Community Lives Consortium

Staff Forum Meeting 14th September 2011

The Deputy Chief Executive thanked everyone for coming. Attendance was disappointingly low this time due to a number of factors; Staff shortages, parking etc. The Deputy Chief Executive said we may need to look at other ways of organising the Forum in future to make it easier for more staff to attend. Everyone introduced themselves, including Joanne Davies, the new HR Manager.

Previous Minutes and Matters Arising

Following the budget cuts passed on by the Local Authority, The Deputy Chief Executive said that the Consortium has not cut support hours and there have been no job losses. We still need to look carefully at how we manage vacancies. Do we need to fill all vacancies? Can hours be shared between existing staff? Our main aim is to keep people in employment. Savings have been made centrally and some vacancies have not been recruited. Management hours for Service Co’s will be reducing soon. This means that Service Co’s will have the capacity to work more ‘hands on’ along side staff by covering some overtime shifts. The Deputy Chief Executivesaid that we need to make savings of £200,000 this year.

The Community Services Officer read out an article from yesterday’s Evening Post (Kindly brought in by Phil Williams) relating to plans on how the money spent by Social Services in NPT needs to be more evenly shared across all services for vulnerable people in the County and how spending will be monitored in future.

NPT Tender
The Deputy Chief Executive told us that the Consortium is about to tender for new work in the Neath, Port Talbot area and there is a possibility of new work in Swansea.

Targeted Support Update
A discussion followed about Targeted Support. The Deputy Chief Executiveexplained the history of why targeted support was introduced in some Networks following the change from Registered to Domiciliary Care for the majority of Consortium schemes. Targeted Support has worked well in NPT. At the moment it would not be financially viable to introduce Targeted Support in the remaining Networks in Swansea. This situation is always up for review. 
It was acknowledged that some shifts can be short with gaps in between so that staff do not have time to go home or do anything else before their next shift; however this can be the nature of a domiciliary style service. The shift patterns need to fit the needs of the Service User and not the staff. It was pointed out that historically we have always had split shifts in the Consortium and the same thing can happen in non-targeted support services.

Medication
It was confirmed that administrating prescribed medication is part of the Support Worker role.

Systems Thinking – Update
The remaining Network (Network 2) is going through the process with Lynda Rosselli at the moment.  Lynda will be returning to her usual role as the Peripatetic Contract Manager in October.  There will be a workshop for the Management Committee later this month. This will be an opportunity for the Board to talk to Service Users and staff and to see some of the things achieved so far. Also, the Board need to tell us what information they require in future and how they would like it recorded. Next we need to look at how we can safely monitor the service we provide if we are reducing the information we record. Everyone was reminded that the Consortium’s purpose is:-
‘To Support People to Live the Life they Choose.’
The aim is for the Organisation to become more ‘person centred’ and more efficient.

Agenda Items

Guest Speaker: Joanne Davies, Human Resource Manager.  Joanne introduced herself and explained her new role.
Updates from H.R.
Jo told us that her Department is now called the Human Resource Department and not the Personnel Department.
Also, she reminded us that there are now two separate departments – Payroll, based in the attic and Human Resource, on the first floor.

Flexible Working Policy
Due to the increase in the number of staff applying for flexible working agreements, Jo told us that in future H.R. will require any employee who wishes to be considered for flexible work to complete appendix 3 of the Flexible Working Policy before their request can be considered. Letters will no longer be accepted. The 28 days that we have to respond to the request will only begin when we have received appendix 3.
Jo told us that a new group has being set up to look into more flexible ways of working for both operational and central office staff. An email was sent by Wendy to all staff inviting volunteers to join this working group and although the general response was good, there wasn’t much response from support workers. Staff said that they do not always see emails sent to the scheme support worker address especially if they work in more than one location. No-one at the Forum was aware of the working group. It was suggested that all relevant information, vacancy memos etc be published in one place where everyone can see them, possibly on the CLC Website. A discussion followed around flexible contracts, sleep-ins, disturbed nights and On Call.

Sleep-in duties
The Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that sleep-in duties are additional to contracted hours and are therefore not guaranteed due to service users changing needs. It was acknowledged that if staff regularly cover two sleep-in duties a week their basic pay is effectively reduced when they take Annual Leave.

Disturbed Sleep-ins (See previous Forum Discussions)
Following previous discussions around what happens to staff who are rota’d to work a morning shift following a disturbed night; there were some concerns that staff may carry on working when over tired, so that they will not be financially disadvantaged. The Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that it is the duty of the individual staff member to ensure they are fit for work. However staff can be sent home by a Manager if they are clearly not fit for work, whatever the reason.

On Call
An example was given of a staff member who rang On Call following an incident at work. Alternative cover could not be found at short notice so the staff member, who was lone working, stayed on despite feeling unfit to continue a shift.  The Deputy Chief Executive said that all calls received are logged and discussed at ‘On Call’ handover. She is unable to comment on an individual case without having all the details so she will check this out with the relevant managers after the meeting.

Salary Sacrifice
There will be more information circulated about the Salary Sacrifice Scheme with our next payslips.

Joanne was thanked for attending the Forum and she left the meeting.

Questions from around the room

• Q. Some staff have experienced difficulties withdrawing cash at the bank for service users. Staff I.D Cards are not always accepted by the individual branches and some mandates are out of date. Examples were given of when money could not be withdrawn.
• A. On checking with Mandy in The Finance Department, Service Co’s should ensure there are enough names on the mandate. Names can be added or removed by completing the relevant mandate form (Available from the Finance Department).  If staff experience problems cashing cheques at the bank, as long as cheques are correctly signed and ID cards are up to date, staff can ring the Finance Department at the Office for assistance.  It was said that the new credit card style ID Cards due to be issued to all staff should make it easier to prove staff identity.A discussion followed with suggestions about other ways of managing Service Users’ finances.
• Q. Will there be any feedback from Sue Cole from the conference she recently attended on ‘Ageing and People with Learning Disabilities’?
• A. Sue will be delivering training sessions for staff on ‘Understanding Dementia’. The first course will be held on 30th September.
• Q. What are the criteria for staff who may need to take ‘Emergency Leave’?
• A. If there's a genuine emergency and you need to take time off at short notice you can ask for unpaid time off (Emergency Leave). All employees have a right to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with certain emergencies involving people they care for. (More detailed information can be found on the Directgov website).  In the event of an emergency, staff should contact their line manager as soon as possible.

• Q. Are staff allowed to take their pets to work with them? Example given - on a ‘sleep-in’?
  
• A. No. Staff should not take their pets with them into service users’ homes whilst on shift.
• Q. Can staff advertise Charity Events through the Consortium?
  
• A. Departments based at the Office in Walter Road take turns to host fundraising events for their chosen charities four times a year, usually Easter, July, September and Christmas. Traditionally, the last Friday of every other month can be used as a fundraising day by an individual staff member or group of staff members. (Dress-down Friday). If any one wants to organise raffles etc for their favourite charity or good cause they can contact Wendy or Debbie Chegwen at the Office to book a date for next year.
  
• Q. Is it true that in future staff will not get paid for the first three days of sickness?
  
• A. The Deputy Chief Executive confirmed that the Policy has not changed. Staff who are entitled to full sick pay will be paid from the first date of sickness.
• Q. Does an unpaid voluntary job count as secondary employment in relation to the 50 hour rule? Example given – St John’s Ambulance.
• A. There are no restrictions on unpaid Voluntary Work.
  

A.O.B.

• Andy told us that orders for Christmas Santa’s and Snowmen were now being taken at the workshop.
• There was positive feedback about the information given at the last Forum by the ULR (Kirsty Lincoln).
  
• Chris said that this year’s AGM will be held on Wednesday 19th October at The Manor Park, Clydach.

Staff Forum Meeting 8th June 2011

The Director of Community Services thanked everyone for coming.

Previous minutes and matters arising.

Budget
The Director of Community Services reported that the Chief Executive is still working on the Budget and trying to make efficiency savings now that we have been told about the expected cuts from the Local Authority.

Systems Thinking
The Director of Community Services told us that Lynda Rosselli is working through each network providing training and putting the principles of ‘Systems Thinking’ into practice. The plan is that all the networks will have received this training by October 2011. Everyone talked briefly about the paperwork and systems that will be changed and about the benefits that this will bring.

Accrued Annual Leave and Lieu Time
The system to allow staff to have longer to take their Accrued Lieu time has been reviewed and seems to be working well; the Director of Community Services will speak to Personnel and a verbal update will be provided at the next meeting. Meanwhile the new system will continue until further notice.

Agenda Items:

Guest Speaker: Kirsty Leonard – Union Learning Representative and Team Coordinator.
Kirsty Leonard had been invited to the Staff Forum to discuss her role as a Union Learning Representative and promote the work that a ULR does.
All new staff are told about the ULR’s in induction and about the courses which are available for those staff who wish to add to their qualifications. If any staff wish to pursue a suitable course for their role they can speak to a ULR or pick up any of the leaflets provided by Unison. Some of the courses are free to Unison members but if the course is related to your work then the Consortium may provide some funding. Accredited courses are also available from the Open University. A ULR can also offer support if you have any other learning needs, e.g. dyslexia or numerousy problems. You do not have to be a member of Unison to take up any of the courses.
Unison is also working with Connecting Learners to promote courses and learning and to also offer support.
Kirsty showed a short film about an auxiliary nurse in N/PT who became a Health Care Support Worker after undertaking some courses promoted by Unison which encouraged her to learn many new skills and gave her the confidence to apply for a more fulfilling job.
It was asked if Kirsty could attend other meetings to promote the work of a ULR. A poster was handed out for everyone to take back and put up in their scheme.

• Q. It was asked if a Unison Rep can attend the Forum in future.
  A. Wendy said that Taryn Kristel usually comes to the Forum but may not always be available to attend every time. We will send the Forum dates to Chris Rowlands and ask if she can arrange for a Union rep to attend if possible.
  Kirsty was thanked for attending and she left the meeting.
  

Guest Speaker: Andy Wright – PAT Testing and General Maintenance - Workshop.
Andy Wright from the Workshop is responsible for the annual PAT test (Portable Appliance Testing) for all the Consortium’s electrical appliances to ensure they are compliant and safe and wanted to attend the forum to remind everyone about the dangers of faulty appliances.
Andy explained that appliances in the schemes which are potentially dangerous and in some cases in a very poor condition should be condemned.
Staff should inform him immediately of any item they are not happy with for him to check and make safe. If necessary the service user whose item it is can also inform Andy or the Workshop and ask for it to be checked.
In line with the Housing Management Policy, Section 5, Health & Safety in the Home, if Andy finds a faulty appliance then to minimise the risk of a potential fire or an electric shock to either the service user or staff he may remove the item; in most cases he would simply remove the lead from the item to prevent it from being used until it can either be repaired or replaced.
Andy had a laminated poster which could be put up in a bedroom or communal area of a scheme to remind everyone of the dangers of faulty equipment.   If the problem is with a wall socket or the electrical system in the scheme then the landlord should be informed as it is their responsibility.
Gardening Project
Andy also wanted to tell everyone about the Gardening Project in a plot of land which has been made into an allotment at Gwynfe.
If any service user would like to join in the gardening or would like some advice then please ring him for help; the service user could be taken to the allotment and given some training in gardening skills. Rick is also looking into a ‘land share’ system for those service users with large gardens that they find difficult to manage and an update will be featured in the next START Newsletter.
An exhibition of the work the Workshop undertakes, including their fruit and vegetables, will be taking place on August 2nd at the Workshop in Ffynone Lane. Andy was thanked for the information and stayed for the rest of the meeting to represent the Workshop staff team.

Annual Leave changes
From July 2011, the individual Leave Year is changing for all staff using their employment start date instead of the current system of 12 months from April to March for everyone, thus avoiding the annual staff shortage in March when everyone is trying to take the remainder of their annual leave.
A spreadsheet showing how to calculate the difference in hours between April 2011 and the employee’s start date for the first year has been sent out with the May payslips. After the first year, the employee’s individual leave year will come into force. A question and answer booklet was also included the May payslip.
The time scale for taking annual leave purchased during the current leave year will need to be looked at on an individual basis.
The Long Service Award can now be used towards the cost of buying a week’s annual leave instead of a cash award or it can be paid into a pension plan.
The details of the award and how it can be used is sent to eligible staff approximately one month before the award is payable.

