged on official business. As the SPCB is unable to closely supervise your activities when working from home, there is a greater responsibility on you to ensure that you carry out your work without risk to yourself or others and to ensure that safe working conditions are maintained. Prior to the commencement of any form of Home Working arrangement, you must complete a Self Assessment Checklist and submit this to the Health and Safety Adviser for review.
Where you work from home on an ad hoc or informal basis, your line manager will provide you with guidance on how to set up your temporary work area safely and comfortably.
In relation to contractual Home Working, the Health and Safety Adviser will carry out a proper risk assessment to ensure that your home complies with health and safety standards and is suitable for the purposes of Home Working. This may involve a visit to your home, depending on the information contained in your Self-Assessment Checklist.
In practical terms, we will ensure that your proposed workspace is safe from all hazards, comfortable, well-lit, ventilated and adequately equipped to function similarly to offices on SPCB premises. If your role requires the use of electrical equipment, we will arrange for a qualified electrician to check your home and will meet the cost of this inspection.
If you sustain an injury or an accident or near miss occurs arising out of or in connection with your work, you must report this to your line manager immediately in the normal way and follow this up with the completion of an Incident Report Form. To ensure that health and safety standards are maintained, it may be necessary for authorised representatives to occasionally visit your home at pre-arranged times, for example, to:
All authorised visitors will carry proper identification which you should ask to see before admitting them to your home. Should there be any changes to your home environment which have the potential to impact on the original risk assessment or if you have any concerns, you have a responsibility to inform your line manager accordingly without delay.
The provision of equipment and resources to a home worker will be assessed by your Head of Group/Office in consultation with the relevant office, for example, information and communication technology requirements will be considered in conjunction with BIT. Costs of associated equipment and resources will be met by your own Group/Office.
As the Parliament remains the base of ad hoc or informal home workers, such staff will not normally be provided with additional equipment for use at home. Use may be made, however, of the laptop loan facility on a short-term basis (contact the IT Helpdesk). BIT will not be able to provide technical advice or support relating to your personal equipment.
Heads of Group/Office will ensure that contractual home workers are supplied with the equipment and resources which they require in order to effectively undertake the role from home. This may include a dedicated mobile phone, PC, any other necessary electrical equipment, furniture and stationery. The Parliament will reimburse contractual home workers reasonable and justifiable expenses for work-related telephone and postage costs.
The SPCB has a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to enable remote access which is available to all categories of home worker. You will need to make arrangements with BIT to use this facility prior to the commencement of your home working arrangement. Access to the VPN requires Broadband and it your own responsibility to have this in place and to meet the costs. Any equipment or resources provided to you remain the property of the SPCB. The SPCB is responsible for ensuring that:
You are responsible for ensuring that:
The SPCB assumes no responsibility or liability for equipment or electrical installations which it has not provided. No liability will be accepted by the SPCB for equipment or electrical installations which it has provided where any fault or damage is caused by you or another person out with the SPCB’s control.
The SPCB’s policies on security, confidentiality and data protection apply equally to home working. As part of the Home Working Agreement , you will be required to certify that you are able to maintain the security and confidentiality of SPCB documents and data held electronically or in hard copy within your home and are able to comply with IT and data protection requirements. Your Head of Group/Office will work with you to fully consider the risks of transferring data outwith the parliament network and to put in place mitigating actions in order to keep data secure. Particular care must be taken with documents containing sensitive information and personal data.
Further advice may be obtained from the BITHelpdesk or the FOI Specialist. In particular, you are responsible for ensuring that:
Communication and contact arrangements must be agreed and implemented prior to the commencement of any Home Working arrangement. This will include agreeing how any enquiries addressed to you will be handled.
In undertaking any form of Home Working, you are required to maintain regular contact with your line manager. You must be contactable for business purposes during your designated working hours and ensure that you regularly access your email account. In the case of ad hoc or informal Home Working, you should inform appropriate colleagues in advance that you will be working from home.
