The 2015/2016 Service Plan for the
Human Resources Service
Kerry Shorrocks – Corporate Human Resources Manager
Executive Member – Cllr Lynda Needham
NORTH HERTFORDSHIRE DISTRICT COUNCIL
The 2015/16 Service Plan for Human Resources
The service plan is a key component of NHDC’s Corporate Business Planning Process. It supports the delivery of the Priorities for the District, and the delivery of the day-to-day business activities of the Council, within agreed budgets.
These plans, specific to each service cannot be written in isolation. The Senior Management Team works together to identify areas where synergy, cross authority working or additional skills or temporary resource may be required to deliver an individual project. The service plans will provide the detailed actions which ensure delivery of the priorities.
The Council’s three priorities form the basis of the corporate business planning process from 2015/16. These will be the areas on which the Council will concentrate resources and activities for delivery.
Actions arising from the corporate business planning process will feed into personal objectives for individual members of staff via appraisals and 1:1 meetings. The clear lines of responsibility, outcomes and target dates will be monitored as part of the Council’s project governance and performance management reporting.
As part of the Corporate Business Strategy, this service plan should also outline any service area that Corporate Board have indicated will be subject to review in 2015/16.
The following are descriptions of the Council’s priorities:-
Priority
Promoting Sustainable Growth
North Herts is recognised as one of the best places to live in the country (town and country, good family homes, diversity of the towns, low crime rates and strong commuting links) but with dwindling resources from central government, the Council needs to consider how to generate additional income to protect and enhance what we already have. At national level, the changes to the local government funding system are all about a growth agenda, be that business growth or housing growth since the two are inextricably linked. A balance also needs to be struck between growth and the environment we live in so that the lifestyle we all enjoy is sustainable for us and for future generations.
Working with our communities
As a Council we need to listen to what people tell us is most important and a priority to them, and tailor the services provided so that our limited resources are concentrated on the things that matter to our communities. This will inevitably bring challenges as there will be many different opinions about the allocation of resources, prioritisation will differ even in the same community, and it will be difficult to steer a course through the competing opinions to deliver the outcome that is best for North Herts.
Living within our means
The means at the Council’s disposal is not just about money but is also about other resources such as people, knowledge, investments and land and buildings. The Council needs to ensure it is getting the most from all of its resource even if that means radical changes to what is done and how it is done. The aim has to be to stand on our own with little or no government assistance.
Contents
1. Introducing the service
2. Where are we now?
3. Where do we need to be? 4. How do we get there?
5. How do we know we are there?
6. Assurance Framework
Appendices
A. Service Action Plan B. Assurance Statement C. PESTLE analysis guidance D. PI Target setting
E. SWOT analysis guidance F. Budget details
1. INTRODUCING THE SERVICE
Head of Service /Corporate Manager: Kerry Shorrocks
Executive Member: Councillor Lynda Needham
Service Managers: HR Operations Manager - Rebecca Webb
Learning & Employee Engagement Manager - Victoria Jobling Senior HR and Contracts Manager – Maggie Williams
Number of FTE’s: 7.57 plus 1 FTE HR Intern from the Apprentice/Intern budget.
1.1 The purpose of the Team
The purpose of the Human Resources Service is to Provide:-
• A Learning, Development and Employee Engagement Service.
• Payroll and provision of management information managed by an outsourced
service delivered by Serco through the HCC framework agreement.
• Recruitment & other HR transactional services.
• Providing policy and employment law advice to managers and staff.
• Managing employee records and personal information, all personal files are held
electronically.
• Delivery of a People Strategy that incorporates the Councils Workforce
Development Plan.
• Corporate projects/support, this is mainly provided by the CHRM and Service
Managers, it includes, Senior Management Team, Directorate Management Team, Staff Consultation Forum, Trade Union Consultation, Health and Safety Committee, Office Accommodation Project support and the Senior Managers Group.
• Hrhelp by e-mail is the best way to access HR Services and Hrhelp telephone and
email processes are the work of the whole HR team.
