Training For Agency and Fixed-Term Contract Staff PDF 58 KB

Public Accounts and Audit Select Committee
25th April 2012
Title: Training For Agency and Fixed-Term Contract Staff
Report of: Cabinet Member for Customer Services & HR
Open
For Information
Wards Affected: All Key Decision: No
Report Author: Divisional Director HR and OD
Contact Details:
02082273113
Accountable Divisional Director: Divisional Director HR and OD
Accountable Director: Chief Executive
martin.rayson@lbbd.gov.uk
Summary: The paper sets out the policy in respect of training agency and other
temporary staff. In respect of agency workers we would expect the supplier to ensure
that workers are fully trained and we would merely induct them in the policies and
procedures for the Council. For temporary staff, we need to ensure that they can
deliver services safely and to the standards expected of the Council. Such staff also
have certain legal rights to access learning and development opportunities. We need
to make sure that those staff are inducted appropriately into the Council. It would not
normally be the practice to give access to external courses leading to qualifications.
An analysis of our training records suggests that the policy is being applied
appropriately.
Recommendation(s)
The Committee are asked to note the report
Reason(s)
N/A

Introduction
1.1 This report has been produced in response to the PAASC Chairman’s request
for a report to cover the following:
• The total overall cost of training agency and fixed-term contract staff in the
previous year, or further if records allow
• The rationale for approving the training.
• Why staff without the requisite training/expertise are employed on a temporary
basis.
• Funding arrangements (if training cost is split with an agency provider, for
example)
• The type and level of training undertaken. i.e. are we funding degrees/masters
level training for temporary staff.
• The benefit to the council of providing this training / the obligation to provide
this training for compliance etc.
• Private sector / other LA practices?
• Any other relevant area you think would be beneficial to cover in relation to
this query.
1.2 This report outlines our current approach to the provision of training for a
group of employees and workers who are engaged on a non-permanent
contract basis:
• employees engaged directly for a short period , or
• casual workers, or
• agency workers supplied by an ‘employment agency’ or by an ‘employment
business’
• or employees engaged directly on a fixed-term contract
1.3 Corporate training records are maintained through Oracle Learning
Management, a course booking, recording and administrative system. This
report is focused on the costs of providing training courses and qualification
courses to agency workers and temporary staff. To give some context to
report the overall spend on learning and development activities for the whole
Council has been £1.6m in 2011/12 and £2.1m in the 2010/11 financial year.
In 2011/12 this equates to around £430 per head.
2. Employees engaged directly for a short period – temporary staff and
fixed-term contracts
2.1 These may be employees engaged in a range of positions – from
administrative, front-line to professional level. The length of employment or
term of the contract would vary in some cases may be more than a year. The
current data provided to Members (through Informal Cabinet) and to Trade
Unions has for example an employee on a 4 year fixed-term contract (through
a grant-funded partnership arrangement).

2.2 While it would be expected that minimum levels of skills and experience would
be assessed at the recruitment and selection stage, like all employees who
work for the Council there would be specific requirements on keeping skills up
to date and ensuring robust induction arrangements to our standards and
expectations.
2.3 As a minimum this would include:
• Induction – manager-led
• Health and Safety Training
• Mandatory management training (if managing people)
• Safeguarding (particularly if working in social care, and with children and
vulnerable adults).
• New systems and processes – such as the use of Oracle self-service
• Service specific requirements – including any legislative changes
2.4 For employees on fixed-term contracts, access to training would be covered
by the Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment)
Regulations which were introduced in 2002. While the employer can
“objectively justify” unequal treatment, they are unlikely to be able to rely on
cost alone to justify not providing access to training. It would certainly be
possible to put forward a defence that an employee on a 6 month contract
would not have access to a long-term qualification course. It would be difficult
to defend no access to developmental courses.
2.5 Our corporate training records on Oracle Learning Management shows the
training provided to temporary employees in 2010/11 and 2011 to date, fall
into the category of:
• Health and Safety Training
• Service Standards and Practices
• Child and Adult Protection/Safeguarding
• New Council systems – I-Procurement
• Equalities and Diversity (there has been considerable change as a result of
the Equality Act)
• Induction/Service Updates
There are a small number who have attended staff wellbeing courses such as
managing personal money and interview skills. This equates to approximately
£1,000 from 2010 to date.
2.6 In terms of qualifications, an audit took place in August 2011 to ascertain
what courses were being undertaken and no temporary staff were being
sponsored by the Council.
3. Agency Workers
3.1 The Agency Workers’ Regulations came in on 1 October 2011. This has
largely clarified the position around agency workers’ access to training and

