Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority

Human Resources Committee Item 13

30 April 2009

Flexible Working for Grey Book employees

Report of the Chief Officer

Contact: [email protected] ; [email protected]

Tel: 02380 644 000 ext 2013

1

Summary

1.1

This report outlines the work undertaken by a dedicated project board tasked to look at introducing flexible working opportunities into our Gray book operational workforce.

1.2

The report outlines the background drivers, work undertaken to date and proposed next steps. It makes recommendations to the committee that will enable the implementation of flexible working

1.3

The report also identifies some of the benefits to HFRS in pursuing this work, in particular the positive enhancement of our aspiration to become an employer of choice for all members of the communities that we serve

2

Recommendations

It is recommended that the HR committee of HFRA:

2.1

Note the work undertaken to date and endorse the planned ongoing work of the project board.

2.2

2.3

Approve the next steps for part time working in the role of fire-fighter on the 2-2-4 duty system from April 2009, all Gray book roles on the 42hr week day duty system from June 2009, and all Gray book Supervisory manager roles from September 2009.

Note the financial resourcing model for 2010/11 and beyond in appendix two

3

Introduction and Background

3.1

3.2

Recent legislative changes provide employees with additional rights in a number of areas including: Maternity Rights, Paternity Leave (Maternity Support Leave), Adoption Leave, Parental Leave and Time Off for Dependents together with the Right to Request Flexible Working. Our current Service Order outlines our policy for all Green Book employees under each of these areas, including the right to request a flexible work pattern. However, whilst we have received a limited number of similar requests from our Gray Book employees HFRS has never established a formal policy for flexible working in relation to its operational workforce.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service therefore established a project board in December 2007 to explore the feasibility of part time working for operational (Gray book) employees. The aim of the project board was to determine a Service Order Policy for part time working that is consistent with our Family Friendly policy currently offered to Green book employees.

The project board composition is shown at appendix one, but it worthy of note that the board brings together professionals from a broad spectrum, in particular Human Resource specialists, Operational firefighters and Officers, Fire control staff, learning and development specialists and members of our equalities team. This diversity within the board reflects the wide impact and potential beneficiaries of the introduction of flexible working.

Underlying principles and progress to date:

The project board identified some principles for the introduction of flexible working for Gray book staff, these are:

· To satisfy the legal obligation to provide opportunities for part time working

· To provide opportunities for individuals to work in the FRS who may find the current fixed 42 hour week prohibitive to a career in the FRS

· To ensure that flexible working opportunities are compatible with safe systems of work for Gray book staff and that the ability to maintain standards of service delivery is not detrimentally affected.

This work has been informed by the need to develop a modern workforce compliant with legislation and expectations set out in the Framework document and Audit Commission Reports. We also wish to increase our attraction of women to fire-fighting roles and it is hoped that the improved work life balance that can be achieved through flexible working patterns will enable progress on this particular objective.

Work life balance and the Fitness and wellbeing of employees is an additional consideration and the ability to request an alternative work pattern to support individual circumstances can be key to achieving this.

The project group determined that there were additional considerations for various categories of operational employees and established sub working groups to investigate these differences. The project is looking at the impact of part time working on the following groups:

· Firefighters

· Supervisory managers ( Crew and Watch managers)

· Day duty roles (Supervisory and Middle managers)

· Flexible Duty System officers (Middle and Strategic managers)

Each of these Gray book staff groups currently work on duty systems based on an average of 42 hours per week.

Each of these staff groups has been allocated a lead officer and the progress to date is detailed in Section 4. Officers working the FDS are being dealt with as part of a wider review within the Service Delivery Directorate because of the complexities of reconciling part-time opportunities with the operational needs of the FDS workforce.

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Fire-fighter roles

`Pilot' exercise for Part Time Working

4.1

One of the key aspects that required verification was the question of whether a part time fire-fighter would be able to maintain safety critical competence in the role when working fewer hours.

A trial arrangement was put in place by using 6 Retained Duty System (RDS) volunteers that were already competent in role and were willing to join a watch for a six month period working only one day and one night. Individual performance was assessed to ensure that the safety critical workplace assessments were completed during this period. To make the trial as realistic as possible these individuals were asked not to participate in any training activities as part of their RDS duties during this period. The trial commenced at the beginning of October 2008 and is due to complete in early April 2009.

A final report will be produced by the training team in April 2009 and early indications show that it is possible to maintain competence working on this part time arrangement.

It is intended to issue policy guidance that enable fire-fighter roles to be part time opportunities from April 2009. The Service Delivery directorate has determined some limiting parameters on these opportunities and these are detailed in appendix two. In broad terms they equate to opportunities for part time working in approximately 18% of operational fire-fighter roles.

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5.1

6

6.1

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7.1

7.2

Supervisory Manager roles

Our Supervisory managers are distinct from fire-fighters as a staff group because of the need not only to ensure competence can be met if working reduced hours, but also the need to consider two other important factors:

· Line management continuity

· Command continuity

While these factors are extremely important the board is committed to finding effective ways of ensuring that part time opportunities are made available to our supervisory managers in operational roles. Therefore a dedicated sub-group chaired by the Station manager of Winchester Fire Station is looking into ways of developing policy guidance on implementation of flexible working for this particular group.

The sub-group has met on a number of occasions and it is planned to introduce the policy guidance in the September of 2009.

