Summary Justice Reform
FAQs.
FAQ's from Roadshows.
In our Court Unification roadshow tours of the country you asked lots of questions about issues important to you. Here is a selection of your questions and our answers.......
Q. What plans do SCS have to deal with the different terms and conditions of transferring staff?
A. TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employees Regulations) protects the terms and conditions of service of employees whose employment is transferred to another employer. This is fair and seeks to ensure nobody is disadvantaged because of their transfer. There are 32 Local Authorities, 30 of which operate District Courts. They all offer broadly similar terms and conditions to SCS, but each set is unique in its own way, so we are dealing with 30 different sets of terms and conditions coming in because of Court Unification. It is fairly common for large employers such as SCS to manage multiple sets of terms and conditions of service and the rules ensure that employers cannot change the terms and conditions of transferring staff for any reason connected with their transfer. We hope many staff transferring to SCS will find our terms and conditions favourable, and opt to switch over soon after transfer. There is however no timescale by which all terms and conditions must be harmonised.
Q. Will there be redundancies as a result of Court Unification?
A. We are expecting a shortage in some areas in the number of staff who transfer, so recruitment is likely to be the issue, not redundancies. In the occasional and unusual event that there are too many staff at a particular location, we anticipate current levels of staff turnover will deal with this over time, or that staff will accept alternative posts in the SCS.
Q.Will there be full integration of work for both sets of staff?
A. Yes. All staff will have opportunities to undertake the full range of Sheriff and JP court work. Obviously this will not happen on day one, but we will be working towards this objective as soon as it is practical.
Q.Q. Will there be training given on new areas of work?
A. Yes. We are developing a training plan for all staff and each person who transfers will have a personal training plan prepared before they join us. There is also training on JP court work and the new fines enforcement procedures planned for SCS staff.
Q. Will there be opportunities for all staff to undertake external training e.g. law degrees, allowing them to advance in the organisation?
A. Yes. This opportunity already exists in SCS and will continue to be available after unification.
Q. What happens to District Court staff pensions?
A. SCS are not allowed to pay into the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Instead like any new employer we are obliged, under the TUPE scheme to provide a pension scheme of comparable status. We believe the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) is a comparable scheme. It is anticipated that transferring staff will have the option to transfer their accrued benefits from the LGPS into the PCSPS, or to leave their accrued benefits in the LGPS until they reach retirement age. Under both options, transferring staff can start paying into the PCSPS after their transfer date. We will consult with the Government Actuaries Dept., to work out the value of individual pensions so that staff transferring over to us, can make an informed choice.
Q. Will there be enough staff transferring to cope with the work?
A. Yes. SCS will assess the number of staff required in each location to deal with expected levels of business. If there are insufficient staff coming over to deal with the work, then more will be recruited.
Q. Will the SCS IT system (COP2) be ready for unification and able to cope with the fines and fixed penalties currently collected by the District Courts?
A. COP2+ will be ready for the first phase of unification in Lothian and Borders in Dec 2007. COP2 will be developed (COP2+) with the additional functionality needed to cope with the various fixed penalties.
Q. Who will be responsible for training the justices?
A. Responsibility for training the justices will lie with the legal teams in the sheriffdoms and Local Authorities (prior to court unification). They will organise and deliver the training locally. Some training, such as national seminars and induction training will be provided by the Judicial Studies Committee.