The whole subject
of employing staff is very complex, but this factsheet will
outline some of the basic areas, acting as a guide rather than a
final reference point.
This factsheet should be read in conjunction with Factsheet
14: Recruiting Staff.
1. Definition
of a Contract
You are obliged
to give a written principal statement to an employee within 2
months of their starting work. However, just because you
don’t create a full written contract (the principal
statement and terms and conditions of employment) doesn’t
mean that it doesn’t exist. A contract exists as soon as you
offer the job. This contract would be the statutory minimum terms
and conditions as outlined below. Having everything written down
simply clarifies the situation for both the employer and the
employee. There are many different ways of employing staff to run
the services and activities of your organisation. The main two
types of contract are:
Permanent
which as the name suggests means the contract has no fixed end
date. You can include a sentence in the contract that clarifies
that the job is permanent subject to continued funding.
Fixed-term
If you have funding for a specific project, you may wish to offer
a fixed-term contract which runs for as long as the funding does.
The contract would include the expiry date when the job would
end. If the contract is for more than two years, you can include
a clause which means the employee waives the right to claim
redundancy payments when the contract expires.
Within these two types of contracts there are many different ways
of working. Some of these are: full-time, part-time, job-share
(two people sharing a full-time post), term-time hours only.
Where a post is 17.5 hours of a 35 hour week then s/he will be
entitled to half the pay for that post. It can be of great
benefit to you and your employees if you can offer flexible
working patterns. then s/he will be entitled to half the pay for
that post. It can be of great benefit to you and your employees
if you can offer flexible working patterns.
2: What is
contained in a Contract?
All the details
about the employees working conditions will be included. The main
elements of this may be outlined in what is called the
“principal statement” of the contract and then further
details in the “Terms and Conditions”. We have detailed
some of the standard areas included in a contract. For each
element we have included what the law states you must do (Look
for the ü symbol) and then some information on what is good
practice (The 5symbol). Offering an attractive employment
opportunity with a good salary, generous holiday and good working
conditions will attract good quality candidates. However, you
must always be realistic about what your organisation can afford.
Model contracts of employment are available from VAM.
Hours
5 The maximum number of hours an individual may work is 48,
averaged over a 17 week period. There are exceptions to this
rule, and if you think this will affect you ring VAM for further
information.
ü It is up to your organisation how many hours you expect your
employees to work. You would usually have a standard working week
for all employees. Remember 9am - 5pm isn’t necessarily
going to be your working week if you run evening activities.
Working specific core hours e.g. 10am - 2pm, with other hours
arranged around that can be very useful for staff who have caring
responsibilities. If staff work more than their required hours,
you may wish to include provision for Time Off In Lieu
(TOIL).
Pay
ü The minimum wage is set out in legislation. You must operate a
PAYE (Pay As You Earn) system, if the employee’s
earnings are above the thresholds for tax and National Insurance.
(See Further Information section at the end of this sheet and
also Section 8 of Factsheet 14: Recruiting Staff)
5 Compare the “going rate” for the job you’re
offering by looking at job adverts to see what
other
organisations pay. You may wish to offer a generous salary, but
you must be able to afford it. Remember to take into account pay
increments and inflationary increases. VAM has copies of the
current National Joint Council (NJC) payscales which the local
authority and many voluntary organisations use. These are
amended every year to include the cost of inflation.
Holidays
ü An employee who has been in post for three months is entitled
to four weeks paid holiday a year, e.g. if your employees work a
six day week this would mean 24 days holiday. This does not
include public holidays (Bank Holidays).
5 You need to be realistic about what you can afford to offer in
the way of holiday entitlement. If you require your staff to
work Bank Holidays then you would usually give the equivalent
time off on another day.
Sick Leave
üAn employee is entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) when
s/he has been off sick for four or more days in a row. The rules
about SSP are very complex, so you might wish to contact the Dept
of Social Security (DSS) office for more information.
5 Some organisations specify what the employee will receive when
off sick, over and above the statutory minimum. This can be full
pay for a specified period (sometimes up to three or six months),
then half pay for a further period. Again be realistic about what
you can afford and take into account that you will probably have
to pay to cover the post during a long period of sick leave.
5 Maternity
Leave A woman who is pregnant is entitled to 18 weeks
“ordinary leave” regardless of length of service. If
she has been employed for a year by the 11th week before the
expected week of childbirth she can take additional leave up
until the 29th week after childbirth.
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) This is the payment due to
the employee during maternity leave. The rate is 90% of her
salary for the first six weeks, and then a set rate for the next
12 weeks (These rates change - check with DSS). Small employers
can be reimbursed for much of this. Contact your local Inland
Revenue office for further information.
ü Again, in the contract of employment you can offer more than
the statutory minimum. As with sick leave, you must consider what
the organisation can afford and balance this with offering good
terms and conditions.
5 Paternity Leave There is no current law that gives
provision for time off for fathers after the birth of their
child. Parental leave is a different kind of (unpaid) leave that
parents can take in order to look after a sick child or to make
arrangements for the child’s welfare. Employees who have a
baby or adopt a child on or after 15 December 1999 and who have
worked for the organisation for a year are entitled to this leave
(13 weeks for each child).
ü You could offer a set number of days paid or unpaid leave
around the time of the birth. You may wish to find other ways to
support staff who have children by offering part-time work or a
job-share if they wish or offer flexible ways of working, such as
working from home one day week if this is feasible.
Pensions
5 Currently there is no obligation to offer staff a pension. From
April 2001, you have to offer access to information regarding
pensions to all staff. This does not mean that you will have to
contribute to the pension.
ü However, more and more employees are aware of the importance
of pensions, given the probable shortfall of the state pension in
the future. People looking for a new job will weigh up the
benefits of an adequate salary with good pension provision,
against a more generous salary with no pension provision. Offer a
pension to which the organisation makes a contribution, if you
can afford it.
3: Managing
Your Staff
In addition to
the Contract and Terms and Conditions there are other issues that
will affect your employees:
Insurance As
an employer, you are required by law to have employer’s
liability insurance. (See Factsheet 17: Insurance)
Paperwork You are
legally required to keep payroll and National Insurance
contributions records and it is good practice to keep records of
holiday and sick leave.
Supervision
Employees need to be properly supervised so that work is properly
planned, carried out and monitored. Supervision is also a
mechanism for supporting staff and highlighting and working out
any problems. You must make it clear who the supervisor
will be, how often supervision will take place and how it will be
carried out. It is useful to keep records of supervision
sessions.
Organisational
Policies These are the formal written documents that outline the
processes by which the work of the organisation is undertaken.
All the organisations’ policies will have an impact on
staff. These are some of them:
Equal Opportunities (see Factsheet 5) Your staff need a good
understanding of Equal Opportunities and how it affects their
work.
Health & Safety (see Factsheet 16) This policy will give
details of working conditions and what is expected of staff in
relation to health and safety; and other details such as
whether the workplace is a non-smoking building etc.
Disciplinary & Grievance Procedures These are the mechanisms
by which the organisation deals with problems between employees
and the organisation. The disciplinary procedure shows the steps
the management would take in the event of a complaint against an
employee or in the case of poor performance by the employee. If
the employee has a problem with the way s/he is treated at work,
the grievance policy outlines how such a complaint would be dealt
with.
Training & Staff Development This might include information
on promotion, regrading of posts and procedures for staff
training requests etc.
4: Further
Help
Inland Revenue
Employers Helpline 08457 143 143
Telephone 0161
236 3206 or www.green-fish.org.uk
© The Green
Fish Partnership Ltd 2001