This information pack has been prepared to advise you of your  stautory and occupational adoption entitlements

Adoption Procedures

 

Service users can expect that staff in ELCAP are not under the influence of alcohol or drugs and do not take alcohol or drugs while they are working. They can expect that staff do not come to work smelling of alcohol. They can expect that staff do not behave, either at work or when not at work, in ways that would call into question their suitability to work in social services.

 

Alcohol and drugs procedures

In order to deliver the best quality service to the people we support ELCAP will only recruit people who can provide a regular and effective service. All staff have a personal responsibility to ensure that they are clear about ELCAP’s expectations of attendance at work. Staff should ensure they make every effort to maintain their fitness and availability for work. We will support staff to return to work but, if a member of staff is unable to provide a regular and effective service a possible outcome is to end his or her contract

 

Attendance procedures

 

ELCAP will maintain a non-discriminatory working environment, which is free of harassment and bullying.

Allegations of harassment will be formally investigated in all cases.

Harassment on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, age, gender re-assignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy and disability is unlawful and allegations which are upheld will be treated as gross misconduct.

 

Bullying and harassment procedures

 

We want to be able to tell people what people think about ELCAP and we want to be able to share information about what we do well, what we could do better and about what we have done that people don’t like. We have a legal obligation to complete an annual record of complaints received. We intend to use compliments, suggestions and complaints to learn and to improve our service for the person we support.

 

Compliments, Suggestions and Complaints Procedure

Compliments, Suggestions and Complaints Form

ELCAP expects all staff to respect the service user’s right to confidentiality. Service users will tell ELCAP what information can be given and the people the information can be given to. ELCAP will take action against staff who share information against the wishes of the service user unless someone is in danger or the law tells us that someone else should be given information. ELCAP staff will tell service users if information about the person is to be shared.

ELCAP will ensure all personal information about staff and service users is kept secure and confidential.

 

Confidentiality procedures

ELCAP is committed to developing high quality, effective training and development activities for all staff. We recognise that learning must be integrated with the work we all do within the organisation.

We will do this by supporting all staff through a planned induction and probationary period when they first take up their post.

We will ensure that continued training meets the expectations of service users, regulators and funders.

Development needs will be identified through Continuous Professional Development meetings, Direct Observations and from external sources, for example, SSSC and commissioners of services.

The evaluation of the effectiveness of training will inform each year’s business planning cycle.

Continuous  Professional Development (CPD) Policy

ELCAP follow the amended ACAS Codes of Practice for Disciplinary Procedures which came into effect on 6th April 2009 to ensure that employees have good standards of performance and behaviour. Employees should be fully aware of the standards of performance, action and behaviour expected to carry out their jobs as stated in ELCAP contracts, ELCAP competencies and the codes of practice relevant to the employee’s job.

 

Disciplinary procedures

ELCAP must ensure that company records are kept securely as required by law and best practice.

Company records which are no longer required will be disposed of in a secure way and on a regular basis.

 

Document retention procedures

Service users can expect staff to dress in a manner that promotes the service user’s inclusion in his/her community. Staff will dress in a manner appropriate for supporting the service user effectively and to enable the service user’s positive contact with others. Staff will dress in a way that respects the service user’s culture when providing support.

 

Dress code procedures

 

ELCAP has a responsibility to ensure that staff and service users are kept safe whilst travelling by car. Vehicle maintenance legislation requires ELCAP and staff to ensure the roadworthiness and safe operation of vehicles.

Not all posts require staff to use their car for work purposes. Some service users have their own vehicles and it is part of a support workers job description to drive the service user’s vehicle. Where a service user has no vehicle, support workers should assist the service user to use public transport to increase the person’s skills and independence. Where support workers use their own car to transport service users, support workers must ensure their car is safe, insured and the use of the car is consistent with the support plan for the service user.

ELCAP operate a system whereby if staff are required to use their own car for work purposes, then they will be reimbursed an allowance for mileage and wear and tear costs.

As a vehicle user, staff have a responsibility not only for their own safety but also for the safety of others that may be affected by their actions whilst driving in the course of their duties. ELCAP expect staff to uphold the highest standards of driving and safety when using their car for work purposes.

 

Driving procedures

Motability Handbook

ELCAP is committed to limiting the effects of climate change. As such staff should make every effort to reduce any negative impact on the environment they may make as a result of ELCAP activities. Staff should also encourage the People We Support, Stake Holders and Suppliers to consider the environment in their work, activities and choices. All effort should be made whenever possible to recycle, re-use, switch off and limit our driving during ELCAP business in-line with this policy and other procedures.

