Introduction
Legacy Customs members have had experience of AHW for over nineteen years with guidance for the system being provided by G3-2. Throughout the previous discussions with management legacy Customs negotiators used G3-2 as a benchmark and this analysis compares the Department’s AHA policy with those G3-2 terms and conditions that legacy Customs members are entitled to retain under COSOP.
The analysis seeks to identify the differences both in financial and non-financial terms.
Financial Terms:
MODULE 1 – FLEXIBILITY AND PREDICTABILITY
In seeking to simply the system set out in G3-2, the Department has replaced the three component parts of flexibility – liability, contactability and incidence, with one, comprising of four bands. The new payment on offer includes contactability, in terms of notification of shift changes, as well as contact with outside agencies.
Flexibility and Predictability levels:
Four levels: A 1 to 24 changes 2%
B 25 to 49 changes 5%
C 50 to 75 changes 7.5%
D 76+ changes 10%
Flexibility – to compensate staff for the ability to vary the length of their attendance (on a daily/weekly/monthly basis) and/or working week and for managers to make contact with staff to advise of shift changes.
Predictability – to compensate staff for the ability of management to make changes to the individual’s roster at short notice and for managers to make contact with staff to advise of shift changes.
G3-2 Para 3.37 – Flexibility building block:
Flexibility is paid to compensate staff for changes to attendance at 7 days notice or less. The payment is made up of two main elements:
(a) liability to change attendance at short notice; and
(b) the incidence (the number) of such changes.
G3-2 Para 3.40 – Liability categories:
Category 1: 0%
Category 2: 1%
Category 3: 2%
Category 4: 3.5%
Category 5: 5.0%
G3-2 Para 3.42 – Category 5 staff: advice of short notice changes outside of work (1%)
In some areas, short notice advice of court appearances and other unpredictable demands by outside parties, or the Investigation Service or the Solicitors Office lead staff in Category 5 having to be contacted outside work hours to be advised of changes to planned attendance. Where this is a feature of the work, an additional 1% will be added to the liability payment.
G3-2 Para 3.46 – Table of incidence
% payment to each shift change from 1 (0.09%) to 75+ (6.50%)
MODULE 2 – ROSTERED SHIFT ALLOWANCE
The driver behind the Department’s proposals has been the desire to reward those members who work nights, arguably at the expense of those that do not. The proposals make no provision for intermediate rates.
Rates for Rostered Shift Allowance:
Four Bands: A – No nights (i.e shifts normally rostered for between the hours of 06.00 – 23.00hrs) or less than 1 in 10 rostered shifts are nights 5%
B – Night incidence as frequent as 1 in 10 but less frequent than 1 in 7 10%
C – Night incidence as frequent as 1 in 7 but less frequent than 1 in 4 15%
D – Night incidence at least as frequent as 1 in 4 20%
G3-2 Para 3.30 – SDA (Traditional): rates of payment (including intermediate rates)
(a) Standard rates. SDA consists of 3 basic rates based on the number of night attendances:
– night incidence at least as frequent as 1 in 4 20%
– night incidence as frequent as 1 in 8 but less frequent than 1 in 4 15%
– night incidence less frequent than 1 in 8 and shift rosters with no night incidence 12.5%
(b) Intermediate rates. The standard rates remain the same but Business Heads are given discretion to pay AHW staff intermediate rates of:
– night incidence 1 in 5 18.75%
– night incidence 1 in 6 17.5%
– night incidence 1 in 7 16.25%
In addition the Department use a different definition of “night time”, compared to that set out in G3-2.
Night time:
For the purposes of this policy a night is defined as working at least 3 hours during the period 2300 – 0600hrs.
G3-2 Para 6.10 – Definition of shift types
A “night shift” is: where staff work at least 4½ hours between 8 pm and 6 am
MODULE 3 – NIGHT DUTY PAYMENT
Due to the adoption of the Working Time Regulations as the basis for determining a night shift, the new policy does not provide remuneration for attendance between 8 pm and 11pm.
Night Duty Payment
This payment is made to jobholders who are not normally rostered to work nights (i.e. on less than 1 in 10 shifts), and would therefore not be deemed to work nights as a normal course or do not work at least 3 hours between the hours of 2300 – 0600hrs, but work some hours between 2300 – 0600.
