Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102983753
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 60
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Book Description
There is a lack of transparency, consistency and accountability in the use of compromise agreements in the public sector and little is being done to change this situation. Public sector workers are sometimes offered a financial payment in return for terminating their employment contract and agreeing to keep the facts surrounding the payment confidential. Contracts are often terminated through the use of a compromise agreement and the associated payments are referred to as special severance payments. This report highlights the lack of central or coordinated controls over the use of compromise agreements. The NAO was not able to gauge accurately the prevalence of such agreements or the associated severance payments, due to decentralised decision-making, limited recording and the inclusion of confidentiality clauses which mean that they are not openly discussed. No individual body has shown leadership to address these issues. Compromise agreements can be used for legitimate reasons and it is normal that some information be kept confidential which can benefit both parties. But the practice of including a clause to ensure the employer gives the employee a good reference could help poorly performing staff members gain employment elsewhere in the public sector. Neither the Cabinet Office nor the Treasury provide formal guidance to departments or keep records of the use of compromise agreements across government or the content of confidentiality clauses. Treasury has issued guidance on the associated severance payments. Despite the NAO's statutory access rights, it received only 60 per cent of the compromise agreements requested from departments.
Author: United States
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Age discrimination in employment
Languages : en
Pages : 6
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Book Description
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102986167
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 22
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Book Description
On 3 July 2013, the Committee of Public Accounts took evidence on the use of confidentiality clauses and special severance payments across government. The Committee decided to hold a further hearing to allow time for the Treasury to develop proposals to improve government's approach to the use of compromise agreements within the public sector, and the National Audit Office to complete further work on the use of confidentiality clauses and severance payments in the culture, media and sport sector, defence sector and the health sector. This report presents the results of testing overall, including items that remained outstanding after the NAO's original report. Specific highlight particularly the need for: better guidance on the use of confidentiality clauses and special severance payments; and improved transparency and oversight to identify and address patterns of behaviour. The Treasury had approved some severance payments, where business cases refer to failure or inappropriate behaviour. Severance terms, however, were approved because legal advice set out that the individual would be likely to win an award in an employment tribunal and settlements would probably be cheaper and quicker. This may be valid for individual cases, but it may not be true for the wider public sector. Examples were also found where severance payments were agreed in response to failure to comply with internal policies and procedures. In three cases in the defence sector, managers had not followed the internal policy in relation to the employment of staff. As a result, severance payments were approved to avoid claims for compensation
Author: American Bar Association. House of Delegates
Publisher: American Bar Association
ISBN: 9781590318737
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.
Author: Richard R. Hammar
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780882435800
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 456
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Book Description
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215066299
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 77
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Book Description
This report examines the use of compromise agreements and confidentiality clauses in the public sector. It is not uncommon for public and private sector bodies to use compromise (or settlement) agreements to terminate an employment contract and there is usually an associated special severance payment. In the three years to March 2013, the Treasury approved 1,053 special severance payments totalling £28.4 million. But the true number and value of payments across the public sector is unknown and likely to be higher as the Treasury does not approve payments by, for example, local government, the police, the BBC, and private sector providers of public services. There has been a worrying lack of proper accountability and oversight around the use of compromise agreements and special severance payments by the public sector. Confidentiality clauses have been used in compromise agreements to cover up failure. Public sector employers have discretion over whether to include confidentiality clauses-whereby the employee agrees to keep the facts surrounding their termination confidential. The Cabinet Office is now preparing guidance for the civil service on the appropriate use of compromise agreements and confidentiality clauses. It plans to introduce improved monitoring processes and is committed to publishing annually a consolidated report on the number and value of special severance payments made by the civil service. The Treasury has now committed to changing the civil service financial reporting requirements to improve transparency around special severance payments, and it plans to 'encourage' wider public sector bodies to comply with the revised requirements.