Questions from around the room

• Q. Can two Support Coordinators support service user on holiday at
  the same time? Could the Support Coordinators volunteer to go as Support Workers instead?
  
• A. The Contract Manager decides the level of staff needed go with the service users based on the complexity of the service users’ needs. The main concerns when allocating support co-ordinators (and Service Co-ordinators) to accompany service users on holiday is the additional staffing cost to the service user. There must also be an adequate level of experienced staff remaining at the scheme to support any service users not attending the holiday.  Support Co’s cannot volunteer to be paid as support workers. Under employment law staff have to be paid in line with their contracted hourly rate. Only the additional hours worked over and above their contacted hours could be paid at Support worker rate.
  
• Q. Are male Support Workers allowed to do lone working at night with female service users?
  
• A. In Services funded by Neath and Port Talbot Local Authority, male staff do not usually work these shifts. This is in line with Neath & Port Talbot’s Personal Care policy.  There is no formal agreement with Swansea; however it is generally considered good practice that male staff do not work alone with female service users unless Care Managers have risk assessed and agreed an individual case.
  N.B. The same protocol applies to staff at the Workshop who may be lone working at services with female tenants during the day; eg decorating, general maintenance, PAT testing etc.
  
• Q. Mileage Allowance – CLC have not increased the mileage allowance from 40p to 45p per mile after the rise announced in the last budget; is there a reason for this?
• A. There are no immediate plans to increase the mileage allowance paid to staff due to the impact this would have on our budget; where possible we would rather encourage service users to use public transport more frequently. More cuts in our transport budget may be required in future to help keep staff in post.  Staff mileage will be kept on the agenda for future meetings.
• Q. Lieu days – Can a rota’d rest day be used as a lieu day?
• A. No; staff need to take any accrued lieu hours in addition to rest days. Lieu hours may be used in conjunction with annual leave but the hours must be recorded separately on time sheets.
  The issue of lieu hours was discussed with Unison at length at the JCC Meeting in July 2010. The feedback from Unison was: Lieu hours should be taken as soon as possible as it is time owed to staff and adding the hours to annual leave may not be appropriate. It was stated that accrued lieu time should be kept separate from annual leave entitlement.
  It was agreed at that meeting that the six week time scale for taking lieu hours could be extended until the end of the then current leave year of March 2011 and is now due to be reviewed as discussed earlier.
  
• Q. Network 6 NVQ/QCF; some staff are starting an NVQ/QCF before others, is there a reason for this?
• A. Contract Managers and Team Co-ordinators are informed by the Training Department of the number of places available so that staff can be allocated.
  Staff with no previous qualification and staff working in a service or Network with low numbers of qualified staff need to be given priority. Sue has agreed to attend the next Forum in September to answer any questions about the QCF award
• Q. In Targeted Support Networks, is there a better way of planning the short sessional shifts so that they are ‘tagged on’ to other longer shifts?
  
• A. Short shifts are common across all Networks according to Service Users needs and examples were given from around the room. It was acknowledged that short shifts can be more common in Targeted Support Networks. Some staff tell us that they prefer moving around as the work is more varied. One option is to consider applying for a Support Coordinator job as their shifts are longer or staff can apply to transfer to non targeted support. Unfortunately these shift patterns are very common in Social Care. Split shifts are also very common.   The Consortium is looking at more efficient ways of delivering our services in line with our Sustainability Policy and this includes travel time and mileage incurred by staff.We are also considering recruiting people who live in the area that they work to help reduce our carbon footprint.
  
• Q. Salary Sacrifice, what is it and how does it work?
• A. Chris explained and these are the main points:
  With pension costs continuing to rise for the employer and employee, companies are looking more closely at the possible beneficial impact of paying contributions through a mechanism known as Salary Sacrifice.  Punter Southall our Pension/Financial Advisors have suggested that CLC consider taking this up.
  This will help CLC and staff to save money.
  Salary Sacrifice will reduce National Insurance costs for CLC and for staff.
  Staff can choose if they want to take Salary Sacrifice.
  Staff would not have to take Salary Sacrifice if it didn’t save them money.
  This item has been discussed with UNISON and with Board Members in Sub Group Meetings. The Management Committee and Senior Managers have agreed in principle to proceed with introducing Salary Sacrifice.
  There is to be another consultation meeting in July with Punter Southall.
  
• Q. Could some job roles in the Consortium be amalgamated to save costs?
• A. The aim of the Organisation is to keep all staff in post; however some vacant posts have not been recruited and the money saved has been used to fund different posts.  All current roles have a purpose with a dedicated job description. As a result of systems thinking (Vanguard) all job descriptions will need to be revised over the coming months,
• Q. What is the protocol for staff visiting a service where there is a low standard of cleanliness and may be considered a risk to health. If he/she refused to enter the property would it affect their job?
• A. The staff member should report any immediate cause for concern to the Contract Manager or the On Call Contract Manager.

A.O.B.
There were no other issues so the meeting was closed.

Staff Forum Meeting 22nd March 2011

The Director of Community Services thanked everyone for coming. The low turn out was disappointing.

Previous minutes and matters arising:

Budget
The Director of Community Services told us that we have been informed by N/PT of their planned budget cut but CCS have not yet provided us with any figures. The Chief Executive is working on the budget at the moment. Budget issues will be kept on the agenda for the next Forum.

Systems Thinking Vanguard
The Director of Community Services briefly went through an explanation of Systems Thinking. The focus is on the service user - who is the central customer - and our aim is to only do what matters to the customer.
We will work together to identify and eliminate waste; eg duplication of paperwork and certain data collected for other people. This will give us more time to spend with our customers.
There are some things that contractually and legally we are required to record. We will not break the law but we may challenge it.
The Director of Community Services gave examples of how we have worked with Service Users in Network 7 to make Service Delivery Plans more personalised. Eventually, Service Delivery Plans will look different in every service for every service user.
All Networks will go through the Systems Thinking process from now until the end of August.

Accrued Annual Leave and Lieu Time
The trial period for allowing accrued lieu time to be taken from August to the end of the leave year in March is to be reviewed in April 2011. Staff agreed that it has been easier to have more time to take their lieu time.

Maintenance Tasks
At the last Forum there was a discussion about Consortium staff with skills and experience that could be better utilised. For example, staff are not allowed to undertake certain maintenance tasks because of Health and Safety regulations, even though these tasks may be well within their capabilities. It was suggested that possibly staff can volunteer to be assessed internally as fit to undertake some ‘odd jobs’. Examples were given.
Following the Forum, this idea was discussed at the Health and Safety Meeting on 17thJanuary 2011 with the following reply:-
'Peter Thomas, Personnel and Administration Manager said that the Service Co-ordinator can determine what can and can’t be done locally as they are responsible for Health & Safety aspects. However if something happens, CLC are held accountable for the actions of employees. CLC will be generally supportive of actions taken in good faith; it depends on where the job is and what it is. The Contract Managers need to be involved in the discussion as there is a duty of care owed by CLC.
The Service Coordinator is the competent person at the individual schemes under our H&S Policy. Schemes could itemise where it is appropriate for staff to make repairs and undertake a risk assessment, however it needs to be stressed that certain tasks i.e. electrical jobs, can only be undertaken by a qualified electrician. Any actions taken in ‘good faith’ are fine depending on the type of job that will need to be carried out and providing staff are happy to carry out the repair.'
N.B. Health and Safety Meetings are held quarterly and all staff should read the minutes when they are published.

Agenda Items:

• Sickness Self Certificate – Personnel wanted to remind everyone that staff are responsible for sending in Doctors’ medical certificates and for completing and sending in the yellow ‘self certificate’ forms. Without this paperwork, missed shifts are classed as an ‘unauthorised absence’ and will not be paid.
  Reminder: - A doctor’s paper must be submitted when a period of sickness is more than seven days.
  Also staff need to let Personnel know of any changes to personal details – name, address, phone number (including mobiles!) bank details, next of kin etc in order to keep their records up to date.
  
• NVQ change to QCF – As from January 2011 QCF (Qualification and Credit Framework) is taking the place of NVQ. Existing NVQ’s will still be valid.
  Although quite similar to NVQ the QCF units are smaller and easier to complete for both the candidate and the assessor but there are more units. The QCF workshops will also be smaller with approximately 8 people per workshop; this means the waiting time to start will increase. Sue Cole, Professional Development
  Co-ordinator is running a pilot and assessing the units at the moment.
  In the past NVQ Level 3 was only available for Service Coordinators and Support Coordinators; however it has been recognised that this was unfair to experienced staff in non-targeted support Networks who would like to complete this qualification.
  From now on, QCF level 3 will be open to some key workers in non-targeted support Networks Some key workers may not want to do the level 3 especially if they already have a level 2. Key workers will not automatically be put on a level 3 programme.
  We were reminded that staff cannot do this qualification through an external college or private training organisation as part of the evidence will be in the form of work based assessments and the Consortium does not allow external assessors in to service users’ homes to carry out these observations.
  

Questions from around the room

• Q. A staff member has lowered their contract but still works some additional hours. It was asked if the hours could be used as annual leave or lieu hours instead of being paid for them.

• A. In the past we used to allow staff to ‘Bank Hours’ but this became too problematic to manage. The Consortium has been looking at different types of flexible ways of working including an Annualised Hours Employment Contract. This allows the employer and the employee to agree a flexible system for working by agreeing hours that are worked in variable quantities over the year.
  Staff could also request an agreed amount of unpaid leave of absence e.g for 3- 6 months.
  The Director of Community Services told us that there are plans to change the leave year from April to March and replace it with individual start date to start date. This should help to avoid the backlog of untaken annual leave every March.
  

• Q. If staff are sick in a week when they also work additional shifts, why don’t they get paid company sick pay as well as their contracted hours?

• A. If in any week a staff member works all their contracted hours and are sick in the same pay week, for sick pay purposes they are not regarded as sick and will only be paid for hours worked.
  NB: The sickness absence will still be monitored under the Sickness and Absence Policy procedures due to the difficulties the absence may cause.
  

• Q. A support worker was recently moved by On Call leaving the Support Coordinator on their own for a period of time. Is this the correct protocol?

• A. The On Call pack contains information on each service. This includes the minimum requirements for each scheme. At times urgent decisions have to be made to move certain staff to help in other schemes. The person making that decision has to prioritise but is still accountable for any duty of care decisions.
  At the On Call handover meeting with the Operations Manager the decisions would be discussed and everyone is updated on the reasons why staff can or cannot be moved for particular reasons from certain schemes. The On Call pack is constantly updated.
  

• A.O.B.
  Kirsty Lincoln, Union Learning Representative, will be attending the next meeting to discuss her role.
  

Staff Forum Meeting 7th December 2010

The Director of Community Services thanked everyone for coming. A lot of staff have sent apologies for not attending to-day. Shift Cover, the weather and parking problems are to blame!

Previous minutes and matters arising:

SPEC (Sickness Pay Entitlement Committee)
Two staff members have put their names forward for SPEC in the future.

Budget
The Director of Community Services told us that we will know the extent of any cuts to the budget for 2011/2012 in February.  Staff asked about some reports in the news lately that Social Services in Swansea intend to ‘outsource’ their adult services to private companies.  The Director of Community Services said that it was possible that the reports referred to some Day Services.

Recruitment
The Director of Community Services confirmed that the Consortium’s aim is still to protect jobs and that the Local Authority has a legal requirement to provide a service to our Service Users.  Until we know the extent of the budget cuts, we are looking at every vacancy throughout the Organisation on an individual basis; e.g. are there other ways of covering; can we manage without recruiting the post?  Vacancies will be looked at by a team of Senior Managers who will then have to prioritise where we can recruit. Recruitment for new services or continuing health needs will be unaffected as they are covered by new funding and not the existing budget.

