Collective disputes procedure

The procedure

Throughout this procedure, 'working days' are Monday to Friday. This excludes bank holidays and statutory holiday.

Stage one – informal resolution

We encourage the dealing of collective disputes informally. 

This enables the resolution of the majority of cases at a local level. This means at a team or service area level.  

A trade union representative will send a letter to the Head of Service providing full details of: 

  • the dispute 
  • the staff involved
  • any supporting evidence 
  • the resolution sought

Download and submit the informal resolution stage 1 form (appendix 1).

There will be advice and involvement of HR. Where resolution is not achievable at a local level, a collective dispute may be submitted.

Stage two – collective dispute procedure

A trade union representative will send a letter to the Joint Secretaries to register a dispute. The Joint Secretaries are the head of HR and the Employee Side Secretary. 

A trade union representative will need to outline one, or more, of the following grounds for appeal:  
  • there was a defect in procedure applied 
  • not all relevant evidence has been considered  
  • new evidence has come to light since the decision at the informal resolution stage   
A trade union representative will need to provide the rationale or evidence in respect of this and circulate using the dispute form.  
 
 

The trade union representative must send it within five working days of the informal stage finishing. 

It may be appropriate at this stage for the relevant parties to meet (such as the Joint Secretaries or their nominated substitutes). This will be to agree to the nature of the dispute and obtain further details.  

The Joint Secretaries have the right to challenge. Only if they feel it is not a genuine collective dispute. If this is necessary, the conflict would be referred back to the service area for resolution at a local level.

The Joint Secretaries will arrange a collective dispute meeting with the Trade Unions and management. 

This will be within ten working days of the request being received to attempt to resolve the matter. 

Employees must submit any papers should five working days before the meeting. They should not raise any new issues after this point.

An independent panel will lead proceedings. This panel will include: 

  • an assistant director (chairperson) 
  • two senior supporting managers (head of service or above) 
  • and an HR representative 

The Joint Secretaries will agree to the panel. They will make every effort will to achieve a prompt resolution at this stage. 

The result of the collective disputes matter will be notified by convening a meeting to feedback the outcome. We will confirm this in writing to both parties within five days of this meeting.

They will make every effort to achieve a prompt resolution. Resolution may include referring the matter for binding arbitration. 

By mutual agreement, the parties may revert to earlier stages of this procedure. This will occur if that assists resolution.

The procedure shall be deemed to be at an end once:

  • a resolution has been reached
  • binding arbitration has been implemented
  • or, the panel comes to a judgement and determines the outcome

There are no further rights of internal consideration of collective disputes.

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