1.2 How the service links to Our Priorities
The service areas link with the Priorities and Continuous Improvement in the following ways:-
Service Area Category* Priority Link to Priority
CHRM Discretionary non
core
Living within our means
HR support the achievement of this priority in many ways, by improving leadership behaviours, recruitment and retention, employee relations,
performance management, developing skills and promoting the values of the organisation. Through these drivers the employees of the authority are better placed to deliver the priorities. HR Payroll Statutory/Mandatory Living within our
means HR Learning and
Development
Discretionary non core
Living within our means
HR Employee Relations
Discretionary non core
Living within our means HR Recruitment and HR Administration Discretionary non core
Living within our means
*Category
Statutory/Mandatory – NHDC has a statutory duty to provide this service
Discretionary Core – NHDC has the power to provide this service. It either supports the delivery of front line services or generates a net income for NHDC.
Discretionary non core – Discretionary services that do not directly support any other front-line. Council service.
1.3 Budget
2. WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Baseline assessment of service
2.1 Performance Profile
The performance indicators for the service areas set out how well the service is currently performing against a range of criteria, measures, targets and customer expectations. The performance indicators below are reported to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and in addition to these, there are management information indicators that are used to ensure the service strives to improve or deliver services more efficiently.
PI Description Annual 2014/15 Target Full Year Data Status
BV12 Working days due to sickness absence No target
5.23
days N/A
BV12a Working days due to short-term sickness
absence 3.5 days
2.83
days Green
BV12b Working days due to long-term sickness absence No target 2.40
days N/A
BV11a Top 5% of Earners: Women No target 40.81% N/A
BV11b Top 5% of Earners: Ethnic Minorities No target 6.8% N/A
BV11c Top 5% of Earners: With a Disability No target 20.41% N/A
BV12CEX
Working days due to sickness absence – Chief Executive
No target 1.66 days
N/A
BV12CS Working days due to sickness absence – Customer Services
No target 4.74 days
N/A BV12FPG Working days due to sickness absence –
Finance, Policy & Governance
No target 4.63 days
N/A
BV12PHE Working days due to sickness absence – Planning, Housing and & Enterprise
No target 6.97 days
N/A
MI BV14 % of early retirements No target 0% N/A
MI BV15 % of ill health retirements No target 0% N/A
MI BV16a % of employees with a disability No target 4.45% N/A
MI BV16b % of North Herts economically active residents with a disability
No target
10.23% N/A
MI BV17a % of employees from ethnic minority communities
No target
6.23 N/A
MI BV17b % of North Herts residents from ethnic minority communities
No target
6.7% N/A
2.2 Public Perception
The customer’s perception of the service is analysed to ensure the service responds to feedback. This includes analyses of information obtained form the Council’s Compliments, Comments and Complaints process.
• The Staff Satisfaction Survey 2014 retuned a 78% overall Job satisfaction score despite a
long period of pay restraint.
• The Council also was successful in renewing our Investors in People for the whole
organisation accreditation, a standard we have held for 14 years.
• The Councils absence rates fell to a record low of 4.51 days per person in 12/13. 13/14 was
also a good year with absence ending up at 4.88 days per person and our success was covered by an article in the Municipal Journal. The measure for 14/15 concentrated on Short Term absence per person with a target of 3.5 days per person for 14/15 we finished over a half day under target at 2.83 days lost per person to Short Term absence, lower than 2012/13 and 13/14 at the same time of year. We did experience more cases of Long term sick in 14/15 than last year but it was expected.
• Turnover is also staying well under control with a rate of 12.5% Jan to December 2014
2.2 Key achievements and outcomes from 2014/15
Action Output Outcome
By far the most difficult and intensive project the team has had to manage due to the short period in which to achieve it was the project to outsource the payroll service by joining the Herts County Council Shared Managed Services Contract through the HCC framework agreement.
A cost effective and more resilient payroll service.