Vanguard
At the last Forum The Director of Community Services told us that the Consortium’s new statement of purpose is:-
“To support people to live the lives they choose”.
Network 7 has been chosen to pilot the new systems thinking as the Network supports service users with a wide range of abilities.  An example was given of progress with streamlining a service delivery plan from three separate files to one sheet and an increased use of SPICT and Video profiles.  This means less time taken to record and monitor paperwork and more time to spend with the individual service user.  Community Solutions will help and support staff who are anxious about video profiles, using the camera etc. and will deliver training at individual services in future.
The last meeting with ‘Vanguard’ will be at the end of December when progress so far will be reviewed.  The next stage will be to decide what we will do next, how and where before we roll it out across all Networks!
If anyone has any questions or comments they can contact any of the group members as follows:-
Hannah Williams from Gelli Gynore,
Pat Speakman from Tawe Street,
Kath Hesketh from Goetre Fawr,
Catherine Williams, Team Coordinator,
Lynda Rosselli, Contract Manager – (System’s Co-ordinator)
Steve Harrison, Business and Finance Manager
Alice O’Sullivan, Operations Manager
Peter Russell, Head of Community Solutions
Rick Wilson, Chief Executive
and of course Chris Brian, Director of Community Services

Accrued Annual Leave and Lieu time
Reminder: - Lieu Days and annual leave not taken before the end of March will not be paid or carried over to the following year.  The trial period for allowing accrued lieu time to be taken from August to the end of the leave year in March will be reviewed in April 2011.

NVQ Update
At the last Forum staff asked what effect the planned changes from NVQ to a QCF will have on Consortium staff.
Unfortunately,the NVQ Co-ordinator was not available to attend to-days meeting although she has given us the following information:-
Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) will be introduced from January 2011. Staff who have already started an NVQ will be able to complete it within a time scale of approximately 18 months.  She would like to assure everybody who has been awarded an NVQ that they are STILL VALID.  She would also like to remind everyone that staff cannot enrol for NVQ/QCF directly with the college as external assessors cannot carry out assessments at service users’ homes.  We will ask her to come to the next Forum to answer any other queries about the changes.

Questions from around the room:

• Q. A Service Co post was advertised recently with NVQ 3 as part of the ‘essential criteria’. This means that support workers with a Level 2 NVQ could not apply. This seems unfair, especially for experienced staff working in non-targeted support and Registered schemes who do not have the opportunity to achieve level 3 within the Consortium.

• A. At present, one of the essential qualifications in the core Person Specification for a Service Co Post is NVQ Level 3 Care, or Promoting Independence.  Depending on the needs of the individual service, posts may also be open to applicants who are either working towards the award or are committed to achieving it within a specified time scale.  Experience of managing a staff team may also be essential criteria for posts with a high level of ‘management hours’ in addition to the hands on support offered to Service Users in accordance with the job description.  The post referred to in the question was in this category and was advertised both externally and internally.

• Q. Are staff entitled to parking permits in order to park in restricted areas outside a Service User’s home?

• A. Extra Carer’s parking permits for staff have been issued by County Hall in the past. They are usually issued in the name of the Service Co and need to be renewed every six months. The permit states that it is for the use of staff who deliver personal care and/or administer medication.  However, recently, staff at County Hall have refused to issue new permits or renew existing ones.  Kay Aue, Service Co at Roseland Tce, challenged this decision and has had the staff permits renewed. Kay is happy to offer any help or advice to anyone who is having a similar problem. Kay can be contacted on her Work Mobile 07702 639 021.

• Q. Does the Staff Handbook get updated and is there reference in the handbook about the frequency of weekends off and entitlement to two rest days for staff?
• A. The Staff Handbook is issued to all new Consortium staff and is the same for all employees throughout the Organisation. It is updated in line with changes to Employment Law and Consortium Policies.  Information on the design of rotas and rest days can be found in the Rota Management Policy.  Rota design is based on the Service Delivery Plan for individual Service Users.
  ‘Many (service users) will require continual support during morning, afternoon and night time periods over a 24hr period, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year. The Consortium provides support staff (employees) on a rota basis to cover these periods.’
  

Rest Periods (Page 11) of the Staff Handbook
Weekly rest - An employee is entitled to at least one whole day off a week. Ideally employees should have two days off in every seven. Rest periods are taken in addition to paid annual leave.  There is no ‘rule’ about the frequency of weekends off. Each scheme will be different depending on the needs of the Service Users and the size of the staff team. However, rotas and the allocation of rest days must be fair to all staff in the team.

• Q. Will the Consortium recognise April 29th 2011 as a Bank Holiday for Staff?
  
• A. It will be left to the discretion of individual companies to decide if they recognise April 29th as an extra Bank Holiday due to the cost involved.
  This will be discussed with the Union at the next JCC meeting on Wednesday 12th January.  The JCC decided that April 29th is going to be recognised as a Bank Holiday.
• Q. Have costs increased since the introduction of Targeted Support?
• A. Targeted Support has to be financially viable before it can be introduced. The first step is to look at the support hours and how they can be delivered more efficiently to fund the extra pay for Support Co’s. Also the quality of the service we deliver must be at least the same if not better than in traditional non-targeted support.  There were big savings when targeted support was introduced in Neath and Port Talbot. However it has been harder to make savings in Swansea as hours had already been cut by the local authority. Swansea covers a much bigger area and some areas are viable whilst others are not.  A discussion followed with differing opinions both for and against targeted support. Some staff in non-targeted support feel that they have less opportunities for personal development /promotion. Also there is no funding available to pay key workers at the higher rate.
  
• Q. Other Money Saving Ideas –
  The Consortium have a number of staff with lots of previous experience and skills that could be better utilised. For example, staff are not allowed to undertake certain maintenance tasks because of Health and Safety regulations, even though these tasks may be well within their capabilities.
  Is there anyway that skilled staff can volunteer to be assessed internally as fit to undertake ‘odd jobs’?  (A recent example was given - when a service user dislodged a window blind, the Workshop staff were called to replace it even though a member of the staff team was willing and able to replace the blind. Other examples were also given)
• A. A discussion took place and it was agreed that we do have a number of staff whose skills are not fully utilised at work. We will ask Peter Thomas if this idea is viable.
  Following the Forum, this idea was discussed at the Health and Safety Meeting on 17th January2011. We will feedback the outcome at the next Forum in March.
• Q. In the past, there were courses for staff on how to write risk assessments. Are there plans to re-introduce this training as often the way risk assessments are written can be unhelpful?
• A. Support plans are written in line with the Service Delivery Plan. Support plans for individual service users will be accompanied by risk assessments, depending on the level of risk involved.  A discussion followed and examples were shared. Different staff have different skills and what seems obvious to one person isn’t to another! For example a staff member using a vacuum cleaner to clean up water spills!  Clear health and safety issues should be addressed by the Service Co’s on an individual basis e.g. at supervision.  It was suggested that one way of wording a risk assessment for staff to follow would be:- ‘If you are unable to…(description of task)…….ask for assistance.’  There are no plans to run any courses at the moment.
  
• Q. Disturbed ‘sleep-ins’. If staff are too tired to work a planned shift following a disturbed ‘sleep in’, do they still get paid for the shift?
  
• A. As discussed at the last Forum, if staff have to get up to provide support for a Service User then the hourly rate will be paid after 2 continuous hours awake plus a proportion of the sleep-in shift. If staff are working after a disturbed sleep-in then these shifts may need to be re-allocated.  If staff are unable to complete the shift due to lack of sleep, they will only be paid for the hours worked plus the disturbed night and proportion of the sleep-in.  Some felt that if staff do not want to lose hours, they may complete a shift even if they are not fit through lack of sleep and this would be a health and safety issue.  If there is an on-going issue with disturbed nights, shift patterns should be reviewed so that staff are not rota’d to work a day shift following a sleep-in.

Staff Forum Meeting 27th September 2010

Agenda Items:
Guest Speaker: Karen Fisher from Connecting Learners

Karen Fisher joined our Training Department at the start of September. Hers is a new role as a Project Manager for Connecting Learners.
The Consortium and Unison was successful in its bid and we are hosting the training along with many other organisations. Karen is affiliated with Wales Union Learning Fund (WULF) and Unison and her job is to promote this project around Wales covering Pembrokeshire to Monmouthshire. The Connecting Learners is one of nine UNISON WULF Projects across Wales.
Karen will be organising basic skills in literacy and numeracy for anyone who might have gaps in their education in order to build confidence, communication skills, IT skills and time management. Karen stressed that the courses are available to all staff not just Unison members.
Karen handed out some information and informed us that anyone could sign up for some training and to phone her if they had any questions. ‘Open University’ courses are also available and there are eleven subjects to choose from. Karen is also asking for volunteers to become advocates as Union Learning Representatives (ULR) to support their colleagues who wish to take up a course. Bursary schemes are also available to help pay for textbooks and learning materials.

Accident and Dangerous Occurrences Report Form

The Administration Coordinator asked the Community Services Officer to raise a point on the Accident and Dangerous Occurrences Report Form as sometimes they are not fully completed when the incident involves a Service User.
Staff were asked to remind their teams that Box 4 is to be filled in by a Manager for all cases.
The first question in box 4 relates to absence from employment as a result of an incident and may only relate to staff.
The second part asks what has been put in place to prevent the accident or dangerous occurrence happening again and MUST be completed in every case.
The current format needs to be reviewed to avoid confusion in the future.

Payroll via Rota Software

At the last Forum, we were told about the plans for staff in Network 6 to be paid via the HCR rota software. Work on the pilot started in July and is still a ‘work in progress’
The system still needs some tweaking and no pay has been generated via the rota software to date.
The plan is to try it out for the November salaries so hopefully we will have more information at the December Forum.

Shift Record Sheets

The Community Services Officer reminded everyone to bring their Shift Record sheets to the forum (and any other meetings or training) for signing. Shift record sheets are needed to ensure the information input by managers onto the rota software is correct for payroll purposes.

SPEC (Sickness Pay Entitlement Committee)

The Coomunity Services Officer asked for more volunteers to sit on the SPEC Committee.
The SPEC Committee is made up of a Union Representative, the Personnel Manager, Peter Thomas and a support staff member. They look at the evidence when someone on sick leave has exhausted their entitlement to Company Sick Pay to decide whether or not the Company Sick Pay should be extended. The right to Company Sick Pay is a contractual one. The volunteer is always from another network and the discussion is anonymous.

Budget

The Director of Community Services told us that we still do not know the extent of any cuts to the budget for 2011/2012.
The government’s plans are due to be announced in October. Any cuts to the Local Authorities’ budget are bound to have a ‘knock on’ effect on the Consortium and our Service Users
The Director of Community Services told us that the Consortium’s aim is to protect jobs and that the Local Authority has a legal requirement to provide a service to our Service Users.
However, CLC will still need to find ways of keeping costs down; it was stressed that our aim is to try to make efficiency savings rather than make any staff redundant.

New Agenda Items:
Vanguard

At recent Forum meetings, staff had been asked to think about the paperwork we use and how it can be reduced. We were told about ‘systems thinking’ and a company called Vanguard that we will be working with to look through our systems to help get rid of inefficiency and to build capacity to do other things. The process started in September and The Director of Community Services told us a bit about the progress so far.
A cross section of staff and managers are involved in the working party with a consultant from Vanguard They are looking at our current systems, What are the demands from our Customers? Who is involved in decision making? etc
The group was also asked to come up with a new statement of purpose for the Organisation which encapsulated what our company does. The suggestions from everyone were similar and the group finally agreed on:-
“To support people to live the lives they choose”.
The previous reference to people with a ‘learning disability’ was deliberately left out as the Consortium may be supporting different client group’s in the future e.g. Older people or people with a physical disability.
Chris stressed that the concept was not about cost savings such as cutting jobs but to look at ways of re-investing the time currently spent on some systems and paperwork elsewhere, giving more capacity to deliver services.
A discussion followed.
The Director of Community Services agreed that to ‘achieve potential’ had been considered for the statement of purpose but the group went for ‘choice’ as it fits other categories of vulnerable people other than those with a learning disability.
Examples were given around certain documents that were felt to be very time consuming.
Things to consider include - are our recordings a ‘regulation’, a legal requirement or ‘best practice’ built up over 20 years.
Also the affect outside agencies or families can have in holding up a process.
It was agreed that every service is different; e.g. the service users’ communication skills, person centred planning, the needs of the service user. Also, there are degrees of choice – there may be practical issues, other service users to consider or a conflict between what someone wants to do and ‘best interests’.
No scheme can be standardised.
If anyone has any questions or comments they can contact any of the group members as follows:-
Hannah Williams from Gelli Gynore,
Pat Speakman from Tawe Street,
Kath Hesketh from Goetre Fawr,
Catherine Williams, Team Coordinator,
Lynda Rosselli, Contract Manager
Steve Harrison, Business and Finance Manager
Alice O’Sullivan, Operations Manager
Peter Russell, Head of Community Solutions
Rick Wilson, Chief Executive
and of course Chris Brian, Director of Community Services

Questions from around the room:

• Q. Lieu Days and annual leave
  A staff member asked about the fairness of working a wakeful shift on a Bank Holiday Monday and receiving only two hours ‘double time ‘ and no lieu hours.  (The staff member has a flexible working agreement which includes a regular Monday night Wakeful shift.)
  
