WORKLIFE BALANCE FLEXIBLE WORKING (NPS STAFF) THIS INSTRUCTION

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WORKLIFE BALANCE FLEXIBLE WORKING (NPS STAFF) THIS INSTRUCTION
WORKLIFE CONFLICT AND PROCEDURAL FAIRNESS PUBLISHED IN 2005 IN

Work-life balance / flexible working (nps staff)



Work-life balance / flexible working (nps staff)
This instruction applies to:-		Reference:-
National Probation Service		PI 45/2014
Issue Date	Effective Date Implementation Date	Expiry Date
1 June 2014	1 June 2014	31 May 2015
Issued on the authority of	NOMS Agency Board
For action by	All staff responsible for the development and publication of policy and instructions National Probation Service (NPS) Directorate
Instruction type	HR function
For information	All staff
Provide a summary of the policy aim and the reason for its development / revision	The aim of the policy is to ensure that staff patterns of attendance meet business needs first, while allowing some flexibility in working arrangements to staff where it is possible to do so.
Contact	Shared Services HR Contact Centre  0845 010 3504
Associated documents	Guidance on undertaking all the requirements contained in this Instruction can be found on the My Services website.
Replaces the following documents which are hereby cancelled: None
Audit/monitoring: Chief Officer Grades staff will ensure local records are kept and monitored to demonstrate compliance with the mandatory actions set out in this instruction Compliance with this Instruction will be monitored by Deputy Directors (DDs) within their Division.
Introduces amendments to the following documents: None
Notes: All Mandatory Actions throughout this instruction are in italics and must be strictly adhered to.

CONTENTS

Section	Subject	For reference by
1	Executive Summary	All Staff
2	Flexible Working/ Work Life Balance
3	Work-Life Balance – Options and Guidelines

1. Executive Summary

Purpose

1.1 The purpose of this Instruction is to ensure that staff patterns of attendance meet business needs first, while allowing some flexibility in working arrangements for staff where it is possible to do so. Helping staff to get the balance right has the potential to reduce stress, improve performance, increase attendance, motivation and commitment, and improve overall quality of life. It will also increase the organisation’s ability to recruit and retain staff.

Desired outcomes

1.2 The intention is to ensure that the policy:

complies with employment legislation;
provides staff the opportunity to balance work and family life, whilst being compatible with, and beneficial to business efficiency;
helps staff to get the balance right to potentially improve performance, increase attendance, motivation and commitment, and improve overall quality of life.

Application

1.3 All staff must be familiar with all sections of this policy.

1.4 All line managers should read and follow all sections of this policy as required.

Mandatory actions

1.5 All actions in this Instruction are mandatory unless otherwise specified and are shown in italics. All levels of management and all employees must ensure that they are aware of these mandatory actions and ensure this policy is implemented and adhered to.

Resource Impact

1.6 It is not anticipated that there will be any direct resource impact resulting from this Instruction.

Contacts

1.7 Shared Services HR Contact Centre

0845 010 3504 (VPN 7190 3504)

(Approved for publication)

Carol Carpenter

Director of Human Resources, NOMS

2. FLEXIBLE WORKING / WORK LIFE BALANCE

2.1 Overview

The NPS Directorate has the right, as well as the duty, to manage staff in a way that is the most effective that can be achieved, including their pattern of attendance.

However, while the majority of staff cope well within traditional working patterns, many have to balance their time at work against other priorities, including for example: caring responsibilities for children, elderly relatives or other dependants; a disability or condition which makes it difficult to cope with full-time working or traditional hours; a desire to study; travelling a long way to work each day, or wanting to create a better quality of life for themselves by working in a different way. In any of these situations, and in many others, Work-Life Balance may be able to help.

2.1.3 This policy is in place to ensure that staff patterns of attendance meet the organisation’s needs first, while allowing some flexibility in working arrangements for staff where it is possible to do so. Helping staff to get the balance right has the potential to reduce stress, improve performance, increase attendance, motivation and commitment, and improve overall quality of life. It will also aid recruitment and retention of staff.

2.1.4 To comply with employment legislation NOMS/NPS has policies in place covering maternity leave, paternity leave and adoption leave. These policies, together with existing rights to parental leave and time off for dependants, will provide parents with more opportunity than ever before to balance work and family life, whilst being compatible with, and beneficial to, the efficiency of the organisation.