other workplace entitlements. There is no entitlement for agency workers to
access training we provide to our staff.
3.2 It also re-affirmed the need for the hirer (the Council) to specify the
experience, training, qualification considers necessary, or which are required
by law or any professional body in order to work in the position. Temporary
Worker Agencies are not allowed by law to provide an agency worker unless
the hirer has specified this.
3.3 Our arrangements for how we ensure that agency workers are inducted are
externally assessed as part of the Investors in People Reviews (last review
took place in October 2011). The External Assessors interview a sample of
agency workers who have been with us for more than 12 weeks to ensure that
there are robust arrangements in place.
3.5 Developmental training is not provided to agency workers, but we have a duty
to make sure that we provide safe workplaces, and ensure safety of our
customers when receiving our services. For example, for any agency
cleaners that we employ, we ensure that they know how to use the Council’s
equipment safely and are aware of the requirements around the use and
storage of chemicals. We also need to ensure that agency workers are
provided with sufficient knowledge about the systems, policies, procedures
that we have in the Council. There is e-learning available for all employees or
workers who have an lbbd.gov e-mail domain and access to information
security/data protection is freely available. This report has not identified the
number of agency workers who accessed that particular e-learning.
3.6 While we can expect when hiring agency workers (and our contract will state
this), that they meet our minimum requirements in relation to experience,
training and qualifications they do not in most cases come with the specific
knowledge about working in the Council.
3.7 From our Corporate Oracle training records the only training provided to
agency workers in 2010/11 and 2011 to date was a recruitment and selection
refresher training course, at approximately £50 in value.
3.9 Training for agency workers is left to the discretion of line managers who have
the responsibility to authorise training through the Oracle Learning
Management approval arrangements. An agency worker training and
development protocol was produced in 2008 for the Investors in People
Review and was used to guide our practice at the time. It is currently being
reviewed and will be incorporated in the revised Learning and Development
Plan which is due to be finalised in the next month. Line managers make
decisions on any training required by Agency Workers within the framework of
the agreed policy.
3.10 If there are requests from agency workers for developmental training or
practice training where the manager would normally expect the agency worker
to already have those skills and experience, in most cases these are declined.
The agency worker is referred to the agency for funding. In practice we are

not aware of agencies meeting requests for funding for LBBD courses,
although they may be arranging for the training to be provided elsewhere.
3.11 Agency workers are entitled to specific rights under the Agency Worker
Regulations, and this includes Health and Safety at Work. We are required
under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health
and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 to ensure that we provide the
appropriate instructions, readily understandable information and training that
people need. The need for training would normally be identified through a risk
assessment undertaken by the line manager.
3.12 Everyone who works for the Council needs to know how to work safely and
without risks to health. This includes contractors and self-employed people
who may be working for us and in particular we are required to ensure that
everyone has information on:
• hazards and risks they may face
• measures in place to deal with those hazards and risks
• how to follow any emergency procedures
Health and safety training if required and deemed necessary should take
place during working hours and it must not be paid for by employees.
3.13 As referred to in 2.6, an audit of qualification courses took place in Summer
2011. No agency workers were sponsored by the Council. It is the normal
policy of the Council to not sponsor qualification courses for agency workers.
Casual Employees
4.1 Genuine casual employees – i.e. deployed “as and when required”, would not
normally receive any training. The only exception to this would be managerled
induction which would include a first day Health and Safety induction, as
well as sufficient instruction and on-the-job training to work safely and to
deliver high quality services to our residents.
5. Apprentices
5.1 A number of apprentices are employed by the Council on one year contracts.
The specific intention of apprenticeships is to provide on the job training and
access to NVQs.
5.2 NVQs are fully funded via the relevant training provider, the training provider
would draw this money down from the Skills Funding Agency. The rate of
funding varies depending on the qualification.
5.3 Any additional training offered is provided by the Council through employing
departments. Bespoke induction and health and safety training is provided to
apprentices. A breakdown of recorded training is provided:
• Health and Safety Training Courses