A cheaper and more resilient payroll service is in place. 2015
The payroll Contract is in place and two recent audits on the payroll service and payroll contract management achieved a substantial level of assurance. All projects in the 14/15 service
plan have been delivered highlights include the Apprentice Scheme, On-line Recruitment, Pension Auto Enrolment and Investors in People
reaccreditation.
Positive benefits for new and existing staff
Improved staff retention, staff demography, absence rates, satisfaction and productivity.
Action Output Outcome
Learning and Development 14/15 The Learning and Development team have delivered a huge range
of good value development
interventions and opportunities.
For example, a Regional
Coaching Scheme, an upgraded Learning Management System, Career Development and outplacement Support activities, a review of evaluation processes, support for the changes to the
local government pension
scheme, implementation of the
new outsourced HR Payroll
Service, Herts Member
Development joint programme and work with IT to provide learning and development support for several of their projects.
We continue to have a well trained and developed workforce
2015 Despite the HR Development Manager Liz Goddard moving on after 9 years in 2014 our succession planning in HR has led to Victoria Jobling taking on the new role of Learning & Employee Engagement
Manager. Katy Newman has retired as well and with more career development Helen Bylett has joined the team in a training officer role. Despite the changes the Learning and Development team have delivered a huge range of good value development interventions and opportunities. For example, IIP reaccreditation an effective Coaching Scheme, Career Development and Training for the new Payroll Service.
Employment Legislation Changes For 2015 A new Shared Parental Leave Policy has proven to be the most challenging piece of new
Employment Legislation. The
Compliance with changing
employment law requirements will protect the Council from expensive claims.
recently announced review of the designated Independent Person arrangements for statutory officers will also be a very challenging piece of work.
Employment Legislation Changes A new Right to Request Policy has been approved including flexible working and the right to request unpaid time off for training. We have extended the right to request flexible working to all staff.
This offers a valuable benefit to staff wishing to vary their hours or pattern of employment, but who are not defined as carers under the current legislation.
2015 The policy was developed and launched in 14/15
Recruitment We have worked with IT to design
and implement a new bespoke online recruitment system.
An efficient and user friendly recruitment service.
2015 We are now making progress with an online application form.
NHDC Benefits Extras These were launched in June
2013 incorporating a salary sacrifice bikes for work and childcare voucher scheme and a staff discounts scheme. Nine staff are now using Child Care
Vouchers and an excellent response was received for the bikes to work scheme with 14 staff signing up the bikes scheme will be offered again in Spring 2014.
Improved staff satisfaction and retention.
2015 We supported a finance led project to introduce a salary sacrifice lease car scheme for all staff to access. The scheme was launched in December but so far has not proved to be popular with staff. We have had the scheme in place for 6 months but as yet we have not had an order. Staff discounts continue to be popular and the latest addition to these is Discounts for the Careline Service. The Bikes for work scheme has been offered again in May 2015 and Flu Vaccinations were offered in September 2014
Apprentice and Intern Scheme The Apprentice and Intern
Scheme that started in late 2012, has proved to be a great success. Two excellent presentations were made by groups of apprentices and interns to SMG in October 2013 and JSCC in December 2013 these showed how well the scheme has developed. Feedback regarding the Apprentice Scheme has been very positive.
Giving local residents a good employment opportunity with potential for improved
demography in workforce profile and recruiting and retaining talented staff to develop for the future
2015 We have seen the scheme improve our demographic profile
by retaining a number of
apprentices in new roles and we are seeing these young people start their career development with us. Demand from Services has increased to such an extent that we will not be in a position to recruit further until some of the apprentices in post move on.
Flu vaccinations Flu vaccinations were offered for
the first time in October 2013 with over 100 staff taking up the offer. These will be offered annually
Absence levels are still very low The exercise was not targeted at absence reduction but it is hoped this will be an outcome of the
exercise.
2015 Flu vaccinations were offered again in September 2014 with an even higher take up than the year before and. it seems to be contributing to the low levels of absence.
