Policies and Procedures

Recruitment and Selection

CHAPEL ST LEONARDS.PARISH COUNCIL

RECRUITMENT & SELECTION POLICY

Introduction

The intention of the recruitment policy is to ensure that the Council can attract and retain high caliber Employees into its job vacancies. It aims to attract the widest possible response to any employment vacancy. The Council will take positive steps to advise minority groups of all vacancies and of its Equal Opportunity Policy. The Council recognises the advantages of recruiting individuals with specialist knowledge and experience of local needs.

The selection process is of crucial importance in this policy and must, therefore, be carried out according to objective, job-related criteria. The Council will ensure that, through appropriate training, people making selection decisions will not discriminate, whether consciously or unconsciously, in making these selection decisions.

Core Principles of the Recruitment and Selection Policy

The Clerk is responsible for Employee recruitment in conjunction with the Members.

The Recruitment and Selection Policy will be implemented with regard at all stages to the Council Equal Opportunities Policy, the Equality Act 2010 and subsequent legislation (see note 11). All persons involved in the recruitment process will be made aware, through training, of the above legislation and its implications.

All stages of the selection process will focus on the needs of the job and the skills needed to perform effectively.

The Clerk and Elected Members will ensure that questions they ask job applicants are not in any way discriminatory or unnecessarily intrusive.

All candidates with a disability that meet the minimum selection criteria will be invited to an interview.

It is the Council’s practice to seek the successful candidate’s consent to seek two written references and to ask for documentary proof of qualifications.

Recruitment and Selection Process

The Clerk has authority from the Council to maintain updated job descriptions and accurate persons specifications. Advertisements will be placed appropriately to allow maximum exposure to all sectors of the community.

Candidates invited to interview where possible will be given at least one week’s notice. All letters sent to unsuccessful candidates will be issued as soon as practicably possible after the decision has been made. Reserve candidates may be kept ‘on hold’ for a period of time, and should be notified of the delay in finalising the outcome of their application.

Job Description

Each job will have an up-to-date job description that accurately reflects the job requirements;

Job descriptions should be written in a clear and concise manner in the agreed Council format;
Job descriptions should be reviewed and discussed prior to the commencement of the recruitment action;
Where appropriate the equal rights dimension of service provision should be included;

Person Specification

A person specification will be prepared for every job description reflecting the skills and qualities required to undertake the job;
Personnel specifications should be reviewed prior to the recruitment action. A standard format together with guidance on usage will be issued separately;
Criteria contained in the specification should be strictly relevant to the requirements of the job. The criteria should not be unnecessarily restrictive so as to exclude particular disadvantaged groups, since this may be viewed as indirect discrimination and therefore unlawful;
All stated requirements must be clearly justifiable in terms of the principal function of the job vacancy, literacy, numeracy, qualifications, age and educational level achieved;
If the job is to work directly with members of ethnic minorities in promoting their welfare or providing personal services, it may be considered a genuine occupational qualification for a post.

Attracting a Field of Applicants

Publicity material must reflect the Equal Opportunity Policy;
Advertisements should be approved by the Council prior to being circulated in the public domain;
Publicity material should, where thought desirable, be translated into ethnic minority languages;
All posts which are either permanent or fixed term for a period of two or more years should be advertised externally. Where necessary, use should be made of the local press.
Where necessary, use should be made of the ethnic minority press;
Advertisements must be clear and unambiguous, so that applicants will be able to determine their own suitability.

Application Forms

Only Council application forms should be used for recruitment purposes which should include a section on equality monitoring
Assistance should be offered to candidates to complete any sections of the form if required;
Information on application forms must be transferred to the recruitment monitoring forms;

Short listing

Short listing must only be based on the information contained in the application form and any covering letter using the job person specification and the job description elements as the criteria;
The criteria for short listing must be consistently applied to all applicants;
The application form should not be used as a test of literacy unless a high standard of literacy is required as a genuine requirement of the job;
If academic qualifications are one of the criteria for initial selection, they should not be unnecessarily high for the particular job. Assumptions must not be made about the standard of overseas qualifications;
There should be no unnecessary or unreasonable restrictions on the numbers to be short-listed;
Any disabled applicant that meets the minimum requirements for the job should be short-listed;
Reasons for not meeting the shortlist must be recorded for incorporation within the monitoring process;
Original copies of educational/academic/qualification certificates or documents should be brought to interview.

Selection Interview

All people responsible for short listing and interviewing should receive training in the appropriate techniques, and such training should include the equal opportunities dimension. No selection interview shall take place without someone that has received such training and is aware of the relevant legislation, in attendance;
At least three people should sit on an interview panel;
Interviewers must keep adequate notes of the interview in order to be able to make a fair comparison between candidates. This will be recorded on an interview report form;
In determining whether or not a candidate is to be progressed to the next stage, interviewers may only consider factors relevant to the job requirements. If for any reason a candidate does not possess a certain requirement for a job, but is nevertheless short listed for interview, the candidate should not be subsequently declined solely on the grounds of not possessing that requirement. Reasons for unsuccessful candidates should be recorded for incorporation into the recruitment monitoring process;
All application forms and interview notes should be kept for six months after the end of recruitment action. Monitoring forms should be kept indefinitely;
If any member of an interview panel feels that discrimination has occurred in the selection process, the matter must be reported immediately to the Chair of the Panel/Council. No selection decision should be made until the issue is resolved;
Candidates of all ethnicities/ethnic backgrounds should not be asked questions that could be seen as directly or indirectly discriminatory, e.g., questions which test their understanding of ‘U.K. Customs’. Neither should their fluency in the English language be used as a selection criterion unless it is a bona fide requirement of the job;
Selection decisions must not be influenced either by the traditional racial or sexual profile of the previous post-holder;

Informal interviews must not take place unless they are clearly part of the approved or agreed selection process for all short-listed candidates.