Author: Andrew T Kenyon
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1509908307
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 400
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Book Description
Freedom of expression is generally analysed as a bare liberty against restraint by state action. Underpinning rationales for freedom of speech very often imply, however, that the concept also has important positive aspects, and that to be truly 'democratic' the modern polity requires more than negative freedom. In contemporary conditions, this understanding of free speech raises matters such as media diversity or pluralism, the concept of voice and access to the public sphere, access to information, and the need to rethink the audience in relation to public speech. Whether securing positive free speech is a matter of politics or of law, a task for legislatures or for courts, is an open question. On one level, any programme of inculcating positive dimensions of free speech might be understood as inherently polycentric and hence political in character. Yet, a number of jurisdictions evince enhanced legal recognition for the principle. The aim of this collection of papers is to interrogate the rationales of positive free speech, to consider the political and juridical methods by which it has or may be more fully reflected in the modern state, and to consider the range of practical contexts in which its valorisation has or would have significant implications. The contributors are drawn from an array of European and international jurisdictions. They include academic lawyers and communications researchers
Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 0215075706
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 28
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Book Description
Whistleblowing is an important source of intelligence to help government identify wrongdoing and risks to public service delivery. But many concerns go unreported, and the intelligence that does exist is not routinely collected and shared. It is essential that employees have trust in the system for handling whistleblowers, and confidence that they will be taken seriously, protected and supported by their organisations if they blow the whistle. A positive approach to whistleblowing should exist wherever the taxpayer's pound is spent, in private and non-statutory bodies as well as public authorities. Far too often whistleblowers have been shockingly treated, and whistleblowers who have come forward have had to show remarkable bravery. Departments' own attempts at changing whistleblowing policy and processes for the better have not been successful in modifying a bullying culture, or in combating unacceptable behaviour, such as harassment of whistleblowers, within their organisations. The lack of cross-government leadership on whistleblowing has resulted in an inconsistent approach across departments. Departments must ensure that whistleblowers are protected, supported and have their welfare monitored. There should be timely reporting back to whistleblowers on how their concerns have been addressed. Compromise agreements should not be used to buy silence from whistleblowers and instead should be subject to approval by the Cabinet Office. All government employees should be provided with a route map that shows how to report issues internally and externally. Private and third sector contractors to the public sector must also be obliged to have strong and effective whistleblowing policies in place.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Health Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215062345
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 188
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Book Description
The NHS needs to be an organization in which an open dialogue about care quality is part of the natural culture of the organization, not a duty which only arises in cases of service failure. Robert Francis made 290 recommendations in his report, but in truth they boil down to just one - that the culture of 'doing the system's business' is pervasive in parts of the NHS and has to change. Many who raise their concerns in the NHS at present risk serious consequences for their employment and professional status. But disciplinary procedures, professional conduct hearings and employment tribunals are not the proper place for honestly-held concerns about patient safety and care quality to be aired constructively. The NHS standard contract imposes a duty of candour on all NHS providers. This is an essential principle, but it is not adequately understood or applied. It should mean that all providers create a culture which is routinely open both with their patients and their commissioners. The same principle should apply to commissioners so that they are routinely open and accountable to local communities. The Health Committee recommended this approach in 2011 and repeats that now. It should be a prime role of the CQC to encourage the development of this culture within care providers, and of NHS England to develop the same culture within commissioners. The Health Committee will in future work closely with the Professional Standards Authority to develop the accountability process for professional regulators in healthcare
Author: Michael Mandelstam
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
ISBN: 1784504998
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 642
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Book Description
Safeguarding Adults and the Law, now in its third edition, sets this complex area of work within an extensive legal framework and provides many useful pointers for practitioners and students. It is now in an A-Z format, enabling quick reference to a wide range of civil and criminal law, and to legal case law. The book covers safeguarding duties under the Care Act 2014 and in particular the making of enquiries by local authorities, safeguarding adults boards, Department of Health guidance, human rights, regulation of health and social care providers, barring of carers from working with vulnerable adults, criminal records certificates, mental capacity, the High Court's inherent jurisdiction, undue influence, assault, battery, wilful neglect, ill treatment, self-neglect, manslaughter, murder, theft, fraud, sexual offences, modern slavery, domestic violence legislation, data protection and the sharing of information. The book focuses on how these areas of law, each with its own set of rules, apply to the practice of safeguarding adults. It contains numerous legal case summaries to bring the law to life. Fully updated, it reflects significant changes to civil and criminal law over the last five years. A critical introduction analyses serious challenges and issues inherent in the current culture of health and social care, and the implications for adult safeguarding. This book will be an essential resource for all those working in social care, health care and the police, as well as the many other agencies involved in safeguarding.