The following actions were not delivered in 2014/15 and will be carried forward into the 2015/16 action plan
Action Original Due Date Revised Due Date
The review of terms and conditions was considered at a Corporate Board meeting in 14/15 It was decided that the need to do this will be revisited and the action will roll forward into the Refreshed 2015 – 2020 People Strategy.
March 2015 March 2016 or 2017
2.4 External Reviews
Investors in People was carried out in June 2014. The Council was successful in renewing our Investors in People for the whole organisation accreditation, a standard we have held for 14 years. The first audit on the new outsourced payroll service achieved a substantial level of assurance. The recent audit of payroll contract management also achieved a substantial level of assurance A recent finance audit included some aspects of payroll.
WHERE DO WE NEED TO BE?
What Why When
Managing the contract for the outsourced payroll service
To provide a cheaper and more resilient payroll service
delivery for 2015/16 onwards Continue to offer HR
services with a smaller leaner establishment from 14/15
To provide a cheaper and good quality HR Service From March 2015/16 onwards To support HR cost reductions - Access to HR Services
We are operating more efficiently using our HR help desk Hrhelp to improve access to our services and to route people to the lowest cost HR advice and support by contacting Hrhelp by e-mail.
From March 2015/16 onwards
HR Structure/Outsourcing and Shared Services
The HR Service is considerably leaner than it was at the start of the recession. The service Itself has undergone a number of efficiency restructures. The extensive review taken through to the business case stage to test whether HR should enter into a Shared Service
arrangement with East Hertfordshire and Stevenage in 2013 helped to show that the NHDC HR team was providing a far more extensive mature and professional service than the
other potential partners were. The projected five and ten year spend for the Council was predicted to be less than if it entered into a Shared Service and it was decided not to go ahead. The time and resources that went into this project were extensive and took up a huge amount of the teams time.
Following this project HR prepared an alternative savings proposal as a contingency for the shared services project not proceeding and £90,000 in savings from HR were put forward for 13/14. In 14/15 the payroll service was outsourced and another £20,000 per annum was saved.
HR was restructured in 14/15; this was achieved at no additional cost and is intended to retain the technical and professional staff in the team with both their professional knowledge, knowledge of local government and knowledge of North Herts District Council.
The Council faces the possibility of needing to save a further 6 million in efficiencies over the period of 2016 to 2020. This will mean ongoing reviews of staff and structures, terms and conditions, shared services projects more outsourced services and increased commercial opportunities to generate income. These projects will all require HR support.
A new Shared Services Project for HR in the form of Herts Civil Service is emerging and this will require the Council to decide if HR resources should be directed towards this project or whether the team should concentrate on the organisation changes ahead in a year where the office accommodation project and an organisational restructure are among its priorities.
The team does not have the capacity to concentrate on both the Councils transformation projects and an HR Shared Services project.
Office Accommodation
HR played an important part in the office accommodation project in 2010/2011, which resulted in the closure of Town Lodge and relocation of staff to the Council Offices.
This relied on the council introducing a full role out of home working achieved largely through the implementation of the Home-working Policy and processes for assessing job and domestic suitability of staff to home work as well as the contractual variations etc.
Phase two of the office accommodation project will now require the further temporary relocation of staff from the Council Offices to Town Lodge for a period of around six months whilst the
Council Offices are being refurbished. The migration of staff to Town Lodge is expected to begin in February/March 2016 and HR will be central to communications and support for staff as well as promoting the use of hot-desks and ensuring appropriate levels of home working are maintained that allow sufficient team presence and cover.
Any changes to service delivery which may be required following Localism Act or other changes required due to legislation/government
HR will ensure the service responds to update policy and practice in respect of any changes in Employment Legislation and other Government Regulations such as the publication of an Annual Pay Policy statement and Transparency and Freedom of Information regulations/ requirements. The recently announced review of the designated Independent Person arrangements for statutory officers will also be a very challenging piece of work.