• A. All staff are expected to work some bank holidays and in general cannot choose not to work unless they have booked annual leave. Flexible working agreements are put in place at the request of staff who need a set shift pattern to help with their work/life balance so if the agreement includes a Monday night wakeful, it will impact on Monday Bank Holidays throughout the year.  Flexible working agreements are reviewed after a year to account for any changes in circumstances.
  The question of lieu time was discussed at the last Joint Consultative Committee Meeting and it was agreed that for a trial period from August any accrued lieu hours can be taken up to the end of the leave year in March and not within 6 weeks.
  (See JCC minutes circulated to all services.)
  
• Q. Should staff be paid the hourly National minimum wage for ‘Sleep-Ins’ instead of a set amount? (Currently £25.60 per sleep-in)
• A. Following some recent ‘test cases’, it’s possible that Sleep-ins will need to be phased out and that under employment law, single payments for sleep-ins may no longer be acceptable. We don’t know exactly if and when this will happen. To convert ‘sleep-ins’ to wakeful shifts has obvious cost implications. The Local Authority does not have the money to pay an hourly rate for sleep-ins. If this happened, services would have to be cut elsewhere. Last year Swansea LA asked us to look at other ways of supporting service users at night. The Night Time Response service was set up for a 6 month trial period in services where there was a wakeful staff member and we could withdraw the sleep-in. The pilot was very successful but unfortunately we were unable to expand the service to other schemes (with a lone sleep-in only) as the Local Authority deemed it too much of a risk to leave the service users alone in their home at night by removing the sleep in.
  A discussion on disturbed nights followed; Staff should refer to The Rota Management Policy, page 12, Night Working:-
  Sleep In Shifts
  Sleep in shifts are those worked during the night where the employee is required to be present but able to sleep. If staff have to get up to provide support for a Service User then the hourly rate will be paid after 2 continuous hours awake plus a proportion of the sleep-in shift. If staff are working after a disturbed sleep-in then these shifts may need to be re-allocated.
  It was stressed that it is important that any ‘disturbed nights’ are recorded by staff so that if necessary we can evidence the need for extra hours at the service.
  
• Q. Why don’t shift Co-ordinators or lone workers in Non Targeted Support Networks get paid the same as a Support Co in Targeted Support if they are doing the same job?
• A. The Job Description for a Support Coordinator in Targeted Support is different that of a support worker in non-targeted support networks. The remaining networks are not going into Targeted Support for the moment due to economic constraints.  As discussed at the previous Forum, The Consortium does recognise that staff feel that having two systems in one area is unfair but there is no funding to pay a higher rate to shift co-ordinators in non-targeted support Networks.
  
• Q. Court of Protection Letters
  Staff in one Network said they were concerned about the COP letters that service users received earlier this month regarding charges for some of the services we provide. Is it fair to introduce a charge which could cause financial hardship?
• A. It was explained why these letters had been sent out and what the charges were likely to be, about receivership and the type of charges the service user would have to pay (for example, solicitors fees) if we were not their appointee. Up to now we have not charged for appointee services but due to the current financial climate we now have to pass these charges on to the service user. The Consortium will ensure that no service users will suffer financial hardship as a result of this change. Everyone was reminded that some service users are in danger of losing benefits if they have too much capital. All relatives have been informed of the changes and have been advised to talk about any concerns they have with the relevant Service Co-ordinator.
• Q. Active Support
  A staff member said that because a scheme had three different managers over a period of time, staff have been given conflicting messages regarding Active Support and the correct recording procedures. These mixed messages are causing confusion.
• A. All paperwork is up for review as discussed earlier. However, The Director of Community Services will ensure that staff in the scheme are given correct and consistent instructions.
  
• Q. NVQ
  Staff asked what effect the planned changes from NVQ to a QCF (Qualification Curriculum Framework) will have on Consortium staff.
• A. We will invite Sue Cole to the next Forum to talk about the changes and to answer any questions.
• Q. When staff are redirected to a different scheme to cover an activity are they allowed to ‘Bank Hours’?
• A. The Consortium does not have a policy for ‘banking hours’ and there are no plans to introduce one.
  
• Q. Why can’t the On Call Team Co work a shift instead of moving staff to another location, leaving the scheme short staffed?
• A. It is the responsibility of the On Call team to decide how and when to move staff at short notice ensuring that everyone is safely supported. The team will make a judgement call based on all available information and will take responsibility for their decisions. All calls are discussed with Alice O’Sullivan, Operations Manager at On Call handover very Friday morning. Although the On Call Team Co may attend a service for a short while until a shift can be covered, they cannot work ‘hands on’ to cover the shift as then effectively the On Call service would not be available to anyone else for the duration of the shift.
  
• Q. Christmas Pay
  A staff member wanted to know if the date for the December pay day was going to be reviewed again.
  
• A. Up until a few years ago, December salary was paid into the bank on Christmas Eve. Some staff felt that this was too long a time until the next pay day at the end of January and a ballot was organised with UNISON in August 2008. Out of 600 staff balloted, 61 voted to keep to December 24th and 81 voted for a change to the last working day of the month in December so the date was changed. There are no plans to ask staff to vote again.
  
• Q. Travelling expenses
  Can staff claim mileage if they are transferred to a scheme that is further away from their home – especially if the transfer is the result of a management decision?
  
• A. If a staff member is transferred temporarily or permanently as a result of a
  management decision, staff cannot claim the difference in mileage.
  (If staff are asked to move temporarily to a different scheme whilst on shift, mileage will be paid as long as staff have business insurance – see previous Forum minutes.)
  
• Q. Pay Rise for this financial year. Staff asked if there was going to be a cost of living pay rise for this year.

• A. There has been no pay rise nationally in the current financial year.  Unison is in talks with the local authorities; however there is no funding for a pay rise at present.  Any statements about the situation will come jointly from the Consortium and Unison.  Meanwhile, staff should contact Unison if they want more information.

• Q. Is it true that CLC is looking to make a 25% cut in its budget?
• A. As discussed earlier, it is likely that The Local Authorities will be asked to make a 25% cut across all services over a period of time and some of this will be passed on to us. We are hopeful that any cuts will be no more than 5%. We will know more after the Government announcements on 20th October. It was stressed that CLC want to make cuts in inefficiency not in jobs and we will be looking at other ways of raising money to support ourselves.

Staff Forum Meeting 30th June 2010

At the start of the meeting, there was a brief discussion about the newly refurbished Activity centre and the facilities on offer. All agreed that the new venue is a big improvement on the ‘old’ Activity Centre.  In future we will avoid booking external venues for meetings due to the cost. The Activity Centre can be used for team meetings, supervisions, interviews, clinical meetings etc as well as for training purposes. It can be used in the evenings until 10 pm and is also available for hire to outside agencies.  Rooms can be booked through the Finance Department.

Room 101 Update: Over the last couple of Forums, the Head of Community Solutions has asked everyone to think about the paperwork we use and how we might cut back on the amount of time we spend away from service users when filling in forms.  We have also been researching a method of reviewing systems called ‘systems thinking’. As a result of this we have commissioned the leaders in this field, Vanguard, to work with us and teach us how to carry out systems thinking within CLC. A working group made up by a cross section of staff, including a Support Worker and a Support Co-ordinator, will be set up to work alongside Vanguard. Everyone was thanked for their feedback as it was very useful and an update will be provided at the next meeting.

Rota’s and Shift Record Sheets:  There is still confusion about Rotas and how they are produced via the Home Care Roster system.  Support Workers in Targeted Support Networks receive their rotas by post to their home address or by email with the permission of the staff member.  This is because they are contracted to a Network and are not usually based in one specific service.  Support Co-ordinators who are usually based in one service, receive their rotas at that service. (Support Co’s may also be have their rotas emailed or posted to their home on request.)
A full print out of the scheme rota is displayed at the services. Support Workers in non-targeted support Networks do not need to have individual rotas printed out, although they can request them if they want to.  They will continue to receive their scheme rotas at the service as usual, although they will be computer generated instead of hand written.  (See minutes of April Forum for a more detailed discussion)                     

• Q. Some staff are worried that if the rota is computerised they will not be able to request a change to their shift for an emergency or to request a day off once the rota is published.

A. Changes to a published rota must be in line with the Rota Management Policy, so the rules are the same for hand written or computerised rotas. Changes via the Rota Software can be done remotely by managers using a computer or laptop from any location so it’s quicker and more accurate.   Everyone was reminded that staff must not to change or swap a shift with another member of staff without the agreement of the appropriate Service Coordinator or Team Co-ordinator. (See Rota Management Policy page 6 - quoted below).                                                 

• Making changes to a rota
  If there is a need to make changes to a rota once it has been published and circulated to employees, Team Co-ordinators, or Service Co-ordinators must consult with employees before shifts can be changed. Shifts can not be changed without the employee’s knowledge.
  …….. staff will not able to make changes to published rotas without the agreement of Service Co-ordinators. This is where the Consortium expects that managers and staff will work together and make reasonable allowances.
  At the request of the Forum, the Community Services Officer will check with the non-targeted support Networks to see when they are likely to be fully computerised.   Since the Forum, Network 7 have given us the following Update – 5 Services including Bedford House are inputting the information but are unable to print out the rotas at present. One service is having some input from Staff Plan and one service has a new Service Co who is learning fast!  Most schemes in Network 1 are up and running and printing out rotas although one or two schemes are not yet fully confident.  Network 3 are just starting the process with one or two schemes printing out rotas. The Network is not fully operational yet…..Watch This Space!
  

• Payroll via the Rota Software
  From July 2010, as part of a pilot exercise, staff in Network 6 will be paid via the rota software. The payroll system will be directly linked to the rota software. The plan is to phase out timesheets. Pay errors and queries should be reduced as the information about staff contracts, names, pay numbers etc on the rota software is more accurate and any amendments to hours worked can be done immediately.
  We need to be sure the pilot works smoothly before rolling it out across all Networks. Managers in Network 6 will still produce paper timesheets for the next few months as a back-up.

• Shift Record Sheets - Reminder
  Everyone was reminded that Shift Record Sheets must be completed by all staff in all Networks whether they are in Targeted Support or not; the shift record sheet should include training and meetings, including the Forum, as well as all shifts worked. The form should then be signed by an appropriate witness.
  The sheets are already used by Team Co’s in targeted support Networks to complete Support Worker time sheets.  Staff shift record sheets will be needed from all staff to ensure the information input by managers onto the Rota Software is correct for payroll purposes so staff need to get used to filling them in now.  The shift record sheet is also a record for staff in the event of any pay queries.

• Q. There was concern from some staff around who can sign the form as witness e.g. lone workers: - and what happens if there is no Team co-ordinator input at a service.

A. The Director of Community Services said that when ‘lone working’ if possible the service user can be asked to sign a Shift Record sheet. In the scheme that does not have an allocated Team Co; the Service Co is responsible for the rotas and timesheets for both the support workers and the support co’s.

