Enclosure 17 Trust Board Meeting Wednesday 14 July 2004 Agenda item 8.1
SUNDERLAND TEACHING PRIMARY CARE TRUST
HR Policies and Procedures Addendum to Partnership Agreement – Failure to Agree Procedure
Executive Summary 1. 1.1 Introduction As part of the on-going programme of harmonising HR Policies and Procedures, the Harmonisation Sub-Group of the Partnership Forum have considered the procedure for resolving any disputes which may arise within the organisation and have developed the attached draft document to address any potential areas where a failure to agree situation may occur. Content of the Draft Document The group felt strongly that the TPCT’s existing Partnership Agreement, which embodies a partnership approach to our employment relations, should be used as the principal mechanism to resolve any difficulties which might arise and that, as such, it would be counter to the spirit of the Partnership Agreement to develop a separate Disputes Policy. It was acknowledged, however, that a defined mechanism was required to guide the process of addressing any problematic areas where agreement could not be reached. The attached document has been developed to guide that process. The procedure details the stages to be followed in the event of any failure to agree on a matter of collective employee dissatisfaction made by a Trade Union. This includes:a) b) c) d) 2.3 referral to the appropriate Director; referral to the Chief Executive; referral to a panel of the Trust Board; referral to ACAS if necessary.
2. 2.1
2.2
It is proposed that the draft document be included as an addendum to the Partnership Agreement initially. It is our intention to review the
Partnership Agreement later this year and, at this point, the Failure to Agree procedure will be incorporated into the main body of the document. 2.4 3. 3.1 The draft procedure has been the subject of consultation with and agreed by the Partnership Forum. Conclusions and Recommendations The Board are asked to consider and approve the draft document – Addendum to Partnership Agreement: In the Event of a Failure to Agree.
Vicki Taylor Director of Human Resources 5 July 2004