Issue - meetings

Local Joint Consultative Committee

13 November 2024

The Joint Committee noted that Probation Policy had been changed to include apprentices within the scheme, so that all employees were treated equally and could benefit from additional support or management arising from the process.

There was a discussion around the tone of the language, which was negative and implied that employees were expected to fail their probation.  There was also concern that staff whose roles had been changed because of a reorganisation could have to go through a probation period. 

          RECOMMENDED to Cabinet that the Probation Policy, with the following amendments, be approved:

1.    that there be a positive paragraph about how Probation should work and the employee’s responsibilities. 

2.    where internally promoted employees who failed their probation, consideration would be given to employing them in their original post if it was still open.

The Probation Policy was last reviewed in 2018, and required updating. Since the introduction of Apprentices under the Government’s Apprenticeship Legislation, the Policy had required some clarification on the management of Apprentices probation periods.

RESOLVED that the Probation Policy be approved.

Reason

The proposed changes to the Policy make clear this process.