Item 11 - Appendix 2
West Dunbartonshire Council · 16 August 2023
Back to Corporate Services Committee — 16 August 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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AssessmentNo 764 Owner lgalasso Resource Transformation Service/Establishment People and Technology First Name Surname Job title Head Officer Leeanne Galasso People &Change Partner (include job titles/organisation) Members Lisa MacGregor, People &Change Partner Louise Hastings, People &Change Partner (Please note: the word 'policy' is used as shorthand for stategy policy function or financial decision) Policy Title Redundancy Policy &Procedure The aim, objective,purpose and intended out come of policy The Redundancy Policy and Procedure is required in order to provide a fair, transparent, robust and consistent framework that is in accordance with employment law for managing redundancy situations. Service/Partners/Stakeholders/service users involved in the development and/or implementation of policy. Human Resources Does the proposals involve the procurement of any goods or services? Yes If yes please confirm that you have contacted our procurement services to discuss your requirements. No SCREENING You must indicate if there is any relevance to the four areas Duty to eliminate discrimination (E), advance equal opportunities (A) or foster good relations (F) Yes Relevance to Human Rights (HR) No Relevance to Health Impacts (H) No Relevance to Social Economic Impacts (SE) Yes Who will be affected by this policy? The whole workforce are in scope for this policy and procedure. However, those affected by it will be dependent upon the services that require to reduce workforce. Who will be/has been involved in the consultation process? Trade Union Colleagues (Unison, Unite, GMB, EIS) Strategic HR Please outline any particular need/barriers which equality groups may have in relation to this policy list evidence you are using to support this and whether there is any negative impact on particular groups. Needs Evidence Impact Age The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty. The statutory redundancy The Council's age profile confirms that the highest percentage of employees remain clustered in the age groups 50-59. In line with statutory legislation, those aged over 41 will receive a higher level of compensation and those under 22 will APPENDIX 2
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legislation and compensation does take account of age and length of service. receive a lower level of compensation. Cross Cutting Might be a need to tailor communications to different groups of the workforce The Councils 'Communicating Effectively' guidance will be followed to support communication, e.g. interpreting translation etc. accessible meetings No impact as this will be mitigated by following guidance. Disability The Council should always be mindful of the duty to make reasonable adjustments when carrying out a redundancy process. This might include making adjustments when scoring employees under selection pool criteria. For example, where an employee has had disability-related absences, selection for redundancy on the basis of a poor attendance record/score may amount to disability discrimination and adjustments should be made to discard any disability- related absences. The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty The Council's disability profile confirms 1.38% of employees have declared a disability. There is no specific impact in relation to disability. Social & Economic Impact Reduction in workforce requirements may have a consequential impact on reduction on pay and disposable income Possible reduction in workforce requirements would have a consequential impact on spending. Negative impact but justifiable if the work ceases or reduces to determine a redundancy situation.
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being reduced may have a reduced amount to spend in the economy. Additionally, every effort will be made to redeploy affected employees. Sex The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty Workforce profile concludes 71% female and 29% male. There is no specific impact on sex. Whilst there may be more females impacted, it has not been identified that females will be disproportionately affected. Gender Reassign The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty No information reported on marital status/civil partnership. There is no specific impact in relation to gender re- assignment. Health The Council has a commitment to supporting the health and well being of its workers Redundancy situations can be stressful. To support employees and managers through the redundancy process, employee wellbeing supports will be offered throughout and after the process. N/A Human Rights N/A N/A N/A Marriage & Civil Partnership The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty No information reported on marital status/civil partnership. There is no specific impact in relation to marriage and civil partnership Pregnancy & Maternity Cross cuts with sex The Council should always be mindful of the duty to make reasonable adjustments when carrying out a redundancy process. This might include making adjustments when scoring employees under selection pool criteria. For example, where an employee has had pregnancy-related absences, this should Cross-Cutting with Sex There is a statutory provision for those on maternity leave who can receive preferential treatment where there is a suitable alternative vacant role.
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be disregarded. For employees who are on maternity leave, where there is a suitable alternative vacant role, this should be offered. The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty Race The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty The Council's race profile confirms 0.58% of the workforce are BAME. There is no specific impact in relation to race. Religion and Belief The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty The Council's religion and belief provide confirms that 1.45% are Christian, 0.89% other and 8.56% none. There is no specific impact in relation to religion and believe. Sexual Orientation The council has duty of care toward all its workers, and in terms of the Public Sector Equality Duty The Council's sexual orientation profile concludes that 0.81% of the workforce have declared LGB and 18.26% as heterosexual with 80.41 unknown There is no specific impact on Sexual Orientation. Actions Policy has a negative impact on an equality group,but is still to be implemented, please provide justification for this. No negative impact on a specific group has been identified. Will the impact of the policy be monitored and reported on an ongoing bases? The data on workforce reduction in line with this policy will be monitored and reported on an on-going basis through the Chief Officer - People &Technology or suitable alternative forum. Q7 What is you recommendation for this policy? Intoduce Please provide a meaningful summary of how you have reached the recommendation EIA 764: It is important that there is a transparent framework in place to manage redundancy situations that is in line with legal requirements. Whilst the overarching aim is to avoid a redundancy situation, this framework, should it be required, will ensure fairness, consistency and application of process to mitigate legal risk. It is on that basis that that it is recommended that the policy is introduced. We are aware from the workforce profile data that the majority of the workforce are female and
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clustered within the age category 50-59. However, this framework incorporates approached inline with the Equality Act which will provide additional protection and compensation for those protected characteristics as outlined in section 2 of the EIA, including disabled employees. Services who are implementing the redundancy policy and procedure will be required to undertake a equality impact assessment of their specific proposal, and monitoring of actual impacts.