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Staff Handbook
Staff Handbook
May 2014 2
This handbook contains a
range of useful
information, some of which
is contractual and some
that is non-contractual.
For further information,
please refer to the intranet.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 3
Who We Are The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent
regulator of all health and social care services in England. Until 31 March 2009, regulation of health and adult social care in
England was carried out by the Health Care Commission (HCC) and the
Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI). The Mental Health Act
Commission also had monitoring functions in relation to the application
of the Mental Health Act 1983.
The Health and Social Care Act 2008 established a single, integrated
regulator for health and adult social care to replace these three bodies.
The CQC was subsequently created in shadow form on 1 October 2008
and began operating on 1 April 2009.
What We Do
“We make
We ensure that Hospitals, Care Homes, Ambulance, Dental and
GP Surgeries and all other care services that support people in
their own home or in other places in England are meeting
national standards. We also look after the rights of people who
need extra support to stay safe including people who are
detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.
sure health and social care
services provide people
with safe, effective,
compassionate,
high-quality care and we
encourage care services
to improve.
”
People who use services are at the heart of all that we do
and our commitment to understanding them has been the
key to our success.
We do this by:
• Setting Standards of quality and safety that people have
a right to expect whenever they receive care.
•Taking appropriate action if care services are failing to
meet the standards.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 4
• Registering care services that meet our standards.
• Monitoring, inspecting and regulating care services to make sure
that they continue to meet the standards.
• Protecting the rights of vulnerable people, including those whose
rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act.
• Listening to and acting on your experiences.
• Involving the public and people who receive care in our work and
• Challenging all providers, with the worst performers getting the
most attention.
• Making fair and authoritative judgments, supported by the best
information and evidence.
• Carrying out in-depth investigations to look at care across the system.
• Reporting on the quality of care services, publishing clear and
comprehensive information, including performance ratings to help
people choose care.
C
Code of Conduct
CQC wants to support managers and employees to strive to
uphold the highest standards of personal and professional
conduct and behave in an ethical and professional manner. In
line with CQC’s values and behaviours we want to encourage a
culture where all employees are treated with respect, display
integrity, and value equality and diversity.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 5
Confidentiality and Security Statement
As an employee or person working on behalf of the Care Quality
Commission (CQC) in any capacity, e.g. permanent, temporary,
secondment or agency, you must not discuss confidential
matters outside the organisation unless you have the express
permission of the Chief Executive or the information is in the
public domain. In the course of your employment/time with the CQC you may have
access to information concerning the medical or personal affairs of
vulnerable people, children, patients or staff both within agencies/care
providers or the CQC whether in manual or computerised form.
Such records and information are Strictly Confidential and unless
acting on the instructions of an authorised officer, on no account must
information concerning any of the above, be divulged or discussed
except in the performance of normal duty. In addition, records or computerised systems must never be left in such
a manner that unauthorised persons can obtain access to them and
must be kept in safe custody. Original manual records should not be
removed from CQC offices, and if this is required, a copy should be
taken and a log kept so that information can be tracked. All information
taken off CQC premises remains strictly confidential, and should not be
left unattended at any time. Where statutory provisions, Data Protection Act 1998, Copyright,
Designs and Patients Act 1988 and the Computer Misuse Act 1990
apply to the security of confidential information, such provisions must
be strictly complied with. Any breach of these requirements will be
treated as a serious disciplinary offence, which could lead to dismissal/
immediate removal from the premises, and/or legal action.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 7
Contractual Entitlements
Annual Leave
• Qualifying period - None
• CQC Benefit - 27 days plus bank holidays. This goes up to 29 days
after three years’ service, and 32.5 days after five years’ service.
• Statutory benefit - 20 days plus bank holidays.
• Average benefit (from other employers) – 25 days
Special Leave CQC’s special leave policy covers a range of absences for which staff
can apply:
• Dependent’s/carer’s leave
• Domestic emergencies leave
• Bereavement leave
• Disability leave
• Jury service or acting as a witness
• Public duties leave
• Parental leave
• Sabbatical for pursuing a personal interest
• Medical and dental appointments
To help staff understand the process, we have a policy document on
our corporate policy register and a procedure and guidance document
for staff available on the CQC Intranet.
Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Leave The full CQC policy on maternity, paternity and adoption can be found
on our corporate policy register page. Briefly, some maternity, paternity and adoption benefits under the
policy include:
• A pregnant employee is entitled to 26 weeks’ maternity leave,
regardless of service.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 8
• An employee adopting is entitled to 26 weeks’ adoption leave
• Employees with parenting responsibilities for a new-born child, or
newly placed for adoption, are entitled to three weeks’ paternity
leave, which must be completed within 56 days of the child’s birth,
or placement for adoption.
• An employee is entitled to return to the same job on the same terms
and conditions or if this is not practical/possible, to suitable
alternative employment.
Our procedure for arranging maternity, paternity or adoption leave and
a guide for managers and employees is available on the CQC Intranet.
Staff Benefits At CQC, permanent staff are eligible for a wide range of
non-contractual benefits. The list of benefits available to staff
is available on the intranet and a brief explanation of each can
be found below:
Childcare Vouchers CQC provides a childcare voucher scheme to help staff save money on
childcare costs. Childcare vouchers are a recognised payment method for registered
childcare and they are easy to set up and use. Registered childcare
providers can include nursuries, nannies, au pairs, crèches, holiday
schemes, childminders, out of school clubs and that provided by
qualifying independent schools. The scheme offers savings on childcare costs of up to £1,196 per
parent, per year, through reduced tax and National Insurance
contributions in their salary. This equates to up to £2,392 per family
each year. Please note: Changes to childcare voucher legislation from April 2011,
mean that higher rate tax payers will only be eligible to receive £28 per
week in childcare vouchers - rather than the maximum of £55 per week
- unless they are already in an existing scheme.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 9
Cyclescheme
CQC has signed up to the Government’s cyclescheme, encouraging
people to cycle to work by subsidising the cost of buying a bike and
accessories. CQC employees can save up to 50% off the price of a new
bike and accessories from almost 1,500 bike shops across the UK.
Cyclescheme is the UK’s number one provider of tax-free bikes for work
through independent bike shops and is run in accordance with the
Government’s green travel plan (CQC receives a tax exemption to provide
cycles and safety equipment to employees as a tax-free benefit).
Eye care expenses
All CQC employees are recommended to have routine eye care as part
of general personal health care – opticians normally recommend that
you have eye tests routinely every two to three years. Opticians charge
a range of prices for eye tests from £8 to £20 for a test that usually
includes near, far and intermediate vision assessment.
CQC will reimburse all permanent employees the reasonable cost of eye
tests when they use display screens; i.e. computers and/or laptops for a
significant part of their work duties.
Where an optician prescribes glasses for use with display screens, CQC
will reimburse up to £50 towards the cost of glasses.
Salary Advances
If you are a CQC employee and you have completed your probationary
period, you are eligible to apply for a salary advance. This can be up to
a maximum of £5,000 interest free, and can be used for the following
purposes:
• Travel season tickets
• Parking permits
This allows you to take advantage of reduced rates offered when you
pay up-front, rather than monthly.
The loan is then repaid through your salary over an agreed period up to
a maximum of 12 months.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 10
Employee Assistance Programme
The EAP offers you immediate access to 24 hour telephone counselling
and legal information services, provided by an independent health and
wellbeing provider.
Experienced and qualified telephone counsellors provide around the
clock support to help you with a wide range of personal and work
related problems in areas such as stress, relationship difficulties,
bereavement, anxiety, family worries, alcohol/drug abuse, employment,
or financial concerns.
NHS Fleet
NHS Fleet Solutions gives permanent CQC staff access to a scheme that
provides competitively priced and trouble-free motoring. Under the
scheme, you are provided with a car for a lease period of three years.
There is no deposit and costs are fixed for all elements for the duration
of the agreement. The car will be insured for you and up to four named
drivers (who must be legally entitled to drive).
At the end of the three-year period you return the car with no
additional charge, as long as the vehicle meets the return standards
and you have not driven more than the agreed contracted mileage.
Payroll Giving
CQC’s payroll giving scheme means staff can donate to their chosen
charity tax free.
