This page will be used to consult with you on changes to HR and Health and Safety policies. We review policies on a scheduled basis and following the consultation where appropriate, these will be referred to the Council's Partnership Forum and then to the Executive for approval.

The following policies are now out for consultation. We would appreciate if you could take some time to complete the surveys and provide feedback. The surveys are open until 06 April 2026.

The purpose of this consultation is to highlight some changes to the Redeployment policy. The policy has been updated to offer more support to employees in the redeployment process by:

• Offering guidance/assistance to complete application forms
• Highlighting suitable/relevant vacancies to employees in the redeployment process

These changes are also updated in the relevant How To documents.

The Council's Partnership Working Agreement was established as part of an employee relations framework that recognises that partnership and collaboration are the best means by which sustainable change and improvement can be delivered.

This Agreement:

• Provides a method for consultation to take place between the Council and its employees
• Allows staffing issues and concerns to be raised and discussed
• Difficulties explored and resolved and for shared routes forward to be agreed
• Ensures a joint focus on the Council's vision of being an innovative, responsive, trusted, and ambitious organisation.

The Agreement has been updated to take account of the Council's Fair Work First Agreement and the recently introduced Organisational Change Policy. It also reflects the revised framework for consultation across the Council.

The policy has been updated to take account of legislative changes to Paternity Leave and Parental Leave to make them available from day 1 of employment and the introduction of Bereaved Partners Paternity Leave.

There is now also no requirement to take paternity leave before using shared parental leave.

Some sections have been moved around for ease of reading.

This document has been updated in the Council's new How To format. In addition, the following updates and changes have been made:

• Changed document from a Policy to a How To, to better align with the requirements of the Council's Safety Management System
• Updated the Roles & Responsibilities section to reflect organisational changes since the previous revision
• Added a list of relevant legislation
• Added a section linking the document to the requirements of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015
• Changed the requirement for completing an annual statement of assurance to the requirement to implement ongoing performance monitoring.

The following updates and changes have been made to this How To:

• Added a Roles & Responsibilities Section
• More detail added around types of asbestos work, surveys and competence of surveying companies
• Added requirement for any employee who believes they have been exposed to asbestos to report the exposure using the EVOTIX Assure Employee Portal
• Added a list of relevant legislation
• Updated process to follow for the accidental release of asbestos fibres.