HElp needed: Redeployment after secondment

orangesmartie

Hi All,

Not sure where is the correct place to post this so I'll start here.

I am employed by a PCT that is remaining as a provider arm and its commissioning staff will be TUPE'd into the cluster arrangement at some point soon. I am a member of commissioning team staff.

In 2008 I went on secondment from my post in commissioning to a social enterprise company that provides NHS primary care services. The secondment has rolled over for three years with the agreement of all parties.

Due to the reforms, uncertainty and financial pressures my secondment company is unable to offer me a substantive contract, so now I have to return to the PCT.

The terms of the secondment were that I would have the right of return to the PCT, but not to my substantive post (fair enough, I've been away 3 years). This means the PCT have to find me a job commensurate with my grade, pay, skills, status etc of the post I left.

My substantive role was based in HQ and no travel to other locations was required other than for meetings. Our PCT did have a small geographical area. With part of the reorganisation, our PCT has become responsible for provider services in a much wider geographical area.

I met with HR recently who have told me that:
- I can be redeployed into a job that is outside of the boundaries of our original geographical area
- If business insurance is required for my car I am responsible for providing it and paying for it, regardless of the fact it was not required previously
- If I deem all jobs offered unsuitable on objective grounds, after 12 weeks they can put me in 'any job' rather than terminate my employment
- essentially they will only redeploy against the skills/experience I had in 2008 and will not take into account anything I have done in the intervening years (on secondment I was working on a higher grade with more responsibility and autonomy)

Overall I (subjectively) felt the tone of the interview was I should be grateful for any job they offer me and accept it without hesitation. The HR advisor was rather patronising (i felt) and spoke to me like I was 6 and had difficulty understanding her (I don't).

With regard to the travelling outside location point, I am happy to travel. In my current job I can travel up to 100 miles in a day (pool cars) therefore that is not an issue. However in completing the paperwork I said that I would not accept a blank acceptance of outside travel, that it had to be a negotiation. Obviously if it was my dream job then travel is no problem. If its a job they are forcing me into then I would have an issue and would want to discuss it. Really I did not want her putting down anything on paper that I wanted negotiation on as a blanket answer because I know they would hold me to it later on.

I've been to the ACAS website etc and made a note of what terms can be considered unsuitable in redeployment.

Anyway (this has turned out rather long winded), I'm not sure exacly of the advice I'm looking for. Perhaps a reassurance that they cannot force me into any old job after 12 weeks and they can't force me to travel outside of the geographical area stated in my contract and whether they can force to pay for additional insurances that were not required previous to secondment. Also any advice on how to handle this situation would be grateful, I feel very much the little person in this situation.

I am also concerned that they will put in a job which I will find boring/dull/repetative etc and will then leave. This will enable them to reduce their headcount (as per ConDem reforms) without having to pay out on redundancy.

I am in a union but frankly they are pointless - they are supporting the whole management restructure, despite the fact a lot of people will lose out according to the small print. Not only that, but our rep always seems to be on leave or away at conferences and never actually in the office.

For what its worth I met with the chief exec of my secondment company yesterday who said all sorts of nice things about not really wanting to lose me but the budget deficit has to be addressed (i'm not the only person having secondments/short term contracts ended). He also said that he wants me to keep in touch as he intends to offer me a job as soon as things pick up again (we'll see about that!). He also said he would telephone and write to my line manager at the PCT, and the chief exec stating he feels that I need to be in a post with more responsibility and that the last trhee years needs to be taken into account. Our organisation and the PCT work very closely together and my chief exec is very well regarded so I hope that may carry some weight.

Sorry for the long and rambling post. I think I am after some reassurance, but am grateful for any advice on handling this situation that may be offered.

Savvy_Sue

I'd have said talk to the union. I wonder, if the rep isn't in the office much, could you phone the regional or head office and say that in the absence of your rep, you wanted to clarify ... I'd go for main points rather than the fine detail, like can they force you to take any job after 12 weeks?

Andy_L

At the end of the day, what do you want? The redundancy payoff, a similiar job to what you had before or any old job?

"
I met with HR recently who have told me that:
- I can be redeployed into a job that is outside of the boundaries of our original geographical area
- If business insurance is required for my car I am responsible for providing it and paying for it, regardless of the fact it was not required previously
- If I deem all jobs offered unsuitable on objective grounds, after 12 weeks they can put me in 'any job' rather than terminate my employment"

Unfortunatly they all depend on your contract.

Does it have a "mobility obligation" that requires you to work nationwide/within the PCTs area?
Does it require you to do any job commesurate with grade?
The business insurance is something of a red herring, the basic "business use insurance" (ie not carrying customers/patients/equipment at your risk) is generally free/so cheap that its easily covered by the mileage allowance. Of course, its quite possible that you don't have a car that's avaliable for use :-)

hcb42

I was going to say the same about business car insurance, that is a non issue.

I think they are being pretty fair overall though, many other employers people do not have the luxury.

Good luck finding the right post

orangesmartie

Thanks Sue, Andy, HCB for your thoughts.

My contracts states mobility within the geographical area (it states exactly the area) - it doesn't say within PCT area which has recently broadened. The geographic area was our previous PCT boundary.

Terms of return from secondment require a job commensurate with grade, skills, experience and responsibility as the substantive post that was left prior to secndment. The 'any job' after 12 weeks wouldn't necessarily be commensurate with any of these.


Thanks for your input - it helps to get a different perspective I think my fear is just being pushed into a lower grade job which I will hate. I am open minded about what comes along though - never know where the opportunities lie.

KiKi

Hi OP

I think you'll find that everything they're doing is absolutely legal, and I would say more than fair. You've been on secondment for three years, and they have a responsibility to put you back into a job according to your substantive role.

You've been lucky to be in a higher grade role, but it was only ever for a secondment, and only for a period of time - you would have known that when you took the secondment, and you knew your substantive role was a lower grade. Unfortunately, after 3 years, it is of course very easy to feel that you have a greater entitlement to more (I would!), but the reality is that your substantive grade is lower.

That's the risk of long secondments - your job won't be available (or even there) so you may have to go back to a role you don't want to. They have a responsibility to redeploy you, but at the end of the day if it's a job you don't want, I'm afraid that's tough. From their perspective, why should they pay you a redundancy package when they have a job for you?

If they offer you, say, 5 roles which are commensurate with your substantive role's experience, and you turn all 5 down, I think it's quite fair that they just pick a role for you. Most people don't get the luxury of picking and choosing jobs, so if you really don't like any of them, then you should move on.

I'm really sorry, I don't mean that to sound harsh, just pointing out the realities of secondments and redeployments. I've been in your position, I didn't like the offer they were making, so I quit!

ETA - regarding posts about your contract, it's unlikely to be in there - the PCT's Organisational Change Policy will have the details around whether or not they can put you in any role after 12 weeks, and I doubt they'd have told you this if it wasn't the case. Public Sector re-orgs are often a nightmare, but the rules are usually crystal clear and adhered to very strongly.

KiKi

orangesmartie

Thank Kiki, not harsh at all a fair summary. Thanks

fluffy70

re your union rep..... there will be more than one rep in the PCT, you don't have to use any particular one. If you call your branch office they will find one for you. I frequently take on cases as a union steward to represent employees in completely different areas of our employer, as well as link employers. It would be a dull day when I could only represent the 25 people in our team!