At a recent meeting with HR, the Trust advised NIPSA that most Work-Life Balance/Flexible Working applications are being facilitated. We welcome that.
However, NIPSA is aware of cases where staff have been discouraged from applying or have been told informally that their request is unlikely to be agreed. Our advice is simple: if you want a flexible working arrangement, do not be discouraged from
making an application.
The Trust policy encourages staff and managers to have an informal discussion in the first instance. That can be useful. But an informal conversation, or an informal view that a request is unlikely to be agreed, does not replace the formal procedure.
Indeed, the Trust’s own policy states that all jobs should be considered for flexible working unless there is a clear demonstrable operational reason why this is not practical.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE POLICY
Employees have a contractual right to request flexible working from their first day of employment. This is a right to have the request properly considered – not an automatic right to have it granted.
- There is no limit on the number of requests an employee can make.
- Applications are normally made through HRPTS:
Life and Work Events > Additional Services > Flexible Working Requests.
Staff absent through sickness or maternity leave can use the manual form at Appendix 1 of the policy or ask for it to be posted out to them. - At Stage 1, the employee and line manager should meet within 10 working days of the application being received.
- If the precise arrangement requested cannot be accommodated, suitable alternatives should be robustly and comprehensively explored. This can include looking beyond the employee’s immediate team within the wider Directorate.
- Staff have the right to be accompanied by a trade union or staff representative at Stage 1 and Stage 2 meetings.
- A request cannot simply be dismissed with a general statement that it ‘doesn’t suit the service’. Where a request cannot be accommodated, the policy requires clear business reasons, linked to the recognised grounds set out in the policy.
- Where the request cannot be accommodated at Stage 1, the policy provides for Stage 2 Escalation. The line manager completes the Escalation Form, and it goes to a relevant senior manager at a higher band with authority to consider the request.
- Stage 2 is not the appeal. It is there to check whether the request has been fully considered, whether the procedure and timescales were followed, whether all possible solutions were explored and whether suitable opportunities exist elsewhere within the wider Directorate.
- If the request remains declined following Stage 2, the employee must be informed in writing of the reasons and the appeal process.
- A Stage 3 Grievance Appeal can then be lodged with the Improving Working Lives Team within 10 working days. Under the policy, an appeal can be made where individuals feel the procedure has not been properly followed and/or all available options have not been fully considered.
The right to request flexible working does not mean every application will be granted. Individual
circumstances and the needs of the service have to be considered.
But every member is entitled to use the procedure and have their request properly considered.
DON’T BE PUT OFF APPLYING BECAUSE SOMEBODY THINKS THE ANSWER WILL BE ‘NO’.
An informal “no” is not the procedure.
If you are a NIPSA member and need advice about an application, have had a request declined, or would like representation at a meeting, contact us at nipsa@belfasttrust.hscni.net or contact your local Rep or one of the Branch Officers.