2.2 Flexible Working Regulations

2.2.1 Under the Flexible Working (Eligibility, Complaints and Remedies) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/3236), which came into force on 6 April 2003, an eligible employee who is (or is the spouse, civil partner or live-in partner of) the parent, adoptive parent, guardian, special guardian or foster parent of a child under the age of 17 (or of a disabled child under the age of 18), and who has a need to spend more time with that child, has the legal right to apply to his or her employer for a more flexible pattern of working hours or (where appropriate) the opportunity to work from home.

2.2.2 The right to request flexible working also extends to employees with caring responsibilities for an adult dependant.

Meaning of "flexible working"

2.2.3 An employee can request a change to:

the hours that he or she is required to work;
the times that he or she is required to work; and/or
where, as between his or her home and the employer's place of business, he or she is required to work.

2.2.4 The request could, therefore, be for shorter working hours, a shorter working week, flexitime, a system of staggered or annualised hours, job sharing, part-time work, self-rostering or permission to work from home.

Any change agreed will be a permanent change to the employee's terms and conditions of employment, unless a trial or temporary period is agreed.

Eligibility

To qualify to apply for a more flexible pattern of work an employee must be:

the parent, adoptive parent, guardian, special guardian or foster parent of a child under the age of 17 (or 18, if the child in question has been awarded disability living allowance or personal independence payment), or the spouse, civil partner or live-in partner of such a person; or
the carer for an adult aged 18 or over who is the employee's spouse, civil partner or live-in partner, a relative, or someone living at the same address as the employee.

2.2.7 "Relative" for these purposes means a mother, father, adopter, guardian, special guardian, parent-in-law, step-parent, son, step-son, son-in-law, daughter, step-daughter, daughter-in-law, brother, step-brother, brother-in-law, sister, step-sister, sister-in-law, uncle, aunt or grandparent. Adoptive relationships and relationships of full or half blood are included, as are those relationships that would exist but for adoption.

2.2.8 Employees are not required to demonstrate that the child or adult in question requires a particular level of care, or why they personally must provide the care. For example, an employee asking for a change in hours to care for an elderly relative will not need to show that the relative qualifies for disability living allowance or personal independence payment, or is unable to cope alone. Neither would a father asking for reduced hours to care for his child be required to show that the child could not be cared for by its mother or someone else.

2.2.9 The care that carers of adults give will vary widely between individuals. The sort of care that employees are likely to be involved in includes:

help with personal care such as dressing, bathing and toileting;
help with mobility such as walking and getting in and out of bed;
nursing tasks such as changing dressings;
giving or supervising the taking of medicines;
accompanying to hospital and GP appointments;
emotional support;
providing company;
practical household tasks such as cooking, shopping and cleaning; and
help with paying bills and other paperwork.

2.2.10 An individual applying for a more flexible pattern of working hours must be an "employee" in the strict legal sense of the word, i.e. he or she must be employed under a contract of service.

2.2.11 The employee must:

have been continuously employed by his or her employer for at least 26 weeks at the time the application is made;
in the case of an application regarding a child, submit his or her application by the day before the child's 17^th birthday (or the child's 18^th birthday, if disabled);
have, or expect to have, responsibility for the child or, where the application is being made in relation to an adult, care for, or expect to care for, an adult in need of care; and
not have submitted an earlier application to work flexibly within the previous 12 months, regardless of whether the previous application was made in relation to the same caring responsibility or a different one.

The application

2.2.12 An application for flexible working must be made in writing (available on My Services) and must:

state that it is an application for a change to the employee's terms and conditions of employment;
specify the change applied for and the date on which it is proposed the change will become effective;
explain what effect (if any) the employee thinks making the change applied for would have on his or her employer and how, in the employee's opinion, any such effect might be dealt with;
explain the employee's relationship to the child or adult in question;
state whether a previous application for flexible working has been made by the employee to the employer and, if so, when; and
be dated.

Applications should be submitted in good enough time to allow them to be considered thoroughly, the process can take some time.

The Employer Response

2.2.13 Within 28 days of receiving an eligible employee's application for flexible working, the employer must either accept the application and notify the employee accordingly in writing, or hold a meeting with him or her to discuss the application. Where a meeting is held the employee has the right to be accompanied at it by a fellow worker employed by the same employer. Where the chosen companion will not be available at the time proposed by the employer for the meeting, and the employee proposes an alternative time convenient for all three parties that falls no more than seven days after the date originally proposed, the employer is required to postpone the meeting until that date.