• 50 hour limit
  There was a discussion about the difficulty of finding staff cover in an emergency. Very often, staff that are willing and able to cover a shift are already up to their 50 hours. The Director of Community Services said that due to Health and Safety issues there are no plans to change the current rules. Staff who work over 50 hours limit in a week will not be paid for the extra hours worked.
  The protocol for who has the responsibility for covering unallocated shifts was discussed.  Examples were given of support workers accepting additional shifts in other Networks a few weeks in advance and then being recalled to cover shifts in their own Network.  Staff should not agree to work additional shifts in other networks until their own rota is published.  The Team Co-ordinators work together to ensure that there is adequate cover to support service users safely; this may mean that staff may be relocated in their own or other Networks if required.
  

Agenda Items

1.  SPEC (SICKNESS PAY ENTITLEMENT COMMITTEE)
The SPEC Committee is made up of a Union Representative, a member of management and a support staff member; they look at the evidence when someone on sick leave has exhausted their entitlement to Company Sick Pay to decide whether or not they have a right to continue to claim sick pay.
The Community Services Officer asked for a volunteer to sit on this Committee in July. The volunteer is always from another network and the discussion is anonymous. Wendy took some names of volunteers for this and future meetings.

2.  Annual Leave
The Director of Community Services said that Annual Leave is a statutory right and as an Employer, it is important that the Consortium ensures that annual leave is spread throughout the year so that staff get regular breaks from work.
Also if too many people leave their annual leave until the last three months of the financial year, it causes staffing problems in the schemes.
Staff should plan their annual leave in advance and discuss it in supervision.
Good Practice means that staff should only have up to one week left to take after Christmas, except in exceptional circumstances e.g. a pre-planned 2 week winter holiday.  If we have the same problem this year, staff who have not booked any leave throughout the year will be rota’d off to fit around other annual leave requests.

3.  Travel Expenses Forms
Travel Expenses Forms recently sent out from the Office in error will need to be destroyed as the manager signature box is missing on the form. The Administration department will replace the forms upon request.  A discussion followed and staff were reminded that In order to be entitled to claim Travel Expenses, they must have Business Insurance.
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs have an approved mileage rate of 40p per mile for up to 10,000 business miles each tax year. (Anything paid over 40p is deemed to have an element of profit and a tax liability is likely to accrue.)  Staff cannot be reimbursed for ‘business’ purposes if they do not have the required
Insurance and Managers should not authorise any mileage claims without seeing proof of this insurance.  The Consortium does reimburse staff for bus fares and staff are encouraged to use public transport or share cars whenever possible when attending training. For full details, please see Staff Development Policy pages 9 & 10.
N.B. mileage will only be paid if the training venue is further than the distance to the participant’s usual work place, e.g. if you travel 10 miles to work and the training base is 15 miles away, you can claim 5 miles training expenses.
Q. One staff member said that until recently they were not aware that they could claim mileage and asked if a claim can be backdated?
A. In future, mileage claims will not be backdated as late claims have an effect on the budget.  The staff member was advised to ask their Service Coordinator to find out if an exception can be made.

4. Budget  
Our budget for 2010/2011 has been cut by the Local Authorities and more cuts are expected 2011/2012.  It was stressed that despite these cuts the Consortium aims to protect jobs. The impact of any budget cuts are discussed in the JCC meetings with UNISON – the minutes are circulated to everyone.   The Local Authority has a legal requirement to provide a service to our Service Users but CLC still needs to find ways of keeping costs down.  The group discussed the Governments plans for cuts in benefits, including changes to Housing Benefit which will impact on all of our service users.

5.  Social Networking Sites on the Internet
There have been some issues involving CLC staff in recent months involving the misuse of computers and confidentiality issues.  Everyone agreed that Facebook and other sites can be a very useful tool for the service user but there have been instances where staff are using the computer for personal use whilst on shift and in some cases using the service users’ passwords to access these sites; this is a breach of Consortium Policy and will lead to disciplinary action.  Employees who access the internet for personal use during working time are neglecting the service users they are employed to support and in future ‘neglect’ will be the focus of any investigation.
A discussion followed: The policy says that ‘any personal use of the Internet or E-mail is expected to be on the employee’s own time and is not to interfere with the person’s job responsibilities.’ (This applies to ALL Consortium Employees including Office Staff).  For example staff may use the internet when on a ‘sleep-in’ duty provided the computer is not in an area where it may disturb the service user. Also excessive use of the computer for long periods at night could be detrimental to their health and wellbeing and could have an affect on their ability to work the following day due to tiredness.

Confidentiality
Staff also need to remember that when using Facebook outside of work, information shared can often be accessed by a number of people so staff need to be careful when passing information about their colleagues, managers and Consortium business. Adverse comments about the Consortium or its employees should not be part of any online discussion and could lead to disciplinary action for individuals.  One staff member was concerned because he had supported a service user to access Facebook using the staff members personal site in order to help the service user with his own Facebook site; could this be considered a disciplinary issue.  The staff were advised that they need to record occasions when they are accessing their own sites as a means of supporting service users. The Service Coordinator should be made fully aware of the situation, as a safeguard in the event of any future internet investigation at the scheme.  In some instances, the service user could also confirm that the site was accessed for the benefit of the service user.

Questions from around the room

Q. Registered Care Key Workers
Support Coordinators receive £1.00 more an hour than support staff but Key Workers in Registered Care schemes do not. Will this change now that the two Registered Schemes are part of Network 5 (Targeted Support)

• A. The Consortium does recognizes that staff feel that having two systems in one Network is unfair but there is no funding to pay a higher rate to key workers in the Registered Schemes.

Q. Service User’s Relatives
Staff at one scheme are unsure how to deal with relatives who can sometimes
become ‘difficult’ to deal with especially when the Service Co is unavailable due to
A/L or sickness. The scheme does not have a Team Co-ordinator.

• A. There should be a Relative Involvement Agreement in place at most services.  In the absence of the Service Co, staff should inform the Contract Manager of any concerns around service users’ relatives. The Care Manager may also be involved depending on the concern.   A new policy called ‘Vexatious Policy’ is being developed which is about the relationship between staff and relatives and what to do if a breakdown in communication occurs.
  

Q. Medication Errors
A staff member wanted to know why it took so long for an investigation to be held following a number of medication errors at a scheme. Also, is it acceptable for a staff member who has made a med error to be in charge of finances? What is the protocol?

• A. There is a strict protocol followed when medication errors occur including the investigation process and any subsequent disciplinary action. There may be a number of circumstances that can cause a delay at the investigation stage eg availability of staff involved and/or the investigating officer.  A medication error has nothing to do with the financial issues at a scheme.

Staff Forum Meeting 16th March 2010

• ‘Room 101’ update:
  At the last Forum, the Head of Community Solutions asked everyone to think about the paperwork we use and how we might cut back on the amount of time we spend away from service users when filling in forms.
  There was some feedback as follows:-
  • The Rota Software generates a lot of unnecessary paperwork especially in ‘non-targeted support’ Networks. If Targeted Support is on hold, why is the software still being used to produce a Rota in these Networks?
  The Staff Development Manager was able to answer this as overseeing the implementation of the Rota Software is part of her role.
  The Rota Software was always intended to be used across all Networks and is NOT linked to Targeted Support. We are not seeing all the benefits it can offer yet.
  For example:-
  • All the information is stored in one place.
  • Relevant information can be accessed by others eg On Call.
  • The information is accurate and can be updated instantly.
  • It shows the total hours delivered and can be used to manage budgets effectively.
  • The software holds other information, eg service delivery plans, staff training records, staff available for shifts.
  • It can be linked directly to payroll.
  The staff rotas can still be made ‘service user friendly’ with the use of I.C., pictures etc as they are now.
  Some service users who get sessional support only have requested to see the printouts and we are working with Staffplan on changing the 24 hour clock to an am/pm system to make it clearer for service user.
  The system will cut back on paper in the long term as rotas will be emailed to individual staff with their permission; this has been tried out in some targeted support networks and was working well until there were issues around our emailing systems. Once this has been sorted by the I.T. Department, all staff will be offered the opportunity to receive their rota by email to their personal email addresses at home.
  Since the Forum, the Learning Objects Support Officer has told us that Emailing rotas via the Roster software now works, and will be set up on individual Team Co’s computers soon. There is a form for staff to sign if they want to receive their rota by email.
  Examples of duplication of rotas were given. Staff in non-targeted support Networks do not need to have individual rotas printed out, although they can request them if they want to.
  It is planned that within the next three months, as part of a Pilot exercise, some staff will be paid directly from the rota software. The Staff Development Manager explained how this will work.
  The payroll will be directly linked to the rota software. This will cut down on paperwork as there will be no need for separate timesheets, and errors to pay should be reduced as rotas are more accurate as amendments through the software can be done immediately. Pay queries should also reduce.
  

• Pay Queries:
  The level of pay queries is high and can cause overpayments as well as underpayments for staff.
  Underpayments are usually rectified during the following months pay; however if the underpayment causes hardship for staff they need to speak to the Personnel Department.
  Staff were reminded that up to date pay query forms should be used. All old forms should be recycled.
  

• Shift Record Sheets:  
  Everyone was reminded that Shift Record Sheets need to be completed by all staff and should include training and meetings attended, including the Forum!
  A new format of the Shift Record Sheet is ready for circulation. The new form records the level of the role worked per shift e.g. support worker or support co-ordinator which should also help to cut back on pay queries.
  

• Payslips: 
  Some staff said that payslips are confusing as additional hours are split into two amounts. We will ask payroll about this.
  The Payroll Coordinator says that additional hours worked up to 37 hours and additional hours worked over 37 hours are shown separately. This is why there are two separate amounts shown on payslips.
  

• ROOM 101 – Support Plans, Daily Diaries etc:
  There was general agreement that the way support plans are recorded is wasteful. A discussion followed and examples were given.
  • ‘Daily’ support plans that don’t change could be written up weekly or monthly.
  • Even though there are tick charts, staff are still expected to write up a narrative.
  • Some support plans are ‘trivial’ – especially when there is no level of risk. (Example given)
  • The pages are the wrong way round in the Daily Diary.
  • Time is being taken away from Service Users needlessly.
  There was a long discussion about Active Support; what happens to the recordings and what are they used for.
  The Staff Development Manager said that the information provides evidence of what’s happening and how well it’s going; for example is there a balance between domestic and social tasks. This information should be fed back to the relevant parties; eg relatives, team members.
  If this analysis is not being used effectively then it’s a waste of time. In future, Active Support Training will include this paperwork.
  Other examples of waste, including duplication of bank statements were given.
  Everyone was thanked for their ideas and suggestions – they will be looked at and considered. Meanwhile, please let us know about any other areas of paperwork that staff feel can be cut down.
  

• Questions from around the room and General Information

• Sick Papers:
  Staff need to ensure that any Sick papers and Self Certification Sick papers are sent to the Personnel/Payroll Department without delay to avoid non payment of salary due to ‘unauthorised leave’. Sometimes payroll are unaware of the sickness until after the ‘return to work’ interview has taken place.
  

• Buying Additional Annual Leave:
  Everyone was reminded that they can buy one week of additional annual leave - subject to approval. However staff must re-apply every year if they wish to continue to purchase additional annual leave and The Consortium will be unable to agree any new purchase of additional leave until the previous leave has been paid for.
  

Q. NVQ Level 3 - As noted earlier, by their nature, the Registered Schemes in NPT are not part of Targeted Support. This means that the experienced staff working there cannot do an NVQ Level 3 with the Consortium because they are not Support Co’s. Will this change in the future?

• A. Support Co-ordinators are required to work towards an NVQ Level 3 in line with their job description.
  The Staff Development Manager said that in principle there is no policy that says support workers cannot do an NVQ Level 3 but as they are required to have an NVQ Level 2, the next level is not a priority.
  

Q. What is the policy on Key holders for individual services?

• A. All information relating to key holders can be found in The Housing Management Policy, Section 5, Health and Safety in the Home under Key Management. (Page 7)
  This policy gives a comprehensive guide to key management for service users.
  The Director of Community Services said that we will be trying out new door entry systems in some services soon.

