T HE PROPOSAL TITLE OF PROPOSAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE

Title of proposal

Implementation of the revised Scheme of Salaries and Conditions of Service for Chief Officials of Local Authorities (Scotland)

Brief description

of proposal (including intended outcomes & purpose)

The Joint Negotiating Committee for Chief Officials of Local Authorities (Scotland) (referred to as SJNC) has revised the scheme of terms and conditions applicable to Chief Officials. The revised scheme of terms and conditions will come into effect on 1^st April 2014. These national terms and conditions must be applied at a local level.

Within Fife Council there are, at the time of writing, 45 Chief Officials whose terms and conditions are negotiated by the SJNC. This means that the revisions affect these employees.

We have profiled the protected characteristics of this group of employees, as this will help us understand the impact of implementing the revised terms and conditions.

• Of the 45 Chief Officials, 35 are male and 10 are female.

• None has disclosed a disability.

• The average age is 53. The distribution of Chief Officials across the age bands is as follows:

40 – 44 = 3

45 – 49 = 10

50 – 54 = 9

55 – 59 = 17

60 – 64 = 6

Because our data set is small, we have not presented here analysis by ethnic origin, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, sexual orientation, or religion or belief.

All Chief Officials work full-time, although part-time working is available and the provisions of flexible working apply.

The average length of continuous local government service is 26 years. The lowest length of service is 2 years and the longest is 40 years.

We have found that there are positive impacts, and that the revised terms and conditions will help us meet our commitment to advance equality. There are some impacts which our affected employees may be unhappy with, such as the reduction in their annual leave entitlement, but there are no negative impacts based on protected characteristics.

Lead Directorate / Service / Partnership

Human Resources

EqIA lead person

Lee Ryan, HR Consultant

EqIA contributors

Start date of EqIA

7^th March 2014

Reference No.

EqIA/388/14/HR

Which EqIA are you completing (please tick)

X

Initial checklist Initial checklist & Full EqIA

Protected Characteristic/ Equality Group

Positive Impact

(explain the benefit, including relevant evidence used to identify the positive impact)

Negative Impact

(explain the disadvantage, including relevant evidence used to identify the negative impact)

Please rate each negative impact

‘low’, ‘medium’ or ‘high’

Disabled People

The qualifying period for entitlement to occupational sick pay is reduced from 1 year to 26 weeks. This will benefit employees with short service who require time off due to sickness. This may benefit people with a disability, but no assumption or correlation with disability and sickness is being made. Similarly, the removal of the provision for a substitute day where sickness falls on a public holiday may be viewed unfavourably by affected employees, however, there is no negative impact on the grounds of disability.

None

Sexual Orientation

None

None

Women

Maternity provisions have been expanded to reflect wider ‘family friendly’ provisions. This will benefit both women and men.

The removal of the provision for a substitute day where sickness falls on a public holiday may be viewed unfavourably by affected employees, however, there is no negative impact on the basis of sex.

The reduction of annual leave entitlement will affect both men and women. Women are more likely than men to have caring responsibilities and the reduction in annual leave entitlement may be viewed unfavourably by employees because it gives less planned time with children or other dependants. There is however no negative impact on the basis of sex.

None

Men

Maternity provisions have been expanded to reflect wider ‘family friendly’ provisions. This will benefit both women and men.

The removal of the provision for a substitute day where sickness falls on a public holiday may be viewed unfavourably by affected employees, however, there is no negative impact on the basis of sex.

The reduction of annual leave entitlement will affect both men and women. There is however no negative impact on the basis of sex.

None

Transgendered People

None

None

Race (includes gypsy travellers)

None

None

Age (including older people aged 60+)

None

None

Children and Young People (includes Looked After Children and Careleavers)

None

None

Religion or Belief

None

None

Pregnancy & maternity

None

None

Marriage & civil partnership

None

None

Low or Medium Impact

Action Required to remove or minimise impact

Lead Person

Timescale

Any other comments (including any resource implications e.g. staffing, training etc.)

None.

No impact (please explain):