 

Environmental impact procedures

The aim of this policy is to ensure ELCAP has a workforce that reflects the diversity within our local communities. ELCAP is committed to achieving diversity by ensuring that we:

Employ the right people to deliver a high quality service to the people we support based on equality of opportunity;
Ensure employees are able to contribute a diverse range of skills and experience within the organisation and realise their full potential and performance;
Encourage a culture where prejudice and discrimination are not tolerated;
Break down barriers that lead to potential discrimination and nurture co-operation and respect

Equality and diversity procedures

 

ELCAP will ensure good environmental and labour standards in the contracts we agree and how we operate them.

ELCAP will ensure employees conduct procurement on behalf of ELCAP in a fair and transparent manner.

 

Ethical procurement procedures

All members of staff leaving ELCAP’s employment (except those who are dismissed or who have experienced redundancy) will be offered an exit interview by their immediate line manager.

ELCAP use exit interviews as a tool to gaining constructive feedback from ex-employees. This feedback is shared with the line manager, the director and the HR Manager and action is taken to improve staff retention and staff management.

 

Exit interview procedures

ELCAP Finance Guidelines

ELCAP supports flexible working. Under provisions set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996 and regulations made under it, all staff have a statutory right to ask their employer for a change to their contractual terms and conditions of employment to work flexibly provided they have worked for their employer for 26 weeks continuously at the date the application is made. An employee can only make one statutory request in any 12 month period. Staff who have been employed for less than 26 weeks and agency workers do not have a statutory right to request flexible working.

Before June 2014 the right only applied to the parents of children under 17 or 18 in the case of parents of disabled children or to those caring for any reason.

The legislation does not give employees the right to work flexibly but provides a right to request flexible working. The needs of the service may not match flexible working patterns but managers will endeavour to accommodate requests.

For Support Workers, it is expected that all staff will work their share of shifts in a service including unsocial hours and sleepovers. Staff who wish to change this arrangement of hours need to follow the flexible working policy and request a change.

 

Flexible working procedures

When staff in ELCAP support people as part of a registered care service (Housing Support/Care at Home), we will ensure that our practice and our record keeping is consistent with the National Care Standards, Care at Home, Eating Well, Standard 6.

We will make information available about food, nutrition and health for staff and service users. We will provide information which lets people know about the risks of being underweight, the risks of being overweight and the benefits of following dietary advice. We will help each person to understand their risks and we will help each person to understand their choices about managing their diet.

 

ELCAP will not tolerate any form of fraud or corruption. ELCAP will investigate any allegations of fraud or corruption and will involve the police and lawyers if necessary. Any proven instances of fraud or corruption will be recorded in the Fraud Register and brought to the attention of the Board.

 

Fraud procedures

It is important that all staff recognise the distinction between being friendly in their approach to the people they support and being their ‘friend’. The staff role is not one of being a friend. For this reason the giving and receiving of gifts is an area where clarity and special care is needed to protect the interests of both service users (from exploitation) and staff (from allegations of abuse). Staff should not accept gifts from service users. Gifts of cash should never be accepted. Any gift, with a value of more than £20 should be recorded in the hospitality register.

 

Gifts procedures

 

ELCAP will support employees to raise any grievance that they have in relation to their employment with ELCAP.

ELCAP will take any grievances raised seriously and deal with them fairly, consistently and speedily.

 

Grievance procedures

ELCAP has a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (and other relevant associated Legislation) to provide a safe and healthy working environment for all staff (including casual, relief and agency staff) and service users.

ELCAP is also responsible for protecting, where reasonably practicable, contractors, visitors, volunteers etc from harm arising from the work carried out by the organisation.

All incidents, accidents and risk assessments will be reviewed by managers to ensure that risks to people at work are minimized.

 

Health and safety procedures

 

ELCAP wishes to ensure that its Information Systems are used responsibly and safely by all users. ELCAP must ensure that all data relating to individuals is kept confidential and secure. ELCAP therefore requires all users to use information systems including the internet, intranet and e-mail in a way that is legal, secure and confidential. All resources, including hardware, software and data remain the property of ELCAP and may not be changed without permission and must be returned when no longer required.

Information systems procedures

 

When supporting people ELCAP will only work to help people have individual lifestyles.

We will help the people we work for to develop their individual support and consult with groups of service users about how ELCAP works.

We will support people to meet their assessed needs, in the way that they want taking into account the guidance from the professionals who have assessed their needs.

 

Involvement procedures

ELCAP is committed to supporting people to have as full and as real a life as possible and recognises that this may involve ELCAP enabling a degree of risk-taking.

ELCAP will plan with each person how they want to live their lives, identify the risk this might entail, help the person to understand these risks and work out with the person how best to manage these risks. With the knowledge and consent of the person ELCAP will work with others involved in their life to engage them in this process of risk assessment and risk enablement. Where health or other professionals have identified specific risks, those will have high priority in the planning of risk management. All identified risks and the strategies for managing these will be recorded in the person’s support plan.