2.2.14 Within 14 days of the meeting, the employer must write to the employee either:

agreeing to the application and specifying the contract variation agreed and the start date on which it is to take effect; or
refusing the application and stating which of the specified grounds for refusal it considers to be applicable and explaining why those grounds apply in relation to the application.

2.2.15 The letter should also explain the employee's right of appeal if he or she is unhappy with the employer's decision and the procedure for doing so. Any such appeal must be lodged in writing within the next 14 days. Within 14 days of the notice of appeal being given, the employer must hold a meeting with the employee to discuss the appeal. Once again, the employee has the right to be accompanied at the hearing by a fellow worker. Within 14 days of the appeal hearing, the employer must convey its decision to the employee in writing. If the appeal is upheld, the employer's letter must specify the contract variation agreed to and the date from which it is to take effect. If the employee's appeal is dismissed, the letter must set out the grounds for the decision and contain sufficient explanation as to why those grounds apply.

Rejection of an application for flexible working

2.2.16 Under s.80G of the Employment Rights Act 1996, an employer's refusal to accept an eligible employee's application for flexible working must be based on one or more specific grounds. These are:

the burden of additional costs;
a detrimental effect on ability to meet business demand;
an inability to reorganise work among existing staff or recruit additional staff;
a detrimental impact on quality or performance;
insufficiency of work during the periods the employee proposes to work;
planned structural changes; or
such other grounds as may be specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State.

2.2.17 While an application under the right to request flexible working can be refused for one of the above specified reasons, which do not need to be objectively justified, line managers should be aware that refusal to grant a request for flexible working may lead to liability under the discrimination legislation.

2.2.18 Line managers should also be aware that, even where they are not under a duty to comply with the statutory procedure because, for example, the employee in question has insufficient service, they may be liable to discrimination claims where they reject requests for flexible working. Managers should also ensure that they deal with applications promptly, or if for any reason they feel they cannot meet the required timescales they should take HR advice at the outset. For these reasons all requests for flexible working should be taken seriously and given prompt and due consideration.

Withdrawal of an application for flexible working

2.2.19 An application for flexible working can be treated as having been withdrawn if the employee in question has:

notified his or her line manager orally or in writing that he or she is withdrawing the application;
without reasonable cause, on more than one occasion failed to attend a meeting to discuss the application or a meeting to discuss an appeal where the application has been refused; or
without reasonable cause, refused to provide information necessary in order for the employer to assess whether or not it should agree to the contract variation.

2.2.20 Except where the employee has provided written notice of his or her withdrawal of the application, the employer should confirm the withdrawal in writing.

2.2.21 Flexible working arrangements made using FWR are permanent changes to terms and conditions of employment. Staff who change their permanent employment status to part-time may lose the right to return to full-time working. Some staff may lose the right to transfer.

2.2.22 Staff will not be allowed to make another flexible working request for 12 months when they have withdrawn a request although can apply under WLB.

2.3 Work Life Balance

2.3.1 The NPS Directorate also allows a similar process called Work-Life Balance to be open to all staff. This process is referred to in this Instruction as WLB.

2.3.2 WLB is not a legal right it is a policy and approval of applications is at NPS (NOMS) discretion.

2.3.3 WLB is a NOMS-wide policy which can allow some flexibility in working arrangements for staff where it is possible to do so, whilst ensuring that the availability of staff meets the business need first.

2.3.4 This Instruction only requires that a WLB process is established where possible. The exact details of the local process will vary across the organisation and will be at the discretion of the NPS senior managers.

2.3.5 If a work life balance application is approved it creates a temporary contract variation which is subject to regular review and change (subject to the needs of the business).

2.3.6 Even working parents who would be entitled to apply for a variation under FWR may prefer their applications to be considered as Work-Life Balance (WLB) applications, because WLB results in temporary, time-bounded, extendable variations in contract.

2.3.7 This Instruction will not dictate the exact mechanisms to be used within the NPS Directorate to manage flexible working and work life balance applications.

2.3.8 One method of managing the Work-Life Balance process is for the HR Business Partner to take advice from a small committee of people with particular skills.

2.3.9 Ideally the committee could consist of three members of staff: one with HR expertise; someone who represents the business; and a trade union representative to act in the best interests of the individual member of staff applying, and also have a view of the fairness of the effect of this application on the applicant’s colleagues.