The rates for night duty payment are based on an individual’s basic salary hourly rate (BSHR). The current rate for night duty hours is:
– Basic Standard Hourly Rate + 0.33 BSHR
G3-2 Para 6.22 – Night Duty Allowance (NDA)
If staff work during the hours of 8 pm and 6 am and they are:
– not on a shift roster; or
– on a shift roster but their rostered hours never vary during the shift cycle
They will be paid NDA at a percentage of their hourly plain time rate as follows:
– 8 pm – 11 pm 25% of PTR
– 11 pm – 6 am 33 1/3% PTR
MODULE 4 – PREMIUM HOURS (WEEKENDS AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS)
The Department’s proposals for weekend working have a neutral impact, providing that an equal number of Saturdays and Sundays continue to be purchased, or the needs of the Business does not skew attendance requirements to either day.
Rates for weekends and public holidays
The rates for weekends and public holidays are based on an individual’s basic salary hourly rate (BSHR).
The current rates are:
– Weekends BSHR + 0.75 BSHR
– Bank Holidays BSHR + 1.00 BSHR
G3-2 Para 3.32 – Payment for working weekends and public holidays
The premium to be paid is the same as outside AHW, i.e.
– 100% for Sunday and public holiday attendances; and
– 50% for Saturday attendance.
The new policy makes no provision for attendance on Christmas Day to be outside the AHW contract.
G3-2 Para 3.33 – Christmas Day (New Year’s Day In Scotland) arrangements
Before the start of each AHA Business Heads in consultation with the LTUS are to decide whether to exclude Christmas Day from the AHA and, instead to pay overtime to staff required to work on that day. AAA will not include payment for this attendance and annual target hours remain 2,104 (National) or 2,054 (London). Payment will be made at normal overtime rates (double time). No deduction is to be made from the annual hours target for the hours worked.
Note: Attendance on Christmas Day (New Year’s Day in Scotland) is in the first instance to be undertaken by volunteers. If, however, there are no volunteers, business mangers will need to fall back on the indicative pattern of attendance or roster and require staff to work on that basis.
MODULE 5 – ON CALL
The proposals for on call show an increase in what is currently paid under G3-2, but on call under the new system will not be pensionable.
Rates of on call allowances
– Weekday (12 hours) £12.00 per period
– Weekend/Privilege Day (24 hours) £30.00 per period
– Bank Holidays (24 hours) £48.00 per period
Current HMRC on call rates
– Weekday (12 hours) £8.00
– Weekend/Privilege Day (24 hours) £20.00
– Public Holiday (24 hours) £25.00
Pensionability of on call is covered in G3-2 Para 3.82.
Non-Financial Terms:
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Rest Days
The new policy states that, “Rest days are determined by the needs of the business and will normally be consecutive.”
G3-2 Para 3.5 (b) – Time off
Staff are entitled to two consecutive Schemed Rest Days (SRD’s) per week, although the needs of the work will determine exactly when they are taken.
Working week
The new policy states that, “For the purposes of Annualised Hours Working, Home Office policy is that the working week begins on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday.”
No such provision is contained within G3-2.
However, the adoption of the Sunday to Saturday policy means that a weekend cannot be used to provide two consecutive days off, as each day will fall into a different week.
ANNUAL AGREEMENTS
General principles and limits
There is no reference in the new policy to the avoidance of an excessive number of late and night attendances.
G3-2 Para 3.26(f) – General principles and limits
Business managers should ensure, wherever possible, that:
– excessive numbers of late and night attendances are to be avoided.
MANAGING AND MONITORING HOURS WORKED
‘In year’ reviews
The new policy does not contain any specific reference to variation limits, although the example given is based upon +/- 10%
G3-2 Para 3.18 (b) – Variation limits
A variation of up to plus or minus 10% of the accounting periods can be used.
Note: Managers are to ensure that every effort is made to stay within + or – 10% of the agreed hours during every mini accounting period. Managers are also reminded that the 10% ranges of agreed hours are in place to avoid staff being called upon to work excessively long hours particularly at locations affected by seasonal fluctuations in traffic.
Recording hours worked
i) Unauthorised absence and k) Industrial Action
Neither paragraph within the new policy makes reference to the value of one day’s salary, AAA, and/or POA payment in these situations.