• Safeguarding
• Corporate Induction
• Equalities and Diversity Training Courses
• Departmental Updates
• Service Specific Training
• System training (I-procurement and Excel)
• Interview Skills
• Money Advice Sessions
5.4 The cost to the Council for 2011/12 (to date) is £6,070 and 2010/11 £2,470
approximately.
5.5 From the Audit of Sponsored Qualifications undertaken in 2011, the following
have been provided on a day-release basis:
NVQ Level 2 Business Administration: 6
NVQ Level 3 Business Administration: 2
NVQ Level 2 Swimming- Lifeguarding: 4
NVQ Level 3 IT: 1
NVQ Level 2: Health and Social Care: 6
Since then a new group of apprentices have been appointed who are
undertaking a range of NVQs.
6. Practice in Other Places
6.1 Where there are legal obligations on employers around access to learning and
development, we would expect other employers to comply. The policy of those
Councils who we have spoken to is similar to our own. They expect agency
workers who are supplied to be ready to work. They will induct temporary staff
and, depending on the length of the temporary contract, staff will have access
to the learning and development they need to be effective in their role.
7. Options Appraisal
7.1 Our policy on training for agency workers and temporary staff is based on
legal obligations, as well as our commitment as an employer to our staff and
as a service provider, to our customers. We expect all managers to take
decisions based on our policies. Audits are undertaken periodically to ensure
compliance. The alternative approach would be to centralise decisions on
learning and development, which runs counter to our approach which requires
and enables managers to take decisions in respect of the resources for which
they are responsible. Capacity within HR would also preclude a centralised
approach.

8. Financial Implications
8.1 Budgets for learning and development are devolved to line managers to
enable them to take decisions which ensure that services are provided as
efficiently and effectively as possible. Managers are expected to manage
within budgets allocated.
8.2 The total spend on learning and development is included at paragraph 1.3.
Spend on the various categories of temporary staff is included in the main
body of the report.
8.3 The training budget for 2012/13 is £1.875m which is a reduction from the
2011/12 budget of £2.229m. The budget was re-profiled in 2012/13 due to a
reduction of expenditure in 2011/12.
9. Legal Implications
9.1 The legal position on the training of staff, which underpins the policies
adopted by the Council is referred to in the main body of the report.
10. Background Papers Used in the Preparation of the Report:
None
List of appendices:
Appendix A – London Borough of Barking & Dagenham – Agency Workers
Training & Development

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Agency Workers Training and Development
Appendix A
• Agency workers are hired on the presumption that their agency is supplying
someone with the appropriate knowledge, skills and qualifications to fulfil the
role on a short term basis. Where such workers are found to be lacking the
essential knowledge, skills and qualifications this should be raised with the
agency concerned.
• When hiring agency workers the manager must specify the skills,
qualifications and experience required (normally providing a job description
and person specification).
• To fulfil LBBD’s legal requirements (for example under Health and Safety) we
must ensure that all agency workers have some form of local induction and
introduction to LBBD practices, probably at a minimum through on the job
coaching. Access to mandatory training may also be necessary to ensure
that the agency workers are aware of the Council’s standards.
• If the above are correctly implemented then it is highly unlikely that LBBD will
need to provide agency workers, who are with us for less than three months,
with anything else.
• In exceptional circumstances agency workers will have to work for LBBD for
more than three months. All such cases have to be approved by the
appropriate DMT and this is monitored. Agency workers engaged for more
than 3 months should have regular supervision to make sure that their work is
properly focussed and to identify any barriers to optimum performance. This
does not mean that agency workers are treated as Council employees, but
ensures that there is appropriate direction, no impact on the level of service
provided to our residents, and the outlay in agency fees is properly managed.
• There will be no support for developmental/professional/major training eg
qualifications, certificates, diplomas and professional qualifications eg Social
Work qualifications and CIPFA.
• Requests for developmental training should be referred by the agency worker
to the agency to fund access to LBBD courses or other appropriate training
providers.