2.3.10 It is not essential to have a separate committee. NPS senior managers may wish to enable the HR Business Partner to draw on these skills or individuals on an ad-hoc basis, rather than set up a committee.

The choice and design of a mechanism lies with NPS senior management and their decision in this matter is final.

Process

2.3.12 The procedure is the same for applications (see My Services) made under the Flexible Working Regulations and the NOMS (NPS) Work Life Balance policy.

2.3 13 Staff and line managers are advised to give careful consideration to changes to working pattern. Changes in the way a member of staff works may have an impact on income, leave entitlement, pension and should be considered thoroughly. Equally, the changes may impact on NPS’ ability to deliver core business targets.

2.3.14 Staff should complete the application form, available on My Services and send it to his or her line manager to provide their comments.

2.3.15 Line managers will sign and date the application and send it to whomever within the NPS Directorate will consider work life balance or flexible working applications. This may be the HR Business Partner (or a local panel where applicable).

2.3.16 The HR Business Partner (or local panel where applicable) will consider the application and forward the result to Shared Services.

For approved changes, the employee’s record will be updated with details of the new work pattern or conditioned hours and pay amendments made.

2.3.17 Shared Services will notify the employee of the outcome of their application.

2.3.18 NPS will consider WLB applications thoroughly. If an application is refused an explanation will be provided.

2.3.19 An employee may withdraw an application at any time.

2.3.20 If changes to contract are agreed, Shared Services must be informed for appropriate action on pay. Similarly, any reversions must also be notified.

Remedies

Grievance Procedure

Any member of NPS staff may use the grievance procedure to advance any complaint through line management should they feel that legitimate concerns have not been addressed at a local level.

Employment Tribunal

2.3.22 Unsuccessful applicants (for applications made under the Flexible Working Regulations only) may in some cases apply to an Employment Tribunal (ET).

2.3.23 An employee may complain to an employment tribunal on the grounds that the employer failed to hold an initial meeting to discuss the application for flexible working within 28 days of receiving the request or to hold an appeal hearing within 14 days of notice of an appeal, or, after holding one of these meetings, the employer failed to notify him or her of its decision within the 14-day time limit.

2.3.24 An employee may also complain to a tribunal if he or she believes that an application for flexible working has been rejected on grounds other than those listed in Rejection of an application for flexible working or that the decision to dismiss was based on incorrect facts.

Protection from detriment and dismissal for applying

2.3.25 Eligible employees have the right not to be victimised or subjected to any other detriment by any act, or any deliberate failure to act, by their employer for presuming to exercise or assert their statutory right to apply for flexible working, or for challenging or questioning any alleged infringement of that right (whether before an employment tribunal or otherwise), or for alleging the existence of circumstances that would constitute grounds for bringing proceedings before an employment tribunal. The amount of compensation that may be awarded to an employee in such circumstances is such amount as the tribunal considers just and equitable in all the circumstances, having regard to the infringement to which the employee's complaint relates, and any loss attributable to that infringement (including expenses incurred by the employee and any loss of benefit that he or she might reasonably be expected to have had but for that infringement).

3. Work-Life Balance – Options and Guidelines

Overview

3.1.1 This chapter gives useful information on some types of non-standard working and provides answers some questions which might arise.

Important notes

There is no right to vary hours of attendance, but the NPS Directorate will seriously consider such requests;
Not every application will succeed;
Senior managers have the right to manage staff in a way which is the most effective that can be achieved, including their pattern of attendance;
Staff and line managers share a responsibility to, if requested, engage in constructive negotiation and mutual compromise to try to help achieve a better work life balance without undermining service delivery.
There are however some exceptions. The underpinning purpose of Work-Life Balance is to help staff better their quality of life. It is not designed to enable staff to earn extra income. Applications to change a pattern of attendance to take up (or increase) secondary employment are unlikely to succeed. Applications of this type are unfair to colleagues.

Policy background

3.1.2 This chapter sets out additional guidance on varieties of non-standard (or alternative) patterns of attendance.

Terms and Conditions of Service

3.1.3 Successful applications made under the Work-Life Balance policy may, in some instances, result in changes to terms and conditions of employment.

3.1.4 If the temporary conditions (which apply to the new way of working) are not agreeable to the NPS Directorate or to the member of staff, then neither are obliged to proceed with the temporary arrangement.

This means that the member of staff may ask at any time, (with a reasonable period of notice), to return to the normal pattern of attendance that existed before the temporary variation was set up.

