Organisational Change Policy

Term

Definition

Organisational change

(Major change)

Any revision to the way in which a service is provided, which has significant implications for staff. Some examples are:

• Relocation of service/s
• Changes in operating hours
• Merging services
• Closure of service or unit
• Provision of new service/s
• Expansion/ Reduction of existing service/s
• Restructuring
• Changes to skill and grade mix
• Introduction of new technology

Minor change

Where there is no change to contractual terms and conditions and where a substantial part of the employee’s experience at work is unchanged. Some examples are:

• Variations to working patterns
• Line management structures

Lead manager

The individual who has responsibility for leading the day to day planning and management of change. The lead manager may require a project group, or project manager to assist them and will be supported by the relevant HR School Team. Final responsibility for decision making rests with the Head of Institution (or equivalent).

Consultation

Consultation is the process by which information, perspectives and ideas are shared in order to inform decisions about changes. It needs to be meaningful, and views submitted during consultation need to be considered and responded to.

Employee Representatives

Individuals acting on behalf of a group of employees, these can either be:

• trade union representative(s), or
• elected employee representatives (if the employees in the affected staff group are not represented by a recognised trade union, and more than 20 staff are affected by the change).

Where less than 19 staff are affected by the change there might not be an employee representative; in this case consultation would be directly with the affected employees

Change period

Is the total number of days between the start of the consultation period and the end of the implementation preparation of the change process. The duration is dependent on the number of employees affected as per section 3.1.7 of the Policy.

Redundancy

Legally, redundancy is one of the potentially fair reasons for dismissal set out in the Employee Rights Act 1996. A genuine redundancy situation only exists when it is caused by:

• Closure of a business. There will be a redundancy situation if an employer ceases, or intends to cease, to carry on the business for the purposes for which an employee was employed.
• Closure of a particular workplace. There will be a redundancy situation if an employer ceases, or intends to cease, to carry on the business at the place of work at which an employee was employed.
• Diminished need (or an expected diminished need) for employees to carry out work of a particular kind or to carry out work of a particular kind at the place where the employee was employed. This may cover a number of scenarios, including where:
  • The employer requires fewer employees to do the same amount of work.
  • There is less work available.
  • The employer no longer requires employees to do the work because of, for example, the introduction of new technology.

Termination Date

The date on which the individual's employment ends.

Alternative employment

Where a new job is offered to a potentially redundant employee before their current job comes to an end. The offer of alternative employment should be made before the employee’s existing role ends and should commence within four weeks of the termination date of the old job.

Trial Period

As per section 4.10 of the Policy, where an employee is offered suitable alternative employment, the appointment of the individual will be subject to a trial period. This is a statutory provision enabling both the employee and the organisation to assess whether or not the post is genuinely suitable for the employee.

The termination date for the purposes of calculating redundancy pay in these circumstances will be the date on which the employee's original job ended (and not the date that marked the end of the trial period).

PILON (Payment In Lieu Of Notice)

Where an employee is not required to work their contractual notice period and instead receives a payment equal to their base pay (subject to tax and NI) which would have been paid had they worked their notice period.