The letter which was sent two weeks ago by the Director of the Civil Service Human Resources and Capability Group, William Hague, was delivered to every human resources director across the civil service outlining the plans.
The leaked documents state:
"The civil service reform plan states that each department will undertake a review of their terms and conditions. Your review should ensure that your department, and collectively the civil service, continues to be a good employer, offering terms and conditions comparable with, but not beyond what a good modern employer would provide. "This is our opportunity to tackle those terms and conditions where we have been less responsive in the past as well as those that have left the civil service open to caricature."
As well as the areas mentioned that will come under scrutiny, further areas which could face cuts are outlined in the document as “other areas for consideration.”
A number of family-friendly policies such as childcare, compressed hours working, working from home, parental leave, part-time working, job sharing and term-time working are all areas categorised in this bracket. In addition, a list of other policies that could be reviewed at the discretion of human resources directors, include: gifts and hospitality
apprenticeships, work experience advances of pay, excess hours travelling time, weekend working reward vouchers for good work advances in money to pay for travel expenditure subsistence payments.
The document then goes on to advise directors to consider other possible ways of saving, by stating:
"These lists are not definitive, and departments should include any terms and conditions, policies and practices or pay-related terms deemed relevant."
EMPLOYERS REPORT LONG-TERM BENEFITS OF RESOLVING DISPUTES THROUGH ACAS
23 October 2012
Independent research has found that Acas intervention in industrial disputes helps reach a settlement in over eight out of ten cases.
More than two-thirds (68%) of employers and trade unions questioned said that, without Acas help, the dispute would have taken longer to resolve, saving parties around five months. They also reported longer term workplace benefits from using Acas: around two-thirds said that their organisation was more effective at dealing with disputes (63%) six out of ten had better communication between management and workers (60%) over half said that they had improved employment relations (55%). The survey also revealed that it was the skills of the conciliator acting as the impartial third party which was one of the key influences over the likelihood of reaching an agreement to settle the dispute. And around a third of those that were asked said that it might have been beneficial to involve Acas at an earlier stage.
CIPP Policy News Journal
12/04/2013, Page 321 of 362
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