Letters of Appointment

Appointment letters should contain the following statement: "As an Employee of the Council you will be required actively to pursue the Council’s policies on Equal Opportunities and Race Relations and to undergo any training associated with this";
The appointment letter should also be accompanied by a copy, which the applicant is required to sign and return to indicate acceptance of the job offered, and which is retained in the personal record. This should include the following: "I have read and understood the Council’s Equal Opportunity Policy, and acknowledge that the offer of employment is made subject to my agreement actively to pursue that policy during the course of my employment and to undergo any training associated with this";
If letters to unsuccessful candidate’s state reasons for non-selection, then these must be valid. Unsuccessful candidate letters should also indicate to candidates the name and telephone number of the person to contact if further information or feedback is required;
Reasons for non-selection should be given to candidates if requested. The reasons will be those stated on the recruitment monitoring form;
All appointments will be subject to receiving two satisfactory references, one of which must be from the most recent Employer or educational institution. If satisfactory references are not received, the Council may terminate the employment relationship.

Records

All records of job applicants and interview notes should be kept for a minimum of 12 months. These must be held in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, which requires records to be accurate and stored confidentially.

Retention and Development

The Council’s strategy is to ensure all staff remain motivated in the working environment. This is done by way of regular meetings where everyone has their input listened to and they are clearly informed of business updates. Staff development is enhanced by the way of regular internal/external training courses on subjects that are relevant to the business and also to personally develop their own working skills.

Every individual receives regular reviews where personal progress is discussed along with the individual’s requirements to further enhance their work and working environment.

Every individual who decides to leave the Council will receive an exit interview. The results of the interview can be used as feedback into the business to enhance staff retention.

Monitoring

The Clerk is accountable for the Recruitment and Selection Policy. The Clerk will monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the policy, and provide regular monitoring reports to the Council.

Updates of the Equality Act 2010

Equality Act provisions which came into force in April 2011:

positive action - recruitment and promotion

public sector Equality Duty (see section below)

Ministers are considering how to implement the remaining provisions in the best way for business and for others with rights and responsibilities under the act. Their decisions will be announced in due course.

Equality Act Provisions that the government has decided not to take forward:

public sector duty regarding socio-economic inequalities

combined discrimination - dual characteristics

Age discrimination

The Equality Act 2010 includes provisions that ban age discrimination against adults in the provision of services and public functions. The ban came into force on 1 October 2012 and it is now unlawful to discriminate on the basis of age unless:

the practice is covered by an exception from the ban
good reason can be shown for the differential treatment (‘objective justification’)

The ban on age discrimination is designed to ensure that the new law prohibits only harmful treatment that results in genuinely unfair discrimination because of age. It does not outlaw the many instances of different treatment that are justifiable or beneficial.

You can read the original consultation on the archived Government Equalities Office website.

There is an overview of how the ban works and tailored guides for small businesses, private clubs and the holiday sector in the Equality Act guidance.

Age discrimination: exceptions

The government response to the consultation includes the draft Exceptions Order. You can also read the impact assessment.

Exceptions under the Order are:

age-based concessions
age-related holidays
age verification
clubs and associations concessions
financial services
immigration
residential park homes
sport

These specific exceptions are in addition to:

general exceptions already allowed by the Act

positive action measures
‘Objective justification’

There are no specific exceptions to the ban on age discrimination for health or social care services. This means that any age-based practices by the NHS and social care organisations need to be objectively justified, if challenged.

Public sector Equality Duty

The public sector Equality Duty came into force across Great Britain on 5 April 2011. It means that public bodies have to consider all individuals when carrying out their day-to-day work – in shaping policy, in delivering services and in relation to their own employees.

It also requires that public bodies have due regard to the need to:

eliminate discrimination
advance equality of opportunity
foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities

Who the Equality Duty applies to?

The Equality Duty applies across Great Britain to the public bodies listed in Schedule 19 (as amended), and to any other organisation when it is carrying out a public function.

Specific duties

The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 came into force on 10 September 2011.

The specific duties require public bodies to publish relevant, proportionate information showing compliance with the Equality Duty, and to set equality objectives.

Guidance for public bodies

The Government Equalities Office has published 2 quick-start guides to help public bodies understand the Equality Duty and the specific duties:

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is the statutory body established to help eliminate discrimination and reduce inequality. The Commission has published new non-statutory guidance on:

Devolution

Section 153 of the act enables the Welsh and Scottish ministers to impose specific duties on certain Welsh and Scottish public bodies through secondary legislation. For Welsh and cross-border Welsh public bodies, specific duties have been finalised by the Welsh Assembly government and came into force on 6 April 2011.

The Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) (Wales) Regulations 2011

For Scottish public bodies, the Scottish government launched a consultation on revised draft Regulations for specific duties on 9 September 2011. The consultation closed on 25 November 2011.

ADOPTED JULY 2021