Day Duty roles

Day duty staff work primarily in roles connected with Community Safety and Training. These staff are conditioned to a range of variations of the 42 hour working week and in many ways are similar when considering options for part-time working to green book staff. A sub-group chaired by the Group Manager for Rushmoor and Hart is looking into ways in which flexible working can be introduced and is producing policy guidance for line managers.

This guidance will be based on the principle that line managers will make a decision over individual applications for part time working based on local circumstances. This in line with the approach taken with green book staff and represents normal employment practice. It has to be borne in mind that some of these roles directly support risk critical Service Delivery activities and have received significant investment in skills and knowledge development by the Service. Line managers will be expected to take this into account when considering applications for part-time working.

Policy guidance on this staff group is planned for introduction in June 2009

Contracts, pensions and entitlements

Where existing employees change their working hours and/or pattern, they will be issued with a revised contract of employment or contract addendum to reflect the agreed changes. This will normally be a permanent contract change, unless an alternative agreement is made and this will depend on individual circumstances of a particular case. Salary and leave entitlements will be arranged on a pro-rata basis in order to reflect the actual hours worked. For new employees joining HFRS on a part time basis, the specific terms, conditions and entitlements will be stated in their contract at the commencement of their employment.

Within HFRS, employees may be members of one of three pension schemes: Local Government Pension Scheme, Fire-fighters Pension Scheme (the old scheme - now closed but we have existing members) or the New Fire-fighters Pension Scheme (for all new Gray Book employees who join after 6 April 2006). Each pension scheme explains how a pension will be calculated where the member works on a part time basis, or if they reduced their working hours at any point they are paying into the scheme. In general terms, the schemes are applied on a pro rata basis, based on the actual earnings of the individual. Our Flexible Working Policy will be updated to provide more detail in this respect, and also to advise employees where they can obtain further information.

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8.1

Contribution to Corporate Aims and Objectives

The outcomes of the introduction of flexible working for Gray book staff will enable progress to be made against three of our identified priorities within the HFRS Plan 2009-12:

· Resources - this initiative will assist in achieving improvement in representation within the workforce from target groups

· Community - this initiative will assist in ensuring that our workforce understands and responds to community need through effective service delivery

· People - this initiative will contribute to our aim of achieving level four of the local government equalities standard

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Risk Analysis

9.1

There are risks identified by the project board relating to this initiative. These are as follows:

· Non-compliance with statutory duties and expectations

· Non-compliance with the National FRS E&D Strategy

· Variations to the level and quality of service delivery

The first two of these risks will be addressed by implementing the recommendations of this report. The third risk relating to Service Delivery Quality will be controlled by the use of limiting parameters around part-time opportunities as detailed in appendix two.

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Resource Implications

10.1

Human Resources

There are a number of positive HR implications from the recommendations of this report. These are as follows:

· Existing full time staff will have an opportunity to apply for working Part time

· RDS staff transferring to the WDS system may apply to work Part time

· Transferees into HFRS may apply to work part time on appointment

· Trainees entering the service from December 2009 may do so on a part time bases

· Existing staff who choose to elect for retirement and apply for re-engagement will have the opportunity to do so working part time

The Service Delivery directorate will ensure a degree of balance to all of these potential scenarios through the use of limiting parameters on the number of opportunities authorised in accordance with appendix one.

10.2

Physical Resources

The main physical resource implications are as follows:

· Personal Kit Issue inventories will increase in accordance with the detail in appendix two

· Stations will need to incorporate storage facilities for these personal kit inventories. This is intended to be managed locally on a station by station basis.

10.3

Information and Communications Technology Resources

The proposed Efficient and Flexible Crewing Management system will assist in managing the allocation of human resources regardless of contracted hours. Other developments within the HR Workforce Strategy Managing Information project will assist in managing a part time workforce.

10.4

Financial Implications

Some financial implications have been identified as follows:

· Costings for a maximum of 52 operational fire-fighter personal kit inventories are outlined in appendix two

· There will also be additional HR related on-costs due to additional staffing records etc but these are not significant

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People Impact Assessment

11.1

A People Impact Assessment (PIA) for the project activities has been completed and will continue to be updated and reviewed as the actions are progressed.

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Conclusion

12.1

The proposed next steps are as follows:

· Fire-fighter roles will be identified and expressions of interest sought for transfer into part time hour positions, initially 21 hours per week, one day shift and one night shift. This will be limited in accordance with appendix two. This will commence from April 2009.

· Supervisory manager roles will continue to be the subject of a sub-group with an aim to introduce part time working in these areas from September 2009.

· Day Duty staff will be asked for expressions of interest to work part time in accordance with policy guidance produced by the sub-group by June 2009

· Pensions advice and detail on other conditions of service detail will be produced and made available to all staff before any part time working commences

· New entrants to the Service from the Trainee course in December 2009 will have the opportunity to enter on a part time basis.

In conclusion it is also notable that implementation of this initiative will be necessary for HFRS to progress to the Local Government Equalities Standard Level 4 and enable us to become an employer of choice for all sectors of the community.

Background Information (Section 100D of Local Government Act 1972)

The following documents disclose the facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of the report:

None

Note: The list excludes: (1) published works; and (2) documents that disclose exempt or confidential information defined in the Act.