Agenda item

To seek approval of the revisions to the Sickness Absence Policy and Disciplinary Policy.

(Report attached)

(Extract of the minutes of the meeting and report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee - 6th November 2012 attached)

The Committee received a report which proposed revisions to the Sickness Absence Policy and the Disciplinary Policy. Members’ attention was also drawn to the report and recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in this regard. The Sickness Absence Policy was designed to support staff and be effective as a management tool. One aspect of the Policy to be reviewed was the process for the management of long-term sickness absence and the Disciplinary Policy had been amended as a consequence to ensure the two Policies were consistent with each other. Following some consideration it was proposed that Members retain their involvement in the Appeals process that was open to Officers who were aggrieved at a decision taken under either of these Policies that they be dismissed.

The Committee welcomed and supported the report and the proposed Policies. The Committee also thanked the Sickness Policy Pre-Scrutiny Short Sharp Review Group for its report. Members were content to support the recommendations made by that Group in the report which had been submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 6th November as detailed below. 

In response to an enquiry from Members, it was reported that the concept of ‘duvet days’, or ‘network days’ which were apparently available in some employment sectors, was known to Officers, but Officers were not convinced that any additional time off for staff was warranted, given the relatively generous leave entitlement already offered. Members were keen that the point made at Paragraph 3.8 g) in the report be extended to cover conditions that were as similarly life-threatening as cancer.

RECOMMENDEDthat

1)         the revisions to the Sickness Absence Policy and Disciplinary Policy attached to the report at Appendix 1 and 2, and detailed at 3.7 and 3.9 be approvedand adopted;

2)         the additional procedural guidance proposed for inclusion in the Sickness Absence Policy as detailed in the report at 3.8 be noted, subject to the extension of the description in Paragraph 3.8 g) to include conditions “such as” cancer;

3)         authority be delegated to the Head of Legal & Democratic Services to make the necessary changes to the scheme of delegations required to implement the proposed changes; and

RESOLVED that

4)         the Council’s Sickness Absence Policy be updated and reduced in length, in order to clarify the structure and process for managing both short-term and long-term sickness absences; 

5)         the terminology used in the policy be sensitive to the needs of staff experiencing sickness; 

6)         an A5 laminated guide to the Council’s Sickness Absence Policy be provided for the use of managers and staff; 

7)         all changes to the Council’s Sickness Absence Policy be communicated to managers and staff; 

8)         the Sickness Absence Policy be included in the induction process for new staff and managers employed by the Council; 

9)         staff and managers receive regular refresher training; 

10)      the Sickness Absence Policy be applied consistently to staff across all service areas, and managers be encouraged, recognising individual circumstances and different working environments to apply the policy appropriately; 

11)      the occupational health service available to staff experiencing sickness be reviewed;  and

12)      communication form an integral part of the transformation process to ensure that staff understand the reasons for changes made to services as part of the transformation process and how transformation may impact on them.