The following notes on lay employment
have been prepared to help prospective and existing employers.
Churches, circuits and districts
can all be employing bodies in their own right. The representatives of each
employing body, i.e. the managing trustees, are responsible for their actions
and for any financial repercussions that arise out of employment relationships. So be careful! Employment law is complex: new legislation
and Employment Tribunal decisions are continually re-shaping employment
practices.
To help employing bodies
the Connexion has prepared various standard documents related to lay employment. These can and should be accessed through the
At the district level
the Lay Employment Sub-committee has the role of:
Standing Order 438A requires
employing bodies to keep the District Lay Employment Sub-committee informed of
all employment arrangements for all employees within the district. This is done through the Secretary.
The members of the
District Lay Employment Sub-committee are:
·
Paul Taylor - Chairman
·
Graham Evans - Secretary
·
Peter Candlin
The Lay Employment Secretary
(Graham Evans) can provide
advice to employing bodies about recruitment, employment issues and
termination.
When you begin to think
about employing a lay person in your church or your circuit please make contact
with the Lay Employment Secretary
as early in the process as possible.
It could be that you are
thinking of employing a full-time lay worker and providing them with
accommodation, or a cleaner for one hour a week, or anything in between -
whatever the role you are considering, please make contact.
On making contact you
will be offered advice that relates to the specific role you are considering
and directed to the relevant resources that the
As you make your plans
you also need to consider who will be the employer. It could be the church or the circuit but it
is essential that the employing body has adopted relevant employment policies. The
SAFEGUARDING: You must also think about the requirement
to register any new employee (or existing employees) under the government’s
Vetting and Barring Scheme if they will be working with children or vulnerable
adults. Full details about this are available on the Methodist
Church website, or you
can contact the District Safeguarding Officer.
Most importantly if the
job involves working in a Regulated Activity with children or vulnerable adults
the employee will require CRB checks and must be registered with the
Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) before
you enter into a contract of employment.
In order to be clear
about the specific role you want someone to undertake and the sort of person
you want, it is essential to prepare a job description and person
specification. Detailed advice can be found in Sections 3 to 5 of the Lay
Employment Advisory Information Pack
You will need the following:
Job Description:
It is good practice to prepare
your job description before starting the recruitment process, and to provide a
copy to prospective employees. This will assist your thinking about the post
and satisfy legal requirements. It is a
legal requirement (Employment Rights Act), to provide the title of the job and
a brief description of the work (before or) within two months of the start of
employment.
The amount of detail that is
provided to prospective candidates will depend to some extent on the type of
appointment being proposed. A detailed
description of the job including background information may be appropriate if
the appointment requires someone who
·
will
have undertaken some years of training;
·
will
be expected to have gained some years of working experience;
·
might be appointed from outside the area.
This might be the case for Lay Workers, Youth
Workers and Community Workers.
A less detailed job description may be appropriate
if there is not the same requirement for prior training and experience.
The following information should appear in all job
descriptions:
·
title
of job
·
normal
place of work
·
purpose
of job (the reason why the job exists)
·
accountability
to (that is, to whom the post holder is responsible)
·
accountability
for (any staff who will report directly to the post holder)
·
physical
working conditions (for example, office or other accommodation, the need to
travel between different locations)
·
some information on the terms and conditions including:
salary or wage, expenses and allowances, if applicable, hours of work, holiday
entitlement, pension scheme, sick pay.
Sample Job Descriptions:
You are advised to take care over
the content of the person specification as claims of discrimination often
relate to the wording of this document. You should consider the attributes that
an applicant will need to have in order to carry out the job description.
Sample Person Specifications:
You should fill in the boxes giving careful
consideration to whether requirements are ‘essential’ or ‘desirable’. For example, if the post is one for a qualified
Youth Worker then ‘Youth Worker qualification’ would appear under ‘Education
and Training’ in the ‘Essential’ column.
If the post is for a caretaker and previous experience as a caretaker is
desirable an entry would be made under ‘Relevant Experience’ in the ‘Desirable’
column.
The purpose of adverts is to:
·
attract
suitable candidates
·
provide sufficient information to allow interested parties
to self-select at this stage.