Q. Absence and Leave Policy – is there any special category/fund to cover an absence when staff are not really sick but need time off to support a close family member, for example following a bereavement.

• A. Chris said there is no extra funding available and all absences have to be managed within budget. However there are a number of options that can be considered.
  • A change to patterns of work eg flexible working.
  • Compassionate leave. This can be taken over a period of time.
  • Annual leave - could be used for ‘one off’ appointments.
  • Unpaid leave or a career break.
  • Sick leave – although there is no ‘illness’, a person may not be ‘fit for work’ following a bereavement, especially that of a close family member.
  A discussion followed and personal examples of how similar situations had been resolved were given. It was generally agreed that the Consortium is very good at supporting staff with difficult family issues.
  

Q. Now that there is a 50 hour limit on hours worked per week, are there any plans to re-introduce ‘banked hours’?

• A. The Director of Community Services said that the banking of hours will NOT be re-introduced. Although this was common practice in the early days of the Consortium, banking hours would not be manageable as we have over 600 staff.

Q. Can staff claim mileage to attend training courses at the Office if they do not have Business Insurance cover for their car?

• A. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs have an approved mileage rate of 40p per mile for up to 10,000 business miles each tax year. (Anything paid over 40p is deemed to have an element of profit and a tax liability is likely to accrue.)
  Staff cannot be reimbursed for ‘business’ purposes if they do not have the required Insurance and Managers should not authorise any mileage claims without seeing proof of this insurance.
  The Consortium does reimburse staff for bus fares and staff are encouraged to use public transport or share cars whenever possible when attending training. For full details, please see Staff Development Policy page 9 & 10.
  N.B. mileage will only be paid if the training venue is further than the distance to the participant’s usual work place, e.g. if you travel 10 miles to work and the training base is 15 miles away, you can claim 5 miles training expenses.
  

Q. The Night Time Response Pilot has come to an end. What happens next?

• A. The Director of Community Services said that the Night time Response Pilot ran from September 2009 to March 2010and was successful.  The good news is that the service didn’t get many calls and it worked well.  The bad news is that there are not enough services to take it forward. The next step would have involved taking staff out of services completely at night and following
  extensive discussions around the risk assessments, the Local Authority were not willing to remove staff at night at the moment.  The cost of replacing each sleep-in with a wakeful shift is too much for the Local Authority. They would have to make cost saving cuts elsewhere; so we need to spend more time looking at how we can solve the problem of removing ‘sleep-ins’ cost effectively and safely.

Evaluation of Supervision and Appraisal

• The Director of Community Services and the Staff Development Manager told us that they are currently undertaking an evaluation of the Supervision & Appraisal system that was introduced during 2008/09 for use by operational staff and managers. This evaluation will be based on feedback from managers and staff who have conducted or received supervision and/or appraisal using the new system.  If staff have any useful feedback, then please let the Director of Community Services and the Staff Development Manager have your comments. They would like to know what has worked well and any improvements from other systems experienced in the past. They also want to know what does not work so well and any suggestions for changes or improvements.
  A long discussion followed and examples of good and bad experiences of staff supervisions were shared.
  The Director of Community Services and the Staff Development Manager will make a note of these comments when evaluating the current format.
  They will also be meeting individually with some staff and managers as part of the evaluation.
  

Staff Forum Meeting 9th December 2009

Previous minutes and matters arising

Gary Smith (CSSIW) commented on our forum meetings in his recent Inspection Report; he was very positive about the Forum as he felt it gave staff a chance to put forward their views. Overall The CSSIW Inspection Report was very good this year with only a few details to be addressed.

At the last meeting we had asked for a volunteer to attend the Supporting Staff Sub Group. Sharon Whitehouse, Network 1, volunteered and attended her first meeting in November. Sharon told us that she had enjoyed the meeting.

Following on from the discussion on IT Training at the last Forum, the Staff Development Coordinator recently held some IT basic skills courses. The courses were well attended and the feedback was very positive. Participants said that although they were initially nervous, they thoroughly enjoyed the course and learnt a lot.

The Director of Community Services said that feedback on the Night time Response Service has been positive.

Questions from around the room

Q.  A support worker had been left to lone-work with four tenants as the other staff member was asked by On Call to go to another scheme. A staff member from another service was sent to the scheme to help with the hoist for half an hour even though they were unfamiliar with the service users and the equipment. The staff member was on their own until the end of the shift; Is this right and how can it be prevented from happening again?

• The Director of Community Services said that it is difficult to judge an individual situation without knowing all the facts; the On-Call team have to make judgement calls to ensure a safe service for everyone and this may have been the only safe option at that time. On Call managers have to account for decisions made at the On Call Hand Over meeting with Alice every Friday, and the individual Contract Managers will be made aware if staff have been moved or left lone-working.
  It was acknowledged that moving staff from the same team on a regular basis can lead to low morale.
  Please note that Manual Handling Guidelines must always be followed when using hoisting equipment. If there is no trained staff member available to safely use a hoist, staff should contact the On Call Team Co if their own Team Co is not available.
  

Q.  How far away from the service users’ property should staff be in order to have a cigarette. It is not clear in the Smoke Free Workplace policy.

• The service user should always be asked for permission to smoke outside their property. If a service user is unable to give verbal agreement then permission must be obtained from the Care Manager. Smokers must be far enough away so that smoke from the cigarette can not enter the property ie through an open window or door, but the staff member must be close enough to respond quickly if necessary.
  It was stressed that in teams of two or more, only ONE smoker at a time can take a cigarette break.

Q.  When a Service Coordinator is away and a ‘deputy’ is put into place are they entitled to Management hours?

• If no one is officially appointed to ‘act up’ whilst a Service Co is absent, some time will need to be allocated for management tasks. Usually the extra duties would be shared out between the staff, the Team co-ordinator and the Contract Manager until the Service Co returns to work.
  

Q.  A service user had been taken on holiday with one staff member. The staff member worked up to 15 hours per day with no breaks but was only paid for 12 hours, is this protocol?
Other staff gave examples of over night stays with service users when due to lone working the staff member could not take breaks.

• Planning and costing for holidays and short breaks will be in line with the ‘Supporting Service Users on Holiday Policy’ and must be agreed with the relevant parties as follows;
  · the service user,
  · involved relatives,
  · Contract Manager,
  · Team Co-ordinator
  · Service Co-ordinator
  · Care Manager
  · Deputy/Appointee (Where applicable)
  The Policy also covers staffing levels and the provision of adequate staff breaks. Work patterns should be similar to those worked at the service. (This might include lone working)
  Staff should be aware of the rota arrangements before the holiday.
  The Policy also says that a maximum of 12 hours will be paid for every 24hour period away on the holiday/short break.
  

Q.  A Support Coordinator had agreed to work additional hours to cover a support worker shift but when another support coordinator called in sick themissing shift was allocated to a support co from another scheme who did not know the service users very well. The staff member at the scheme had to show the ‘acting’ Support Coordinator how to do his/her allocated tasks and ‘lead’ the shift in the support worker role. This seems unfair.

• The Director of Community Services said there is a protocol in place for covering unallocated Support Co shifts.
  

Q.  Is it possible to request dietary foods for staff on special diets and would The Consortium pay towards the cost or should the service users pay for the items along with their shopping?

• This was not agreed but The Director of Community Services and the Community Services Officer will look into it as the service users at the schemes pay for the shopping for themselves and for staff.
  

Q.  When are Support Coordinators going to receive their Contracts of Employment?

• Some Support Coordinators have received their letter stating their hours and rate of pay which is to be signed and returned to the office. A Contract Variation form is to be completed as well.
  

Staff Forum Meeting 15th September 2009

• Review of paperwork and recordings – ‘Room 101’ - The Head of Community Solutions, joined the meeting to ask staff for any feedback or opinion on the paperwork and formats which are being used in the schemes; what did they like or dislike about them and was there anything that could be changed or reviewed or even ‘put into Room 101’.ie discontinued.
  A discussion followed and the overall opinion from the staff was that there were too many similar documents which required a lot of administration time to complete and can sometimes not be read properly due to time constrictions. Their concern was that time was being taken away from the service user whilst the forms were completed and documented.It was felt that some forms could be condensed. Duplication of information appeared to be the main grievance. Some staff felt that their suggestions would not be listened to and for that reason had not spoken up before.
  Long term, the plan is for all recordings to be accessed and completed via the computer to save on paperwork and storage.Peter stressed that our forms are a form of evidence to show that certain tasks and guidelines are carried out on a daily basis and GS from CSSIW reminded us of the legal requirements around certain paperwork.It was decided that discussions about paperwork could be held in Team Meetings for more feedback and ideas.
  Suggestions would be brought back to the Staff Forum in December by a nominated person. A briefing paper will be prepared that can be used at the Team meetings

• Pay Award - The Personnel and Administration Manager joined the Forum to discuss the pay award for this year.  UNISON have been negotiating with Local Authorities and a pay increase has been agreed and accepted; there will be a 1% increase for the Support Coordinator role and above and an increase of 1.25% for Support Workers.
  This will take the hourly rate for a Support Co-ordinator from £7.89 to £7.97 and the hourly rate for Support Workers from £6.81 to £6.90.  The award will be backdated to April and will be included in the October pay.
  
  The final stage of the Excessive Hours action plan starts from October 1st. A memo will be going out with the September pay slips to remind staff that hours worked over 50 hours in a week will not be paid.
  There will be no exceptions. If staff are asked to work over 50 hours in an emergency situation, they will need to drop hours later in the week to bring the total back to 50 – usually within 7 working days.
  
  In an emergency, the On Call service should be contacted. It should be made clear to the On Call if staff are unable to stay at the scheme due to prior commitments, even for a short while so that arrangements can be made to get someone there as soon as possible. On no account should Service Users be left unsupported.
  In this situation, if staff stay on at the end of a shift, any extra time worked over the 50 hour limit will be taken back later in the week. (Within seven working days.)
  
  It was felt that this rule has placed financial hardship on some people with some staff actively seeking a second job.
  Everyone was reminded that when taking on secondary employment, the combined contracts of both jobs should not exceed 37 hours per week.
  UNISON could be contacted if Union members have any financial difficulties.
  The Employee Assistance Programme is open to all staff and offers a wide range of support and advice including financial advice. 
  Staff can contact the EAP on 0800 371 540 for free and confidential support and advice.
  
  Excessive Hours is a Health and Safety issue. Working for too long can affect competence, patience and integrity. Some staff agreed, giving examples.
  There is evidence that overtime is now being ‘shared out’ more fairly. Not everyone agreed.
  
  GS from CSSIW added that the Working Time Directive is European legislation. The remit of the CSSIW is to ensure safe working practices. For the last two to three years, the CSSIW Inspectors have had concerns with CLC over the potential problem of staff not being competent due to having worked excessive hours.

• Supporting Staff Sub Group - A support worker who attended the Supporting Staff Sub Group has decided to step down so a new staff representative is needed.
  It was asked if anyone would like to put their name forward. A support worker from scheme 70 volunteered.
  Agenda and papers will be sent out before the next meeting in November.
  

• IT Training - A member of the Training Department joined the meeting to tell the group about IT training available in venues around Swansea and Neath/Port Talbot. Some of the courses are either free or if there is a charge the cost is minimal. There are courses that run in the evenings as well. The training department can be contacted at the office for more information.
  Although CLC does provide qualified training for Service Coordinators and Support Coordinators, support workers often get missed out. Information was supplied and the offer to visit staff at their schemes and also to run some classes for a small group of complete beginners at Walter Road.
  It was stressed that staff should speak to their line manager as they must be able to practice their skills at the scheme in order to keep it fresh in their minds.
  Staff can also learn a lot from each other.  There is also a course on the BBC website called ‘Computer Tutor’ which is very good.

• Response Service - Chris gave the group an update on the Night Time Response Service ‘Pilot’ covering a geographical area in Gorseinon.
  Services have been labeled as ‘Red, Amber or Green’ according to risk assessments and the likelihood of disturbances. The pilot will cover ‘green’ services at first and starts on 21st September and will run until the end of March 2010.
  There will be a meeting in October with Stuart Harper of CST Swansea to discuss the next stage involving ‘Amber’ services.
  The staff team have been recruited and are undergoing training in Assistive Technology and Home Care roster software.
  The group discussed whether N/PT council would take up this type of service, the costs of replacing a wakeful with a Night Time Response Service and examples of where this service would be an advantage.
  