As part of the process of managing risks, all incidents and accidents will be recorded reported and reviewed, and the support plan updated as necessary.

 

Keeping people safe procedures

These procedures have been prepared to advise you of your statutory and occupational maternity entitlements.

While the information is designed to be as comprehensive as possible to provisions reletaing to leave/pay are fairly complex and it is therefore important that if you are unsure about any areas regarding your maternity entitlements that you contact the Human Resources Manager at Woodbine Cottage.

It is recognised that some women may not wish to announce their pregnancy in early stages and you can be assured that these details will be treated confidntially.  It is also important that your line manager is aware of your pregnancy to safeguard you in your working environment.  A risk assessment will be carried out by your manager and if necessary, you will be transfered to support another individual for the duration of your pregnancy.

 

Maternity Procedure

ELCAP will comply with the requirements of the Mental Health (Care Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003, and as amended from time to time, as well as any other relevant legislation relating to the rights of people with Mental Health Disorder and/or Mental Health Problems.

ELCAP will ensure that all employees and other people involved in delivering services comply and are properly trained, managed and supervised to ensure that they comply at all times with the legislation and/or guidelines relevant to people with mental health problems.

ELCAP will do this by following professionals’ treatment plans and complying with the underlying principles of the National Care Standards.

 

ELCAP aims, as an employer and as a service provider, to provide a safe and healthy environment for staff and the individuals who receive our service. It is an offence to smoke in non smoking premises or to knowingly permit smoking in non smoking premises. ELCAP will support staff who wish to stop smoking.

 

Non-smoking procedures

 

All staff are required to notify the Human Resources Manager of any criminal charges, requirements to appear in court and any criminal convictions, regardless of percieved seriousness, which are made against them.  The Human resources Manger will discuss this infromation with the Direcor who will be responsible for ensuring that staff who work in registered care services meet the legislative requirements of their posts and pose no threat to vulnerable adults or children.

Notificaton of Court Appearances and New Convicitons Procedures

 

 These procedures have been prepared to advise you of your ordinary stautory paternity rights.

 Ordinary Paternity Procedures

ELCAP provide a basic pension scheme for all employees which complies with the government legislation for auto-enrolment. You will be auto-enrolled subject to qualification as required in legislation, into a pension and will have the right to opt-out.

 

Pension procedures

 

If you have a particular concern or worry, please let us know, contact;

Karen Cowe	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	01875 814 114
Or our Out of hours On Call Manager	07834191409

 

Policy Statement

ELCAP will provide the families we work for with the support they need, the way they want their support to live the lives they want to lead.

We will support competent and effective risk enablement to ensure that barriers are removed. We will ensure that responsible safeguarding is the least intrusive possible.

ELCAP will ensure that people with a record of abusing others do not have opportunities to work with children or vulnerable people and thus put them at risk of harm. ELCAP will ensure that all staff remain suitable people to support children in their families. ELCAP works in communities to protect other children and families who may be vulnerable.

ELCAP work will be informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, by Scottish Government Guidance [Getting It Right for Every Child] and local Child Protection arrangements and protocols.

Protection of Children

If you have a particular concern or worry, please let us know, contact;

Danny Harvie, Cheif Executive	This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	01875 814 114
Or our Out of hours On Call Manager	07834191409

 

Policy Statement

ELCAP will provide the individual`s and their families we work for with the support they need, the way they want their support, to live the lives they want to lead.

Through our robust recruitment process ELCAP will ensure that individual`s with a record of abusing others do not have the opportunity to work with vulnerable individual`s. ELCAP will ensure that individual`s remain suitable to work with vulnerable individual`s and their families.

ELCAP’s approach to recruitment and selection is to appoint the person who is most suited to the job and, in the case of support workers, the right match to the individual requiring a service. ELCAP complies with employment legislation and is committed to equality, diversity and fairness in recruiting staff.

 

Recruitment and selection procedures

 

ELCAP complies fully with the Code of Practice, issued by Scottish Ministers, in connection with the use of information provided to registered persons and other recipients of information by Disclosure Scotland under Part V of the Police Act 1997, for the purposes of assessing applicants’ suitability for positions of trust. We undertake to treat all applicants for positions fairly and not to discriminate unfairly against the subject of a Disclosure on the basis of conviction or other information revealed.

 

Recruitment of ex-offenders procedures

ELCAP will seek to avoid redundancy and to improve the security of employment of employees. When there is no reasonable alternative to redundancy, the procedure followed will be fair, transparent and allow the staff affected to suggest alternatives to redundancy and to appeal against decisions which affect their post.

 

Redundancy procedures

ELCAP staff will not use restraint on a service user except in very specific circumstances. Restraint can only be used if:

A Clinician has stated restraint is necessary or a court order provides authority for this; or
There is a clear and direct danger to the service user or others.

