Officer Employment Procedure Rules
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1. Recruitment and Appointment
(a) Declarations
(i) A
candidate for any Council appointment will, when making
application, inform the duly authorised Officer
or
Head of Personnel and Development of
any relation they know to be a Member or Senior Officer of the
Council. A
candidate who knowingly fails to
disclose a relationship will be disqualified for the appointment
and if appointed be
liable to dismissal without
notice.
Every
Member or Senior Officer of the Council will inform the Chief
Executive of any relationship known to him with
any person he knows is a candidate
for an appointment. The Chief Executive will report any such
disclosure to
the Council or appropriate Members
or Officers making the appointment.
(ii) This rule will be
included in any form of application.
(iii) For the purpose of
this rule only “Senior Officer” means any Council Officer
designated Management Grade 3
or above. Persons will be
deemed to be related if they are – husband, wife, partner, parent,
grandparent, child,
step-child, adopted child,
grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece of a
Member/candidate.
(b) Seeking support for
Appointment
(i) The Council will
disqualify any applicant who directly or indirectly seeks the
support of any Councillor for any
appointment within the
Council. Every advertisement inviting applications and
application forms will include a note
to this effect.
(ii) No Councillor will
seek support for any person for any appointment with the Council or
give a written testimonial
of a candidate’s ability, experience
or character for an applicant for an appointment with the Council
of which he is
a Member.
2. Recruitment of Head of Paid Service Directors
and Service Managers
Where the Council proposes to appoint a
Director or Head of Service and it is not proposed that the
appointment be made exclusively from among their existing Officers,
the Council will:
(a) Draw up a statement specifying:
(i) The duties of the
Officer concerned; and
(ii) Any qualifications or
qualities to be sought in the person to be appointed;
(b) Make arrangements for the post to be
advertised in such a way as is likely to bring it to the attention
of persons who are qualified to apply for it; and
(c) Make arrangements for a copy of the
statement mentioned in paragraph (1) to be sent to any person on
request.
3. Appointment of Head of Paid
Service
This process is subject to statutory Procedure
Rules and Regulations.
(a) The Full Council will approve the
appointment of the Head of Paid Service following the
recommendation of such an appointment by the Appointments Committee
of the Council. That Committee must include at least one Member of
the Executive.
(b) The Full Council may only make or
approve the appointment of the Head of Paid Service where no
well-founded objection has been made by any Member of the
Executive.
4. Appointment of Directors
(Other than the Chief Executive)
(a) The Appointments Committee of the
Council will appoint Directors and Head of Service. That
Committee must include at least one Member of the Executive.
(b) An offer of employment as a Director
or Head of Service shall only be made where no well-founded
objection from any Member of the Executive has been received.
5. Other
Appointments
(a) Officers Below Head of
Service. Appointment of Officers below Head of Service is
the responsibility of the Head of Paid Service or his nominee, and
shall not be made by Councillors.
(b) Assistants to Political
Groups. Appointment of an assistant to a political group
shall be made in accordance with the wishes of that political
group.
6. Disciplinary Action Against
Certain Postholders
(a) Suspension.
The Head of Paid Service, a non-statutory Chief Officer within the
meaning of Section 2 (7) of the Local Government Act 1989 ie (a) a
person for whom the Head of Paid Service is directly responsible;
(b) a person who in respect of all or most of the duties of his/her
post, is required to report directly or is directly accountable to
the Head of Paid Service; (c) any person who, in respect of all or
most of the duties of his post, is required to report directly or
is directly accountable to the Local Authority or any Committee or
Sub-Committee of the Council, the Monitoring Officer and Chief
Finance (Section 151) Officer may be suspended whilst an
investigation takes place into alleged misconduct. The
alleged misconduct will be dealt with in accordance with the Local
Authorities (Standing Orders) Regulations 1993 and 2001.
Suspension will be on full pay and last no longer than two
months.
(b) Independent
Person. No other disciplinary action may be taken in
respect of any of those Officers except in accordance with a
recommendation in a report made by a designated Independent
Person.
(c) Councillors will not be involved in
the disciplinary action against any Officer below Head of Service
except where such involvement is necessary for any investigation or
inquiry into alleged misconduct, through the Council’s
disciplinary, capability and related procedures, as adopted from
time to time, may allow a right of appeal to Members in respect of
disciplinary action.
7. Dismissal
Councillors will not be involved in the
dismissal of any Officer below Head of Service, except where such
involvement is necessary for any investigation or inquiry into
alleged misconduct, though the Council’s disciplinary, capability
and related procedures, as adopted from time to time, may allow a
right of appeal to Members in respect of dismissals.
Next
- Part 5 - Codes and Protocols
This webpage was updated on
9/29/2010