The SPCB recognises that regular Home Working can result in a sense of isolation owing to the reduction in face-to-face contact with colleagues. Your line manager will regularly communicate with you to ensure that you feel supported in your job, are kept up to date with developments and receive feedback on your performance. As far as reasonably practicable, team meetings will be scheduled for days when you are in the office.
The SPCB will cover insurance liability if you or a visitor engaged in official business is injured or if property is damaged. We will also meet any additional insurance premiums incurred by you as a consequence of the home-working arrangement. You will need to consider whether there are implications for your buildings and contents insurance. You should therefore contact your insurance company to ensure that your domestic insurance policies are not invalidated by the storage and use of our equipment at your home or by the use of your home as a workplace.
You may be liable for changes to taxation. It is your responsibility to contact Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in advance to determine if there are any implications associated with working from home, including potential liabilities for the business rates of council tax and capital gains tax. The SPCB will normally cover any additional costs incurred by you should the business rate apply. Costs for lost exemption from capital gains tax will not be met by the SPCB. You are also responsible for liaising with anyone with an interest in your property, for example, your mortgage provider or landlord to ensure that there are no terms in the relevant agreement which prevent you from working from home.
You have a statutory right to request a flexible working arrangement if you have a minimum of 26 weeks service with the SPCB and you:
OR
you have responsibility for the care of a person over the age of 18 and you are either:
Relatives include parents, parent-in-law, adult child, adopted adult child, siblings (including those who are in-laws), uncles, aunts or grandparents and step-relatives. Notwithstanding the eligibility criteria set out under the statutory right to request flexible working and the common association of flexible working arrangements with caring responsibilities, the SPCB will give serious consideration to requests for flexible working from any member of staff for any reasonable purpose.
The SPCB will assess each case on its own merits in a realistic and sensible manner, taking account of the impact on the business and colleagues. Decisions will be evaluated in light of any relevant statutory entitlements. All options will be reasonably explored with a view to achieving a solution which works for all parties.
You continue to be employed by the SPCB during any non-working time associated with your flexible working arrangement. As such, you continue to be covered by the policies of the SPCB, including the terms and conditions of employment set out in the Staff Handbook and the Equality Framework. You will receive the salary applicable to the post, pro rated to the hours you are contracted to work. You are entitled to the same annual leave and public/privilege holidays as a full-time member of staff, calculated on a pro rata basis. For ease, your holiday entitlement for the year is calculated and expressed in hours. The People Services team will advise you of your specific entitlement. You will be treated no less favourably than staff employed on a full basis in relation to Maternity, Adoption and Paternity Leave and pay or sick pay. The People Services team can provide tailored advice on the application of these provisions to your specific circumstances. Your employment will be pensionable under the terms of the Civil Service pension arrangements. Your pension will accrue on a pro rata basis according to the hours and weeks worked. If you are asked to work, or attend a training course, at a time when you would not normally work, you will be paid for the extra hours involved or you may take time off in lieu of those hours. If your attendance is required on a weekend rest day, or a public or privilege holiday, the SPCB’s provisions on overtime will apply. If attendance at a time when you would not normally work requires you to arrange extra child-care cover, you should let your Head of Group/Office know immediately and check if you can make use of the SPCB’s crèche facilities. If your Head of Group/Office confirms that you are required to attend these additional hours, you will be reimbursed for the extra child-care costs.
You may formally request a flexible working arrangement in respect of your current role in accordance with the Flexible Working Arrangement Procedure. Alternatively, you may apply for a vacant post in the organisation which lends itself to a particular form of flexible working, subject to the normal recruitment procedures or the terms of the Redeployment Policy as applicable. Heads of Group/Office will thoroughly assess vacant posts in advance in terms of the suitability of the various flexible working arrangements with reference to the business reasons set out earlier in the policy. The suitability or otherwise of a post for particular flexible working arrangements will be clearly stipulated from the outset.
If you accept a new job within the organisation, you must submit a new request under the Flexible Working Procedure should you wish to continue your flexible working arrangement.