G3-2 Para 3.17 (a) – Loss of pay and allowances.
Note: The value of one day’s salary, AAA and/or POA payment is based on the number of days unauthorised absence in that month e.g. 1/30th for September.
j) Contact at home in exceptional circumstances
In the analysis of Module 1, the financial aspect of the (withdrawal) of the current 1% contactability payment has already been referred to. In addition to this change as regards payment, the new policy gives managers the ability to contact members at home to notify them of shift changes.
The policy refers to, “In the exceptional circumstance where it is necessary to contact staff at home for a reason other than to inform of a short notice change of attendance a member of staff will be credited with the time involved with a minimum credit of 15 minutes.” and under Contact at home, “Individuals working on an AHW basis should be treated in the same way as other Home Office employees, with contact at home limited to emergencies and other exceptional situations or to be notified of a short notice change of attendance under Module 1.”
G3-2 Para 3.51 – Contact at home (a) General policy
The aim is to ensure that, in practice, staff on AHW who are not on call are treated broadly in the same way as staff in other areas of the department, with contact at home limited to emergencies and other exceptional situations.
G3-2 does not provide for members to be contacted at home to advise them of shift changes that could have been notified during the last attendance. G3-2 Para 3.43 (Qualifying for 1% “contactability” payment) confirms, “The 1% is not an on-call payment.”
ANNUALISED HOURS ALLOWANCE (AHA)
Continuity of Annualised Hours Allowance (AHA)
d) On substantive promotion
The new policy states that, “If the role on promotion is to a non AHW role then AHA stops immediately although a period of mark time may be applicable. Mark time would be applicable in the event that the higher grade salary and associated allowances is less than the lower grade salary and associated allowances. For the purposes of mark time the only element of the AHA which is applicable in the calculation of any marked time is Module 2 Rostered Shift Allowance.”
No such provisions exist within G3-2.
Period of Adjustment (POA)
The new policy makes provision for POA payments, “paid as a cash sum with salary for up to a maximum of 6 months, depending on the notice given, to allow individuals to adjust their finances.”
G3-2 Para 3.64 – ‘Period of Adjustment’ (POA) arrangements
The ‘period of adjustment’ arrangements which provide staff with a 12 month period to adjust their finances. (Depending on notice given)
Under the new policy the POA applies to any proposed reductions in AAA.
G3-2 Para 3.64 – ‘Period of Adjustment’ (POA) arrangements
The POA arrangement will only apply where AAA is reduced by more than 2.5 percentage points.
Pensionability of Annualised Hours Allowance (AHA)
Under the new policy the pensionable elements of AHA are:
Module 1 Flexibility and Predictability
Module 2 Rostered Shift Allowance
Module 3 Night Duty Payment
Module 4 Premium Hours (Weekends and Public Holidays)
As previously referred to, Module 5 (On Call) will not be pensionable.
G3-2 Para 3.82 – Is AAA pensionable?
Flexibility payments up to and including 5%; unsocial hours (SDA); weekend/public holiday premium and on call allowance are pensionable, whilst flexibility payments above 5% are not.
MODULE 1 – FLEXIBILITY AND PREDICTABILITY
The earlier analysis of this module considered the financial aspects, but there also non-financial issues that are worth noting.
Defining a short notice compulsory change to attendances
2. Altered
The new policy states that, “Alterations of less than 1 hour will not constitute a change.”
G3-2 Para 3.50 – Changes which do not count towards the level of incidence
– extensions (alterations) that last for less than 30 minutes.
3. Complete change of attendance (non working day)
The new policy states, “A complete change of attendance (non working day) is one where, for operational reasons, a member of staff is required to attend on a day which would otherwise have been a rest day, annual leave (only in exceptional circumstances) or other approved absence. Staff must be given a minimum of 10 calendar days notice or it will count as a change. Notice of more than 10 calendar days of a complete change of attendance will not count as a change and will be considered a reasonable amendment to a roster.”
G3-2 Para 3.50 – Changes which do not count towards the level of incidence
– any change to planned attendance at more than 7 days notice.
4. Curtailed attendance
The new policy states, “A curtailment with less than 2 hours of the planned attendance remaining will not constitute a change.”
G3-2 Para 3.50 – Changes which do not count towards the level of incidence
– attendance curtailed by less than three hours
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