• Questions from around the room:
  

• If ‘sleep-ins’ are being phased out, can a person request sleep-ins by signing an ‘op-out style’ agreement? - No. Under European Legislation, one-off payments for sleep-in duties will be phased out. When this happens, the Organisation cannot agree to a contract that contravenes this legislation even if staff are happy to continue with the current arrangements.
  CSSIW also confirmed that CLC cannot agree to staff contracts that are contrary to The E.U. Working Time Directive.
  

• Targeting Support Rotas: can they be changed to accommodate a staff member requiring a different shift due to outside commitments? - Although the system is automated and the rotas are done in advance, a shift can be changed if required. eg to accommodate Doctor’s appointments. The changes will be considered through negotiation just as they always have done and in line with the Rota Management Policy.
  N.B. No shifts should be changed by staff without authorisation from the Team Co-ordinator or Service Co-ordinator.
  

• Are those staff who achieved NVQ when they were originally introduced going to be recognised either at this year’s AGM or in some other way? - This will be looked into.
  
• A staff member was recently rota’d to do an afternoon shift following a wakeful. Is this permitted? - This item has been discussed at length at previous Forums. Staff should not be rota’d in advance for an afternoon shift following a Wakeful night.  Staff and Managers should refer to The Rota Management Policy, page 11, which says that rest periods ‘should be sufficiently long and continuous to ensure that fatigue or other irregular working patterns do not cause employees to injure themselves, fellow employees or others, and that they do not damage their health, either in the short term or in the longer term.’
  Staff may choose to pick up an additional shift following a wakeful but only if they are fit to do so. 
  A discussion about shifts followed. Staff were also reminded that they should not be rota’d to attend training or other meetings prior to or following a wakeful shift.  It was confirmed that the day time hours following a wakeful shift are not to be counted as a ‘rest day’ as staff will have already worked a considerable amount of hours in that 24hour period. Some staff confirmed that this is still happening on some rota’s.
  
• Why do Team Coordinators leave ‘Unallocated’ shift spaces on the rota’s? - Once everyone’s contracted hours and requested additional hours have been allocated the remaining shifts are flagged as ‘Unallocated’. This is a way of showing spare shifts and available overtime which staff can take up by contacting the Service Co or Team Co.
  It is still the responsibility of the Team Co-ordinator in conjunction with the Service Co-ordinator to complete the rota.
  
• If a staff member who would normally leave work - for example at 3.00 p.m. to collect children from school - is seconded to another scheme further away, would that staff member be able to leave slightly earlier in order to be at the school in time? - The Rota Management Policy – page 6 – states that ‘Staff must start and finish at the time specified on the rota. Starting later or finishing earlier can only be authorised by a manager at a more senior level. The rota and timesheet must always be amended accordingly.’
  If a shift is changed at short notice – after rota’s have been published - the staff member should make it clear that they have commitments, such as childcare, that cannot be changed. The Team Co or Service Co can then arrange for alternative cover.
  
• Is it possible to request certain shifts, for example: nights or specific days? - Information and details about requesting flexible working patterns can be found in the ‘Flexible Working Policy – The Right to Apply.’
  The Consortium will consider requests to work flexibly from any employee.
  Applications should be made in writing to the direct line manager and forwarded via the Contract Manager (if applicable) to the Personnel Department.
  

Staff Forum Meeting 16th June 2009

Previous Minutes and Matters arising:

Purchase of Additional Annual Leave

Some staff have applied for additional leave and the staff present wanted to know how the process worked and how it would be taken out of your pay.

The process is as follows:-

• The employee will complete the form ‘request to purchase additional annual leave’. (Appendix 1).

• The form will be forwarded to the personnel department to be logged and passed to the relevant Contract Manager/Department Manager for approval. The employee will receive a letter confirming it has been passed to the relevant person.

• When the approval is agreed by the Contract Manager/Department Manager they will confirm in writing or electronic mail to the personnel department their agreement.

• Personnel Department will confirm in writing to the employee. A repayment schedule will also be enclosed confirming the monthly amount and date of commencement of deductions. The employee will return the signed agreement to the Personnel Department

• Once the purchase of annual leave is approved and the form returned to the Personnel Department the amount will be added to the employees leave balance by way of letter from the Personnel Department.

Pay Award

Phil Williams reported that at the last Unison meeting a pay award of 0.5% was being negotiated.

Excessive Hours

Chris talked about the Excessive Hours and asked if there have been any problems for staff limited to working 67hours.
All staff will receive notification of the next stage of the Excessive Hours action plan with the June pay slips. From July, the maximum hours staff will be paid for is 57 hours reducing to 50 hours in October and no-one will be able to authorise any extra payment over these hours.

A general discussion about rota’s and additional hours followed and the following points were made:-

• There may be problems after July covering shifts if staff cannot be paid for working over 57 hours.
  
• The CSSIW will not accept any more excuses about why staff work excessive hours.
  
• We have tried everything to reduce the number of excessive hours worked. Our next CSSIW Inspection is in August so we have no choice.

• The target is to get everyone working under 50 hours per week by October 2009.

• Non targeted support schemes have started using the rota software – this can cause confusion whilst staff get used to the new format.

• Some Networks are now preparing for Targeted Support.

• There are still some problems around shift patterns in one Targeted Support Network. Examples were discussed

• Rota policy was discussed in relation to staff working long days.
  
• The 12 hours a day paid when staff go on holiday with tenants will in future be recorded separately on the time sheet and will be excluded from the 50 hour rule.
  
• Relief workers have been taken on in Network 4 and 6 to cover any planned absences and they are working well so far. The agreed posts are two x 20hours per Network.
  
• Staff discussed emergency situations and how working more than 50 hours can be resolved.
  
• We have plenty of applicants at the moment so recruitment isn’t a problem. However CRB checks can hold things up as they can take anything between 3 weeks to 3 months!
  

AGM – 20 Year Anniversary

In October the Consortium will be 20 years old and to celebrate our AGM this year will have special features. Guests will be invited to ‘Dress to Impress’ and there will be a three course ‘sit down’ meal. Invites will be sent out shortly and those who want to attend will need to let us know as soon as possible as places will be limited.

Admin will need the names of Service Users attending and the exact numbers of staff accompanying them. We also need the names of wheelchair users so they can be accommodated on the seating plan

Service Users are designing Certificates for staff and service users who have been with the Consortium for 15 years and over and these will be handed out at the AGM.

Response Service

Chris gave the group an update on the Night Time Response Service that will cover a geographical area in Gorseinon. The schemes have been labeled as ‘Red, Amber or Green’ according to risk assessments and the likelihood of disturbances. The pilot will start in September and will run until March 2010.

An advert for staff has been sent out to all services. The original advert was for 1 x 15 hours and 4 x 30 hour posts. A second advert offering a variety of contracts has also been circulated.

Two response workers per night will be based at the office in Gorseinon and will be available to assist wakeful staff at ‘amber’ schemes as necessary during the night. They will NOT be asked to cover a wakeful shift at short notice and they will not be asked to cover any day shifts although there will be some day time training, staff meetings, supervisions etc.

The response service could enable a scheme to take away a ‘sleep in’ and leave a wakeful staff member with the response service just a phone call away at our office in Gorseinon. Anyone interested in the vacancies would need to be able to drive and have access to their own vehicle.

Chris stressed that there would be no compromise on safety at the schemes and service users, care managers and families are being kept informed at all stages.

On-Call was also discussed and the difference between the two types of service was explained.

Questions from around the room

Service User Holiday pay rate: Q.When staff are accompanying a service user on holiday the hourly rate is higher, why is this?
A. The hourly cost of the service we provide is more than the actual salary paid to staff. The cost to the Company of employing someone includes overheads such as tax, National Insurance contributions etc.

At present, service users are charged £8.54 per hour when they purchase private support packages, including holidays and day trips. This has not been increased, in line with inflation, for a number of years and is now lower than the actual cost of employing staff.

Registered Scheme Support Coordinators: Q. Can Key Workers in Registered Schemes be paid at Support Coordinator rate?

A. Chris said that Registered Schemes are subject to different rules and regulations and will not be part of Targeted Support. There is no funding available at the moment to increase the hourly rate for key workers.

Changes to Sleep-ins: Q. Staff have heard that ‘sleep-ins’ are to end. When will that happen?

A. Sleep-ins will need to be phased out as under employment law, single payments for sleep-ins will no longer be acceptable. We don’t know exactly when this will happen but the night time response service is one way of responding to the change.

The Working Week: Q. The working week begins on a Saturday, why is this and can it be changed?

A. There is no significance for the working week starting on a Saturday other than for historical reasons.

If enough staff wanted a change, there would have to be extensive consultation with all interested parties and possibly a staff vote before any changes are made.

Reward for good sick record: Q. A staff member asked if there were any plans for rewarding staff with a good sickness record.

A. The Voice Group will be reconvening soon to continue the task of looking at ways of improving terms and conditions for front line staff. Rewarding staff who have a good sick record is one option.

A discussion followed about the ways in which a bonus could be given, eg extra day annual leave, monetary perks. We would need to determine how long the length of good sick record would be; it was agreed that funding costs would have to be looked at. Some staff might come into work when they are ill in order to qualify for the reward.

ID Cards not being shown by Contractors: Q. Contractors coming to the schemes to complete work do not always show an ID card to corroborate who they were. Some examples were given.

A. Chris stated that if a Contractor does not have an ID card then they cannot be given permission to enter the building. One way around this might be to phone the company they work for but if in doubt then caution must be used. We can ask H.S.Co’s to remind landlords about the need to show ID cards. Sometimes work can be held up when staff are unable to let workmen into the scheme without ID.
Consortium staff should also produce ID when visiting or working at a scheme where they are not known.

An accident/injury caused by a service user: Q. If a staff worker is injured by a service user or has an accident at work, and was forced to take time off sick would this have to go on their sick record?

A. All sickness absences are recorded regardless of the cause. When entitlement to Company sick pay is exhausted, each case is looked at individually by the Sickness Pay Entitlement Committee. S.P.E.C. comprises a support worker/co-ordinator, a Unison Rep and Peter Thomas. The group are not told who the staff member is. They look at the circumstances of the absences and decide if entitlement to sickness pay can be reinstated and if so, for how long.

Some staff at the Forum have regularly taken part in a S.P.E.C. meeting and said it was a worthwhile experience and would recommend others to get involved. Wendy asked if anyone at to-day’s Forum would be interested and the following staff volunteered:-
Louise Evans, Sharon O’Mahoney, Sharon Whitehouse and Ann-Marie Jones.

IT literacy: Q. A staff member had contacted the Staff Development Coordinator to ask for some IT training and had been directed to a website called ‘Computer Tutor’ but had been unable to access it. Other staff then said that they were concerned about the lack of training they had been able to access.

A. The Staff Development Dept have sent out computer training needs questionnaires to networks that have or are due to go over to targeting support.  At present service co-ordinators and support co-ordinators are given priority –and further training courses will be arranged in the near future.  Meanwhile Caroline Firth, Staff Development Co-ordinator is happy to help anyone with individual queries regarding computer skills but any help is only beneficial if staff are able to access a computer on a regular basis to practice. Staff Development Dept would welcome any feedback on any websites recommended.

Targeting Support Contracted Hours: Q. A staff member said that there appeared to be only 30 hour contracts or less available for support co-ordinators under Targeted Support; why is this?

A. Chris discussed with the group how Targeted Support works. It can be difficult to accommodate 37 hours in one scheme over five days without working over-long shifts. In some circumstances split contracts can be offered for support co-ordinators within the same Network and this has worked well for some staff.

Chris told us that Network 4 is next for Targeted Support and then Network 1 next year.

Targeted Support is now permanent in Neath and Port Talbot and all staff in Networks 5 and 6 have been confirmed in post.

Sickness and existing health issues: Q. If a staff member is off with an existing condition that was declared on the Health Questionnaire why is he/she not paid?