Donations are taken from pay by SBS, CQC’s payroll provider, before tax
is calculated and paid in full to the charity. Without this arrangement,
staff would have to complete a self-assessment tax return to claim the
tax back.
You can donate to a registered charity and other causes, such as a place
of worship or school.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 11
CQC Rewards and Staff Discounts
CQC Rewards is an online portal, available for all directly employed
members of CQC staff, which provides access to discounts and special
offers, such as money off supermarket shopping, computers and clothes.
You can buy vouchers at a discount for shops like Sainsburys, Boots,
and Amazon. For example, you can buy a £20 Boots voucher for £18
meaning that anything that you buy is at a 10% discount.
Within the system you can customise your homepage so that the deals
most relevent to you appear first. For example you might always want
travel deals to appear at the top of your page.
Healthcare Benefit
Through employment with CQC, you are able to access membership to
two organisations offering health care plans. They are CS healthcare
and Benenden health.
CS healthcare offers more traditional health insurance plans to public
sector employees, while Benenden are a mutual organisation offering
health care services on a discretionary basis.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 12
Allowances
Pensions
Operational Car User Allowance The operational car user allowance (OCUA) is provided to staff who are
employed in roles where the core purpose of the role is to visit services,
and commissioners in order to undertake regulatory decision making.
The individual must own a vehicle and declare that they will use their
personal vehicle for the purposes of travel on CQC business.
Homeworker Allowance Homeworker Allowance is a monthly allowance provided to staff who’s
base of work is their home. Staff can apply for this allowance through
the CQC intranet.
CQC operates the NHS Pension Scheme for all new starters and
you will be automatically opted into the scheme. Pension
contributions are taken from your pay before tax so you receive
tax relief on any amount you pay. Employees can opt out at any
time by asking SBS Payroll Service Desk for a Pension opt out
form.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 14
Performance Development Review
Staff Survey
Equality and Human Rights at CQC
The PDR is a key element of performance management and
employee development at CQC, aimed at enhancing employees’
development and engagement by:
• engaging with our vision, employee values and behaviours
• understanding our direction
• identifying an individual’s contribution towards CQC achieving its
organisational objectives.
The PDR process integrates the behavioural competencies (our
employee values and behaviours in practice) and the leadership
principles. All staff will have an end-of-year PDR review meeting with
their line manager before the end of March and time to conduct the
new cycle of PDR planning meetings during April. The documents for
the PDR cycle can be found on our intranet.
The Staff Survey conducted at CQC is just one of many tools
used to seek staff views on a range of topics.
Equality, diversity and human rights (EDHR) are integral to
everything we do at the Care Quality Commission. Not only are we compelled by law to comply with EDHR legislation,
as a progressive organisation we acknowledge equalities, diversity and
human rights as essential elements of a progressive, modern
organisation. EDHR is essential to the way we work, the services we provide in our
regulatory activities and in the way we act one with the other. EDHR is
not a start and stop process - it is continually evolving and developing
along with the organisation.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 15
Staff Networks
Disability Network - membership of the disability network is open to
all staff working within CQC, whether or not they classify themselves as
having a disability. The Disability Network supports the social model of
disability which makes an important distinction between ‘impairment’
and ‘disability’. The Disability Network challenges views and strives to
ensure more positive outcomes for disabled staff in CQC. The group
holds three meetings a year, in Newcastle, Birmingham and London. Race Equality Network – is a staff group open to all CQC staff. In
partnership with CQC leaders, its main aim is to support members in
their personal and professional development. The group also works to
promote equality and human rights for all staff, particularly those from
Black and Minority Ethnic groups. The group discharges its aims by
providing a forum through meetings where members support one
another, share experiences and best practice. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Equality Network – is part of the
CQC’s wider diversity networks championed by the chief Executive and
nominated executive team member. It is a closed network and this
means only staff who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Trans are able
to join. The group aims to tackle discrimination through working with
colleagues and other diversity groups in the Commission; and when
necessary, it also challenges the Commission through the Human Rights
Group. Sports and Social – There is a wide range of sports clubs, interest
groups and social activities you can join in order to meet colleagues
who share your interests. On Our Community page you will be able to
post your classified ads where to offer, sell or exchange things like
concert tickets and unwanted presents.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 16
Health and Wellbeing
Reasonable Adjustments
We are committed to embracing and practicing the highest levels
of health and wellbeing standards possible. Health and safety is a
shared responsibility and as an organisation CQC places a great
importance on ensuring that all staff can adopt an active - as well
as reactive - approach to health and safety standards. You will be able to find more information on:
• Our health and safety policy and guidance notes
• The latest health and safety latest updates
• Training (including workstation risk assessments and foundation
training)
• Eye care expenses (including eye tests)
• Staff security
CQC provides a range of support and adjustments to support
staff with health or disability needs. This includes occupational
health referrals for advice on adjustments, personal assessments
for home working equipment, specialist equipment, adjustments
for chronic conditions, support for mental health conditions,
voice-activated software, coloured filters and visual impairment
software, and hardware support.