3.1.6 Likewise, (with reasonable notice), the NPS Directorate, being subject to a change in operational or business circumstances may require the variation to end, and the member of staff to return to the normal pattern of attendance that existed before the temporary variation was set up.

3.1.7 Details of shift patterns and/or times and hours of attendance for agreed variations to working patterns must always be supplied under separate cover from any agreement to vary hours worked.

3.2 Options

Full-time working

The vast majority of staff employed by NOMS work full-time. The Work-Life Balance policy will not change that. However, there are other ways of delivering full-time attendance and some of these are shown below along with the grades of staff they normally apply to:

Compressed hours – All Staff

Compressed hours is the term used when a member of staff performs a full time job in, for example, a four day week rather than five day week by increasing the number of hours that they work each day (Sometimes called a compressed week/compressed hours).

Some groups of staff operate a back-to-back cover system, and many of these have some features of compressed hours. Seeking a back-to-back compressed hours partner is the responsibility of the applicant. Compressed hours often work together well in small combinations which provide specific cover.

It is not possible to compress a full-time working week into fewer than four working days without risking breach of parts of the Working Time Directive and Health and Safety law.

NOMS (NPS) normal arrangement of the working week is five days. The provision of annual leave is worked out on this basis, therefore compressing the working week will always require annual leave to be calculated in hours rather than days.

Compressed hours may require a notice of temporary variation to be issued.

Shift details must be advised separately from any notice of temporary variation.

Part-time working and job sharing

Part-time working – All Pay Bands

This chapter complies with the legal framework set out in the Employment Relations Act 1999, Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 and the Part-Time Working Directive.

Unless a post is deemed unsuitable for part-time work or job-sharing, all posts including those on recruitment must be available on either a part-time or job-share basis, except where critical examination by line management shows the post to be unsuitable for part-time or job-share. The reasons for placing a restriction on working patterns must be documented and signed off by a relevant senior manager and sent to Shared Services. These reasons must be genuine organisational reasons.

Part-time is defined as any hours less than full-time. Current terms provide that even dropping by one hour per week to less than the conditioned hours changes employment status to part-time.
There are two types of part-time working. Permanently changing to part-time status (by, for example, applying for a new role or transfer which has been advertised as a part-time post or by making a Flexible Working Regulations application) or a previously full-time member of staff obtaining a temporary change of status to that of part-time under the Work-Life Balance policy.

All part-time working involves a pro-rata reduction in salary, annual leave and pension entitlement.

Currently a member of staff can ask to reduce their working week by any amount of hours (or fractions of hours). The result is that the NPS Directorate may have staff in post working a whole range of hours, for example, 33 ½ hours per week, 27 hours per week etc.

Part-time working (temporary variation under WLB)

Sometimes called flexible working (FW) or Temporary Reduction in Working Hours (TRWH). This can be particularly useful if for example, a member of staff has a short- or medium-term problem at home which might be helped by a period of part-time working, (some examples might be; looking for an eldercare place on behalf of a relative, or studying for a final exam).

Agreements such as this are always time-bound, and staff are expected to revert to full-time attendance when the agreement to vary expires.

The use of temporary, reviewable changes in working practices allows both the NPS Directorate and its employees access to a new way of working. NPS retains flexibility (subject to business need) in the amount of hours staff work, and the individual member of staff retains the right to return to full-time working when their personal circumstances allow.

It is the responsibility of the NPS Directorate to decide the exact number and pattern of hours to be worked and to agree this with the member of staff. A part-time worker cannot choose hours or days by right.

This form of variation will require a notice of temporary variation to be issued.

There would normally be no expectation of any part-time worker to regularly work additional hours. However, there may be highly exceptional occasions when that is necessary for operational reasons. Any additional hours will be compensated by TOIL or additional flexi-time credit. The circumstances in which full time staff are eligible for consideration of ex-gratia payments (EGP’s) for additional voluntary hours will also apply (pro-rata) to part-time staff.

Job sharing – All Pay Bands

Job-share is by nature a form of part-time working. All job share working involves a pro-rata reduction in salary, annual leave and pension entitlement.

It is important that all job-sharers are clear about what is involved in any partnership, and that line managers have an opportunity to assess the job-sharers’ compatibility before agreeing to a job share. Topics for discussion should include: previous job experience; strengths and weaknesses; skills and preferences; preferred hours and days of work; professional style; handover arrangements.