In order to mitigate risks or improve governance arrangements the service needs to :-
• Complete agreed internal audit actions
• Ensure all documentation and IT records comply with the retention policy
• Ensure all relevant risks are identified, kept under review and efforts made to mitigate
• Financial risks identified to be included into the corporate business planning process. • Comply with transparency and other Government Regulations
HOW DO WE GET THERE?
This is the framework for action, with clear indications of what needs to be done, by when and who is responsible for doing them.
4.1 Detailed action plans
The main actions and planned outcomes are outlined in the HR Service Action Plan that is appended annually to the People Strategy and progress against it is reported quarterly to the JSCC. This includes the improvements required to service delivery identified by external reviews, internal audits, risk management and Assurance actions, legislative changes as well as key projects. It has been colour coded to show why the action is required.
This service plan predominantly focuses on actions to be delivered in 2015/16 but certain actions that impact on the service beyond this timeframe have been included with milestones to indicate the anticipated delivery date.
These need to be living plans, with performance, milestones and targets updated regularly, in the context of team meetings as well as during appraisals and 1:1’s.
The Service Action Plan is attached as Appendix A.
4.2 Risk & Opportunities
A new Shared Services Project for HR in the form of Herts Civil Service is emerging and is both a risk and an opportunity. This will require the Council to decide if HR resources should be directed towards this project or whether the team should concentrate on the organisation changes ahead in a year where the office accommodation project and an organisational restructure are among its priorities.
The team does not have the capacity to concentrate on both the Councils transformation projects and an HR Shared Services project within current resources.
5. HOW DO WE KNOW WE ARE THERE?
Accurate and reliable information is important to ensure the Council can measure how well it is achieving its goals. The information held by the Service is accurate, reliable, timely, consistent, relevant, secure and of high quality to meet the needs of our partners, residents and fulfil audit and inspection requirements.
Progress against the Priorities for the District is reported to Overview & Scrutiny Committee
Budget monitoring reports are submitted to Cabinet on a quarterly basis and include information on our key financial health indicators.
In preparing the Service Plan local performance indicators have been considered and their continuing use reviewed and/or new indicators have been introduced with details as follows: In preparing the Service Plan local performance indicators have been considered and their continuing use reviewed and/or new indicators have been introduced with details as follows: Our main PI for 2014/15 will be sort term absence moving away from BV12 which is the total of long and short term absence. Short term absence figures for each year from 2008/9 to 2013/14 are as follows:- 2009 – 5.07 days pp 2010 – 3.60 days pp 2011 – 3.88 days pp 2012 – 3.36 days pp 2013 – 3.09 days pp 2014 – 2.83 days pp
We will also continue to use the currentlocal performance indicators.
BV11 a,b and c - The percentage of the top 5% of earners that are women, are from an ethnic minority group or are disabled.
BV 14 and 15 percentage of Early and Ill Health Retirements.
BV 16 and 17 Percentage of staff that are from an ethnic minority group or are disabled The performance measures for each of the Service indicators have been reviewed and are attached in the appendices. These will be finalised,via the target setting workshop that includes consultation with members. The risks to the achievement of the targets have been evaluated and entered onto the Risk Register held on Covalent where necessary.
Performance against indicators is reported quarterly to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee. Where performance is below target Heads of Service/Corporate Managers are required to provide information as to what action is being taken to remedy the situation in order that members can review proposals for improving performance levels.
Every member of staff has an annual appraisal when individual performance is reviewed against individual objectives linked to the service plan. In addition managers are required to have a formal appraisal review every 6 months. This ensures delivery against the service plan is kept on track. The Council’s Top Risks are reported to the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee to ensure that risks are being identified and managed.
6. ASSURANCE FRAMEWORK
The Council has an assurance framework to map the Council’s priorities to risks, controls and assurances. An essential part of this framework is a Management Assurance Statement that is completed by all Heads of Service and Corporate Managers.
This Assurance Statement is a critical review of the service area against the Council’s Local Code of Corporate governance and provides evidence for the Annual Governance Statement published with the Council’s Annual Accounts.