Posts should be advertised in a way that meets the
commitments made in your Equal
Opportunities Policy. Adverts
may be placed in a variety of media, for example, the Job Centre; the local,
regional or national press; specialist journals or newspapers; or local notice
boards. The choice of medium should be
appropriate for the type of post. The
cost of advertising should be considered and provision made.
Adverts should include:
·
information
about the post that covers the essential criteria in the person specification
·
the
closing date for applications
·
it
may be helpful to candidates to see the interview date if one has been planned
Note: A requirement for an employee to be a Christian must be a Genuine
Occupational Qualification.
Advertisements with this requirement should include a reference to the
mission or belief of the church or the work being advertised.
Application Form:
Sample Application
Form
Interviews
The purpose of the interview is to select the best
candidate for the job. The job
description and person specification provide the basis for making this
selection. The interview process should
be well planned – it is the employing body’s opportunity to sell itself to the
prospective employee.
It is important that those involved in the interview
process understand what questions they are not legally allowed to ask, for example
relating
to the candidates’ sex, race or disability, either directly or indirectly. Further guidance on interviewing is available
in the Interview
Guide.
Letter of Appointment
As soon as the
candidate has been successfully selected, a Letter of Appointment should be
sent out. This sets out details of the
appointment, and is essential in cases where the offer of appointment is
conditional upon for example, a medical report, suitable
references, safeguarding clearance or a probationary period.
The Letter of Appointment can be detailed and be
preliminary to the employment contract (called a “written statement”) or a
shorter version incorporating within it the contract of employment itself.
Sample Letters
of Appointment:
·
with
written statement to follow
·
incorporating
written statement
Employment Contracts (or
“Written Statements”)
Employers are required by law to give, within two months, a written
statement to all employees who have been in their employment for at least one
month. It is good practice to provide
the written statement before or on the first day of employment, if it is not
incorporated into the Letter of Appointment.
It helps to avoid misunderstanding and disputes about the employment
arrangements.
Sample Contracts:
Example 1: Minimum
details
This example is a format
that, with the exception of the reference to retirement and absence from work,
includes the minimum particulars that must, by law, be provided in
writing. You are advised to include the statement about normal retirement age
and information about the procedure to follow when unable to attend work.
Statutory provisions
such as
·
maternity, paternity and adoption pay and leave
·
the right to reasonable time off for family needs
·
the right to time off for certain public duties
·
the right of parents to request flexible working
are not covered
but are implicit because an employer cannot contract to provide less than the
statutory minimum.
Example 2: Full
details
This example provides
further information on the same and additional particulars.
Notes:
·
it is acceptable to use paragraphs from both
examples and create a document that is tailored to the needs of the appointment
·
arrangements for part time staff should always be
pro rata to the full time equivalent
·
fixed term contracts can only be offered in
exceptional circumstances (contact the Lay Employment Secretary
for advice)
·
do not forget to give copies of the Disciplinary
procedures, Equal Opportunities policy, Health & Safety policy and
Grievance procedure to the candidate, as they are part of the terms of
employment
Please ensure that a copy of the Letter of
Appointment and Contract is sent to the Lay Employment Secretary
as soon as it has been signed.
You must also send a sample contract for comment
before it is issued together with such of the documents as are appropriate to
your case and listed in the Appointment
Checklist
If you wish to make any
changes to the conditions of employment of any lay employee you may need to
make changes to their contract. Any such
changes must be agreed by both parties.
Please ensure that a copy of Contract changes is
sent to the Lay Employment Secretary
as soon as agreed.
Should it be necessary to initiate the
grievance or disciplinary procedures, it is crucial that the terms of the
procedures are strictly followed. Any queries can be raised with the Lay Employment Secretary. In particular, he should be notified, in advance, of an intention to
dismiss an employee.
In all cases,
when an employee resigns or the employment comes to an end by mutual agreement,
please inform the Lay Employment Secretary.
In
circumstances where the employer has to remove someone from working with
children it is likely to have a legal duty
to refer information to the Independent
Safeguarding Authority (ISA). There
is also a duty to consult the local authority (Local Authority Designated Officer).
You
should consult the District Safeguarding Officer if this situation appears to
be arising.
December 2009