Restraint procedures

ELCAP has no fixed retirement age. ELCAP acknowledge that retirement is a matter of choice for individuals and will not pressurise staff into resigning because they have reached or are approaching a certain age.

ELCAP employ people of all ages and consider that age diversity is beneficial to the organisation.

This policy aims to create a framework for workplace discussions. It will enable staff to express their preferences and expectations with regard to retirement and allow ELCAP to people plan for future work requirements.

 

Retirement procedures

The Code of Practice is published by Scottish Ministers under Section 122 of Part V of The Police Act 1997. The Code sets out obligations for ELCAP, counter signatories and other recipients of disclosure information issued under the 1997 Act and the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007.

ELCAP complies with the Code and the 1997 and 2007 Acts regarding the handling, use, storage, retention and destruction of disclosure information provided by Disclosure Scotland. ELCAP comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and will provide a copy of this policy to anyone who requests to see it.

 

Secure handling of information procedures

We will agree with service users and their representatives what information is retained about them and how and for how long we will keep information. We will record this agreement.

All documents retained by Elcap should be kept in a secure location and clearly marked in a prescribed order.

 

Service user document retention procedures

Shared Parental Leave enables eligible parents to choose how to share the care of their child during the first year of birth/adoption.  SPL provides parents more flexiblity in considering how best to care for, and bond with their child.  All eligible emolyees have a statutory right to Shared Parental Leave and there may also be an entitlement to Shared Parental Pay.  This policy sets the rights and responsibilites of employees who wish to take shared parental leave and pay.

Shared Parental Leave

More and more employees use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

You need to be awre of the risks invoved in using these sites whether at work or outside work and what could be classed as 'inappropriate behaviour' whilst using these types of sites.

 

Social Networking Procedure

SSSC Social Media Policy

ELCAP recognises that there may be occasions in the life of a member of staff when regular leave arrangements are inadequate.

As a good employer, ELCAP will have a flexible approach to help staff balance their work commitments and personal life. The Special Leave procedure sets out conditions under which a member of staff may be eligible for leave arrangements other than those contained in the staff member’s Terms & Conditions of Service.

 

Special leave procedures

If you are absent from work the following procedure must be followed:

Day one of absence

Should you be unable to attend your work place you or someone acting on your behalf must contact your place of work at the earliest opportunity and wherever possible no later than one hour before your official starting time.  Failure to do so will involve a negative direct observation and recurring incidences may result in disciplinary action being taken.

 Support Workers/Managers

You must contact your line manager and stare clearly why you are absent and how long you expect to be absent.  If your line manager is unavailable you must contact the "On call" and state why you are absent and for long.  The manager must be informed about all illnesses.  Your illness could also be notifiable under public health rules or might affect the support of service users.

All Other Staff

You must contact your line manager and stare clearly why you are absent and how long you expect to be absent.  If your line manager is unavailable you should contact your line manager's immediate senior and state why you are absent.  The manager must be informed about all illnesses.  Your illness could also be notifiable under public health rules or any illness which might affect the support of service users.

All Staff

You should note down the details of who you spoke to, the time and date of contact. (This is a requirement of the Self Certificate).  A Self Certificate is required form Day 1 of sickness.

 

Procedure for Staff Absence Reporting Including Sick Leave

 

Self Certificate for Sickness Absence and Return to Work form

 

Parental leave is the period of time that an employee is allowed to be absent from work for the purposes of looking after their child or children.   ELCAP's Patental Leave policy will allow parents (male or female) a period of absence in connection with the birth and early care of a baby or the care of a legally adopted child with the right to return to work at the end of the absence.   This should not be confused with paternity leave.  The details of you rights are set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Maternity and Parental Leave regulations 1999.

Unpaid Paternal Leave Procedures

 

ELCAP will provide the individual`s and their families we work for with the support they need, the way they want their support, to live the lives they want to lead.

ELCAP is committed to supporting individuals to be part of their local community, developing friendships and real relationships.

Elcap does not recruit volunteers to support individual`s whom we are contracted to provide support.

We work closely with local schools offering the opportunity for young adults to gain work experience in an office environment only.

Volunteer & Student Placement Procedures

ELCAP requires staff to disclose information (to “whistle-blow”) where they suspect malpractice within the organisation, or elsewhere that breaches legislation or puts people at risk. ELCAP will protect staff from being penalised for disclosing such information in line with the requirements of the Public Disclosure Act 1998.

 

Whistleblowing procedures

 

European law implemented the Working Time Regulations in 1998 with an amendment in 2003, as a preventative measure, to safeguard staff from working excessively long hours as this could impinge on employees' health and safety at work.

Working Time Regulations 1998