Lincolnshire County Council Protected Conversations - Find a freedom of information request

Freedom of information request relating to Lincolnshire County Council use of Protected Conversations under the Employment Rights Act 1996 , financial publications under the Transparency Code 2015 and claims under the Equality Act 2010.

 

1. How many Protected Conversations has Lincolnshire County Council initiated for staff termination purposes in the last 3 years; listed by directorates.



2. Which Lincolnshire County Council Policy details the use of Protected Conversations.



3. What grade within Lincolnshire County Council management structure is authorised to instigate and agree financial settlements for Protected Conversations on behalf of the organisation.



4. What training is given to instigators of Lincolnshire County Council Protected Conversations.  



5. How do Lincolnshire County Council publish the cost involved to the taxpayer for payouts brought about by Protected Conversations under their duties established in the Local Authority Transparency Code 2015.



6. How many employee Disability Discrimination claims has Lincolnshire County Council had brought against them over the last three years. 

I can confirm that the information requested is held by Lincolnshire County Council. I have detailed below the information that is being released to you.  
 
 1. Lincolnshire County Council do not hold this information, Lincolnshire County Council only hold where a conversation has resulted in a settlement agreement being completed. 

2. There is no policy which covers this

3. Instigate and agree are two separate things the authorisation to agree a settlement depends on its value as follows:
Approval of Business Case
For the Council's corporate cases, all business cases must be signed off by the Assistant Director or above, and the Executive Director and the Executive Councillor informed.  For all cases with a total cost greater than £100k, the financial case will be agreed by the Executive Director – Resources (or their representative).
For schools, all business cases must be signed off by the Head Teacher or Chair of Governors as appropriate, subject to obtaining the prior agreement of the Assistant Director - Education. 
In accordance with Statutory Guidance, payments deemed as being Special Severance Payments* require particular approval depending upon the value of the payment itself.
•    Payments of £100,000 and above must be approved by a vote of full council
•    Payments of £20,000 and above, but below £100,000 to be approved and personally signed off by the Chief Executive, with a clear record of the leader’s approval
•    Payments below £20,000 in accordance with the Council’s schemes of delegation
There is no reference to the level of a manager who can instigate the conversation. – 

4.Coaching by HR as and when required based on case specifics 

5. This information is not recorded by the way it is requested. We would consider various types of settlement such as redundancy, early retirement / interest of efficiency etc and any payment the request refers to as Protected Conversations will be linked into these. We do not publish this in our transparency £500k report. Our statement of accounts are available here, Statement of accounts - Policies, strategies and plans – Lincolnshire County Council, please see note 36 – exit packages and note 37 – termination benefits. We rely on all ‘protected conversations’ being captured in these headings. 

6. In respect of the number of Employment Tribunal (ET) claims in the last 3 years, Linconshire County Council have received 5 ET claims with a discrimination claim involved – 4 against Lincolnshire County Council and 1 involving a school where Lincolnshire County Council was the employer.