It is the responsibility of the applying member of staff to find a partner with whom to job share.

If one job share partner leaves or resigns, the responsibility for finding a replacement lies with the other sharer, although the NPS Directorate will help, for example, by advertising the job share vacancy. If a replacement cannot be found, it may be possible that the job sharer may be returned to full-time working (until a new job-sharer can be found), subject to business needs.

Such arrangements are always time-bound, and staff are expected to revert to full-time attendance when the agreement to vary expires.

It is the responsibility of the NPS Directorate to decide the exact number and pattern of hours to be worked and to agree this with the member of staff. A job sharer cannot choose hours or days by right.

This form of variation will require a notice of temporary variation to be issued.

3.3 Working from home

The Work-Life Balance policy allows working from home as an option on an ad-hoc basis for directly employed NOMS/NPS staff as detailed below.

Ad-hoc arrangements – All Pay Bands

Circumstances in which staff (of all grades) work from home as an ad-hoc arrangement happen frequently.

There is a need sometimes to be able to work away from distractions that would otherwise occur on NOMS premises and to focus on producing good quality work. However, even when an ad-hoc arrangement has been agreed upon, an urgent or important operational or business need may mean the cancellation of the arrangement at short notice. NOMS always retains the right to be able to deal with unplanned circumstances.

Working from home on an ad-hoc, short-term (a few days at a time) basis is not a matter for temporary variation of contract, but a matter for agreement between a member of staff and the line manager. The line manager must still consider the effect of the matters listed at Section 3.3.4 below.

The following need to be actively addressed before approval is given for work to be undertaken at home:

How will NOMS and the member of staff’s obligations under Health & Safety at Work legislation be managed?
The circumstances in which NOMS will fund office furniture, IT equipment and/or additional, separate phone lines need to be considered, as do other costs such as energy and wear and tear.
Property and/or equipment belonging to NOMS but located (even temporarily) in the home need to be insured, and agreement reached about who funds this insurance.
Is confidential matter allowed to be taken to the home, if so, what level of secure storage will be necessary, who will provide it and at whose cost?
Home-workers need to check the detail of rental or mortgage agreements and insurance cover to ensure that working at home is not prohibited nor excluded.
Where a room or portion of the premises is used exclusively for home-working, there may be implications for business rates, or capital gains on the sale of the premises.

3.4 Reviewing temporary variations in working arrangements

Recap

Changes to the terms and conditions of employment of staff who have been granted variations in contract under this policy are temporary variations subject to regular review.

All temporary variations are subject to regular review, although in most circumstances they may continue as long as the operational and business circumstances, which made that temporary change beneficial to both the LDU Cluster and to that member of staff persist. They are not substantive change to Terms and Conditions of Employment.

Line managers will need to have a robust system in place to regularly review those variations and ensure that they are not allowed to become permanent (by way of custom and practice).

The review system adopted will depend on local circumstances and must be approved by the HR Business Partner and NPS senior managers.

The operation of the new pattern of attendance should be checked after 12 weeks to ensure that the new pattern is delivering the expected benefits to both the member of staff and the NPS Directorate.

Thereafter regular, twice-yearly reviews should be held in line with the SPDR period, but separate from SPDR reviews.

3.5 Other issues

Staff Performance and Development Record (SPDR)

A member of staff’s working pattern has no relevance to the performance recorded in their SPDR.

Targets set for a full-time member of staff must be varied if that member of staff reduces hours in any way.

Regardless of whether they are part-time, job share or compressed hours, their performance must be gauged on how they perform the work which they undertake. Irrelevant comments based on when they are at work may be discriminatory and/or defamatory.

Staff Training

All staff, even those who work on the basis of a part-time, job share or other non-standard pattern of attendance, should attend training events on a full-time basis, although managers should use there discretion about this issue and try to find alternative ways for staff to attend necessary training where they are able.

The NPS Directorate has discretion to be able to help with unforeseen or unreasonable additional costs associated with staff training.

Further information

3.5.6 Guidance on undertaking all the requirements contained in this Instruction, can be found on the My Services website.

3.5.7 Line managers are the initial point of contact for queries about this Instruction. However if they are unable to deal with the query Shared Services should be contacted.

HR Contact Centre in Shared Services - 0845 010 3504

Tags: balance /, work-life balance, flexible, working, staff), instruction, balance, worklife

WORKLIFE BALANCE FLEXIBLE WORKING (NPS STAFF) THIS INSTRUCTION