All employees are required to complete a medical questionnaire as part of the recruitment procedures.  In some circumstances new employees may be excluded from the company sick pay scheme for existing medical conditions.  Those individuals will be informed during the appointment procedures and the appropriate condition(s) will be included in their contract of employment.

Pre-existing medical conditions are to be excluded from the company sick pay scheme for two years from the commencement of employment and then those conditions reinstated.

Long Service Award: Q. In the past those staff who had received the long service award as a monetary addition to their pay had to also pay NI and Tax on the amount. There is now the offer of ‘salary sacrifice’ whereby the amount can be put directly into your pension or other schemes before contributing to NI and Tax. Can the NI and Tax be claimed back for those rewards already received?

A. No. At the moment, the option applies to the 15 year and 20 year long service award only.

NVQ: Q. What is the protocol if a staff member doing NVQ leaves the company, do they have to repay the costs of training?

A. Staff are required to payback costs of training leading to a qualification in situations where CLC has agreed to pay the fees.  At the moment this does not apply to NVQ level 2 & 3 in Health & Social Care and the Assessor (A1) award as Swansea Business College is able to access funding for these qualifications.  We have occasionally also been able to access funded places for some level 4 awards, but most qualifications at this level, and higher levels are paid for form the CLC staff development budget.

If staff are working toward a qualification paid for by CLC then before they start, they sign a study contract, which includes the conditions where they may be required to repay the course fees, usually on the basis described below:-

(Employee name) will be required to repay the course fees in accordance with the schedule below:-
The full course fees are repayable if he/she resigns from the post during the course or within 6 months of completion.
75% of the course fees are repayable if he/she resigns from the post within 12 months of completion of the course.
50% of the course fees are repayable if he/she resigns from the post within 18 months of completion of the course.
25% of the course fees are repayable if he/she resigns from the post within 2 years of completion of the course.

This schedule has been agreed with Unison and is included in the staff development policy.

Future Forum Meetings

Chris was pleased at the turnout for today’s meeting as Forums are useful to express any concerns and questions staff may have. Chris also valued the Forum as a way of keeping in touch with how everyone is feeling etc.

Everyone agreed to encourage more participants in future. Any staff member can attend, although a lot of schemes like to send the same representative for continuity.

Chris said that it is important that everyone reads the minutes when they are in the schemes and the Forum should be an agenda item at Team Meetings.

Chris will ask if information about Staff Forums can be included in the Induction training. Dates are allocated for the year and reminders are sent out before each Forum. Service Co’s and Team Co’s will be reminded of the dates and asked to rota staff to attend whenever possible.

• Next Forum
  Tuesday 15th September 2009
  10am – 12 noon
  Training Room
  

Staff Forum Meeting 17th March 2009

Previous Minutes and Matters arising

Chris welcomed everyone to the meeting and expressed concern at the low turnout.  Any outstanding issues are on today’s agenda

Excessive Hours

Chris talked about the Excessive Hours action plan. The CSSIW have continually told us that some staff are working too many additional hours and we must find a way to reduce these hours.

From April 09 no additional hours will be paid for staff working over 67 hours per week, reducing to 57hours in July. By October 2009, the limit will be reduced to 50hours and no-one will be able to authorise any extra payment over these hours.
All staff have been notified about the action plan by a memo which was included with the February payslips and a reminder about the final phase will be sent out in September.

A discussion followed and the following points were made:-

• Unison should have directly informed Union members about the changes.

• Concerns about staffing levels – are there enough staff to take on the extra overtime?

• Overtime can be shared out more equally.

• Targeted support means more ‘lone working’ and less flexibility to move staff around in an emergency. Introducing a strict 50hour limit will make the problem worse.

• Relief workers are being introduced in Networks 4 and 6 to cover ‘planned’ absences. (This is being tried out in two Networks only at the moment.

• There is confusion about who covers support co shifts. Should a support worker ‘act up’ to cover support co shifts? – There are clear differences in the duties of both roles and Contract Managers are looking at the criteria for ‘acting up’.

• Staff with flexible working agreements are not available to cover extra shifts.

• Recruitment is going well at the moment and hopefully we will have a more flexible workforce in future.

• Recruitment is going well at the moment and hopefully we will have a more flexible workforce in future.

• Staff will not be able to take shifts back as lieu time.

• Extra hours worked when accompanying Service Users on holiday will be confirmed as part of the holiday planning and approval procedures. We are looking at how these hours should be recorded on the time sheets.

Secondary Employment

As part of the Excessive Hours action plan, we also need to monitor the hours worked by staff with secondary employment. The hours they work per week will need to be monitored to ensure they are not working over 50 hours between both jobs.  Staff must inform the Consortium if they take a second job and the combined contractual hours for both jobs should not exceed 37 hours per week. (See memo CLC1078 from Peter Thomas dated 12th March 09)

Buying Additional Annual Leave

One of the projects undertaken by the Chwarae Teg Working group was to look at buying additional annual leave. This work is now complete and as a result, from 1st April 2009 employees will have the option to purchase an additional one week’s contracted hours to add to their existing leave entitlement and to be taken in line with existing leave policy.  A memo and a copy of the new policy has been emailed to all schemes and a further copy of the memo will be included with our March pay slips.
The option to buy extra leave is available to all staff who are permanently employed by The Consortium - once they have successfully passed their probation period.

Working Whilst on Annual Leave

Chris reminded everyone that after extensive discussions between the Operations Department and the Personnel Department in 2004, it was agreed that staff on annual leave can work additional hours on their rest days and that the maximum combination of additional hours and annual leave must not exceed 50hours.
Some employees are using a combination of contracted hours, additional hours and their annual leave to make their hours up to 50 per week without actually taking any leave! The situation is being closely monitored by personnel as it contravenes Health and Safety legislation if staff are not actually taking time off work and Chris said that if this situation continues we may have to stop the practice of working whilst on annual leave completely.

Pay Award 2008/09

The pay award for 08/09 has now been settled at 2.75%. An interim pay award of 2.45% was implemented in November. The extra 0.3% will be paid in the March salary -backdated to April 08.
There is no news yet about a pay award for next year.

I.D.Cards

Members of one staff team have asked if staff I.D. cards can be worn around the neck for easier identification whilst supporting Service Users in the community.  Chris said that this was unlikely to be agreed due to the associated risk assessments. Also it may not be in keeping with our low key approach.

A discussion followed and it was agreed that it would not be acceptable to ‘label’ ourselves by wearing prominent I.D. or uniforms that draw attention to the people we support.

Everyone was reminded that staff should always ask for I.D. from contractors etc who may be carrying out work at the schemes.

Questions from around the room

Q. Staff Meetings: Is it compulsory for staff to attend team meetings?

• A. The C.L.C. Team Meeting Policy States:-
  · It is the responsibility of the line manager to organise the meetings.
  · Staff attending meetings will do so as part of their contracted hours and will be part of the staff rota.
  · All staff will attend meetings unless previously negotiated with their line manager.
  · Team meetings should be held at least monthly.
  Managers should ensure that the same staff are not continuously asked to attend meetings on their rest day or following a wakeful shift.
  (See also, Rota Management Policy, page 9 ‘Attending Meetings’)
  Staff should be rota’d as above to attend Staff Forums and are not expected to give up annual leave. Some staff choose to attend the Forum even if they are not on shift. All staff are paid to attend
  

Q. Service User Holidays:Can Service Co-ordinators accompany Service Users on holiday?

• A. Chris said that although there is nothing in policy to say that Service Co-ordinators cannot go on a Service User holiday, Service Co’s need to be mindful of their management responsibility to the scheme and any Service Users who are staying home plus the extra salary cost to the Service User going on the holiday.
  

Q. Seconded Staff (Social Services): There are several seconded Social Services staff working as a part of staff teams in Network 1 alongside Consortium staff. Will these seconded staff be eligible to apply for Support Co posts when targeted Support is introduced in Network 1?

• A.  At the moment, all Support Co posts are ‘temporary’. If it is agreed to roll out targeted support across other Networks in Swansea, it may not be as a ‘pilot’ so support co posts will be permanent and may be advertised externally and anyone who meets the criteria will be able to apply. If seconded staff do not wish to apply for the permanent posts, they will continue in their existing posts as support workers in the Network.

Q.  Non-Drivers (Existing Staff): Will non-drivers to eligible to apply for Support Co posts?

• A. Existing staff that cannot drive will be assessed on an individual basis taking into account the needs of the scheme applied for. (External applicants will be required to meet all essential criteria)
  

Q. Split Contracts – Network 5: The issues around split contracts (Support Co/Support Worker) in Network 5 are still causing problems especially when covering additional shifts.

• A. Although a ‘Pilot’ is the ideal time to try out new methods of working, Chris still agrees that this kind of contract has not worked and will not be introduced in other Networks. Chris said we need to discuss the situation with the Contract Manager.
  

Q. New Staff - Shadowing Arrangements: How long should new staff be "shadowing" more experienced staff as it seems that under Targeted Support they are often thrown in at the deep end?

• A. A discussion followed. It seems that the example given was due to a lack of communication based on external factors and long term sickness in the Network concerned.
  

Q. Pensions: Why has the Employer Pension Contribution been increased for Service Co’s but not for Support Staff?

• A. Chris said that the problem dates back to when the Company restructured. The Company currently has two types of Pension schemes and although Team Co’s, Housing Co’s and Service Co’s were given equal status, Service co’s were treated differently as they were not included in the Final Salary scheme at the time and now the company cannot afford it. There is still a gap between the two pensions but the 2% increase is a starting point.
  

Q. On Call: Should there be a more consistent approach to On Call? (For example sometimes the On call Team Co covers a shift themselves and at other times they don’t.)

• A. Chris said that it is not always practical for Team Co’s to cover shifts whilst On Call as they may then be unable to respond to other calls.
  
  Everyone was reminded that all calls are discussed at the weekly hand-over meeting and if staff or On Call managers are upset at the way that a call has been handled, it needs to be addressed on an individual basis as soon as possible.

Q. Enhanced Christmas Pay: Where does the money come from to pay the ‘triple time’ at Christmas?

• A. The enhanced rate is paid as a goodwill gesture and comes from the existing staff budget. The recent changes to paperwork were necessary to satisfy the CSSIW regulations. We are working towards introducing more electronic systems and need to decide if we put everything on computer in the future. Some staff confirmed that computer training for their teams has started.

Q .Targeted Support Pilot: When will Targeted Support no longer be a ‘Pilot’ in Neath and Port Talbot?

• A. Targeted Support will no longer be a ‘pilot’ in Networks 5 and 6 from April 2009 and letters are on their way to all staff in those Networks. Targeted Support will continue as a pilot in Network 2 (Swansea) for a while longer.

Q. Response Team: What is happening about 'sleep-in' duties?  There are lots of rumours about at the moment.

• A. Chris said that due to the working time directive we have had to re think how we can support people at night. We are not sure what will happen to sleep-ins and we are working with Swansea to discuss a few ideas.
  
  ‘Sleep-ins’ are not paid at an hourly rate and we are unlikely to be exempt for much longer. To convert ‘sleep-ins’ to wakeful shifts has obvious cost implications for the Local Authority so they have asked us to look at other ways of supporting service user at night.
  
  A discussion followed. Chris said that any pilot scheme would be over an area rather than a Network.
  

• Future Forum Meetings: As a result of to-days low turnout, Chris asked what can be done to encourage more staff to attend the Forum.
  A discussion followed and the following points were raised:-
  The Forum should continue as it gives staff the opportunity to discuss issues and to hear about future plans and developments in the Consortium first hand.
  · Should we allocate a named Forum representative for each scheme?
  · New staff are not made aware of the Forum.
  · Staff are not put on shift or rota’d to attend or are on ‘wakeful’ shifts the night before.
  · At least two staff here to-day are on annual leave but decided to attend anyway.
  · Dates are allocated for the year and reminders are sent out before each Forum.
  Chris will ask the Contract Managers to discuss the Staff Forum at their next meeting.
  

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Next Meeting

• Tuesday 16th June 2009 - 10 – 12 noon. Venue - Training Room