CQC corporate policy register
Staff Handbook
May 2014 18
Safeguarding
Bullying and Harassment
Anyone working for CQC might be told about, or even witness,
abuse.
• The National Customer Service Centre (NCSC) receives notifications,
telephone calls, emails, letters and faxes from providers, people who
use services, their families and the wider public.
• Inspection staff, provider relationship owners, registration assessors,
second opinion appointed doctors (SOADs), Mental Health Act
(MHA) Commissioners and the MHA Operations team may come
across abuse when doing site visits or receiving information about
service providers.
• Any other members of staff may become aware of an incident of
abuse.
It is essential that we follow the correct procedures when dealing with
safeguarding issues. You should find everything you need on the
safeguarding section of the intranet. The information is mainly for
Operations staff, but others may find it useful. If you need further
advice, contact the safeguarding lead for your region.
CQC is committed to ensuring equal opportunities and fair
treatment in the workplace for all staff. One of the key aims of the policy is to enable CQC to provide a working
environment in which all staff feel comfortable and in which everyone is
treated with respect and dignity, regardless of gender, sexual
orientation, transgender status, marital or family status, colour, race,
nationality, ethnic or national origins, creed, culture religion or belief,
age, disability or any other personal factor or quality. CQC will treat all
complaints of harassment seriously and will investigate them promptly,
efficiently and in confidence, so that the matter can be resolved as
quickly as possible for all concerned. CQC is committed to tackling incidents of bullying and harassment
swiftly and decisively. Individuals should not feel that they have to put
up with bullying behaviour at work, or feel unwilling or unable to
complain for fear of further victimisation.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 19
CQC recognises that people cannot contribute their best when under
fear of harassment, bullying or abuse.
A strong stand is needed on this issue to enable people of all
backgrounds to have dignity at work and enable them to fully
contribute to CQC’s success. Employees who raise a genuine complaint
under this policy will under no circumstances be subjected to any
unfavourable treatment or victimisation as a result of making a
complaint, during and after raising the issue. Where appropriate and
possible, managers and staff should try to resolve issues covered by this
policy informally, using the specific guidance contained in this policy
and separate procedure and guide. Where resolving matters informally
is either inappropriate or has failed, CQC’s Grievance Policy will be used
to raise concerns of bullying and harassment formally.
Dignity at Work
The Dignity at Work Scheme was set up as a means of
providing support for all staff with concerns around bullying
and/or harassment. The aim of the scheme is to provide a ‘listening ear’ via Dignity at Work
Advisors (DAWAs), who will support staff in an informal setting to allow
them, to:
• Feel supported and better able to deal with issues
• Gain a good understanding of the options available to them
• Receive confidential advice
• Be supported at informal discussions by the DAWA
Dignity at Work Advisors can also offer advice and support to staff who
have been accused of bullying or staff who may have witnessed
inappropriate behaviour towards colleagues. You will be able to find
further information in the Zero Tolerance on Bullying and Harassment
policy on our intranet.
Staff Handbook
May 2014 20
Trade Unions
Need More Information?
CQC has signed a Recognition and Facilities Agreement and the
following unions are recognised for the purposes of collective
bargaining, consultation and employee relations:
• UNISON
• Royal College of Nursing (RCN)
• Prospect
• Unite
• PCS
The unions are represented both locally and nationally within CQC lead
representatives who participate in collective bargaining negotiations on
behalf of their members.