Continuous service in local government

beam_me_up787

I'm hoping someone on here can help me.

I am due to start a new local government job shortly and have managed to successfully negotiate additional holiday entitlement due to previous local government service. Instead of the normal 26 days for new starters (plus bank holidays), 31 days has been agreed applicable for employees after five years. I have 13 years prior service in a comparable role.

My query relates to sick leave. I assumed that in the same manner as holiday entitlement my previous service could be included. This would mean six months full pay + six months half pay. However when I emailed my new employer's HR dept to check my understanding was correct they replied saying because there was a break between roles of more than seven days (I took voluntary redundancy from my previous employer last Autumn) I do not have continuous service and therefore in terms of sick pay I am treated as a new starter. This means a significantly lower entitlement of one month full pay + two months half pay.

To be honest I'm struggling to get my head around the positive outcome in terms of holiday but not sick leave. Is it due to the distinction between reckonable & continuous service? I've seen guidance for NHS organisations where a break of up to 12 months is allowed for sick pay purposes (see link below). Not sure if local government arrangements are expected to mirror NHS terms? My 10 month break would qualify on this basis.

https://faq.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/knowledgebase/article/KA-23759/en-us

The issue of sick pay is pertinent having been in remission following treatment for cancer in 2019-20. My new employer is aware of this as per OH assessment during pre-employment checks. The clinician indicated in her report that I'm protected under disability provisions of the Equality Act.

Any thoughts / suggestions? As you can probably tell, I'm considering responding to HR to challenge their position as there does seem to be some ambiguity. I will however await advices first.

Thanks in advance.

lincroft1710

I doubt there is any correlation between local government and NHS employment conditions. I understand conditions can actually vary from council to council. 


I was in the Civil Service (central government) and as far as I can recall there were differences between CS and LG employment conditions.


I would be wary about pressing the sick leave allowance too hard as HR may turn round and rescind the extra A/L allowance. 

beam_me_up787

Thank you lincroft1710, that's helpful. My 31 days holiday is firmly stated in my contract that I've signed and I start on Monday so I'll see how things go and perhaps raise internally if it feels appropriate. The recruiting manager is going to want to discuss any reasonable adjustments needed arising from the OH assessment which might be a good time. I'm curious to find out if they actually have a formal continuous service policy in place!

Thanks again

Undervalued

beam_me_up787 said:

Thank you lincroft1710, that's helpful. My 31 days holiday is firmly stated in my contract that I've signed and I start on Monday so I'll see how things go and perhaps raise internally if it feels appropriate. The recruiting manager is going to want to discuss any reasonable adjustments needed arising from the OH assessment which might be a good time. I'm curious to find out if they actually have a formal continuous service policy in place!

Thanks again

Even if they do there is no legal requirement to follow the "policy" in every case. There will be some discretion available to offer individual posts on both enhanced and sometimes reduced terms. Unless it could be argued that the reason for the difference amounted to unlawful discrimination, on one of the handful of protected grounds (e.g race, religion, disability, gender etc - and even then there are lawful exceptions), then it is purely a matter for negotiation of contract terms.

Cromwell77

wow I am amazed that any employer private or state will pass any continuous benefits on after someone has taken voluntary redundancy, I am also amazed that six months full and six month half sick pay is given you will not get that anywhere in the private sector no wonder our taxes have had to go up so much !