SESSIONAL WORKER INFORMATION
SUMMARY OF ROLE
HOURS No guaranteed hours of work - to provide cover on a flexible basis
REPORTS TO Service Manager/Depute
SUPERVISED BY Support Worker (as required)
Summary
Aspire - Housing and Personal Development Services exists to provide community based support to people who have a range of support needs. The Sessional Worker will, when required, work directly with these people and assist them to develop meaningful lives.
The Sessional Worker will :
Provision of Support
- Assist in agreeing individual support plans with each service user based on their needs and wishes, as appropriate
- Directly assist service users with everyday living skills, for example, household tasks
Inclusion
- Assist in service users to access community services activities
- Assist service users to develop meaningful relationships
- Contribute to maintaining useful information relating to these services and activities
Communication - Internal
- Pass on appropriate information to team members
Communication - External
- Work in partnership with other agencies involved in service users' care and support, as appropriate
Administration
- Undertake additional service based administration as appropriate and as required by the Housing Support Manager/Depute
- Assist in maintaining accurate, up to date individual housing support plans
Supervision and Review
- Participate in formal supervision on a regular basis
- Participate in the Review and Evaluation Process
Training and Development
- Participate in relevant training to enhance his / her suitability and relevant skills
This summary is not intended to be exhaustive, and will be reviewed on a regular basis. The Sessional Worker may be required to undertake additional duties.
SESSIONAL WORK - SUMMARY OF KEY TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1. Obligation to provide / undertake work
Sessional Workers are required by the organisation in order to allow for cover in the event of staff absence, including sickness absence, annual leave, learning and development. It is not intended that Sessional Workers will provide cover for longer term absence, including long term sickness absence and maternity leave. As the availability of sessional shifts is not quantifiable or foreseen, Sessional Workers are not part of rotas in use within each service.
Sessional Workers are recruited to a sessional bank within a given geographical area, and will be contacted in the event of shifts being available.
On this basis, Aspire cannot offer fixed or guaranteed hours of duty, nor does it have an obligation to do so.
Sessional Workers will work those shifts which they have been offered, and which they are able to work. In the same way that there is no obligation upon Aspire to offer shifts, there is no obligation upon the Sessional Worker to work. For this reason, it is perfectly acceptable for a Sessional Worker to turn down the offer of a shift / shifts if they are unavailable at the time in question.
2. Hours of work
Subject to the above, Sessional Workers who are able to work will not be permitted to work in excess of 37.5 hours in any one week.
3. Pay
Sessional Workers will be paid monthly on the last working day of each month, unless this date falls on a weekend or public holiday in which case they will be paid on the nearest preceding working day.
The hourly rate of pay is £6.67 per hour.
Payment will be made with monthly pay for those hours worked in the preceding pay period, i.e. from the beginning to the end of the previous month.
Payments will be reviewed in the event of the organisation securing funding for a cost of living award, however, Sessional Workers will not be entitled to receive any backdated payment if this falls after the beginning of the financial year.
4. Place of work
Due to the nature of sessional work, workers will be offered work in a variety of services within a given geographical area. The base of work will be the local Office with the understanding that they may be offered shifts in any one of several services within that area.
5. Accrual of continuous service
Continuous service will accrue for every week in which a sessional worker undertakes work for the organisation. A break in service will occur when there is a Sunday to Saturday period during which a Sessional Worker does not undertake any work for the organisation. The only exception to this rule will arise whereby a Sessional Worker is using any entitlement to paid annual leave in which case service will continue to accrue.
Following a break in service, the recalculation of continuity of employment will begin from the next day on which the Sessional Worker works, and on this basis thereafter.
Continuity of service will be monitored locally, within the relevant local Office.
6. Annual leave entitlement
The entitlement to paid annual leave for Sessional Workers is defined by the Working Time Regulations 1998.
Entitlement to paid annual leave will arise only when a Sessional Worker accrues thirteen weeks continuous service. When this happens, the following process will be implemented :
- The period in respect of which annual leave is calculated will begin with the date on which the 13 weeks continuous service began.
- Leave entitlement will be calculated for this thirteen week period only.
- Annual leave entitlement will be expressed in hours.
- Annual leave entitlement will be calculated on the basis upon a full leave year entitlement of 30 days, which would equate to 37.5 hours per week.
- To calculate the entitlement due, the following calculation will apply :
Total number of hours worked in 13 week period x 0.115
- Following completion of thirteen weeks continuous service and calculation of entitlement, a new thirteen week period will begin when there is a break in service which follows this period of continuous service
- If continuous service continues beyond thirteen weeks, leave entitlement will be adjusted to take account of this. This will mean amending calculation of entitlement in order to take account of the additional weeks worked.
- When entitlement arises, annual leave will be taken using the organisation's normal leave procedure and must be agreed and signed off by the relevant Manager.
- Relevant Managers will ensure that leave entitlement is taken with the appropriate timescales.
7. Sick Pay Entitlement
Sessional Workers are not entitled to receive either Statutory Sick Pay or Organisational Sick Pay in accordance with the relevant statutory and organisational regulations.
Only when continuous service extends beyond thirteen weeks will any entitlement arise, and this will be dependent upon individual Sessional Workers meeting eligibility criteria. This refers only to Statutory Sick Pay.
8. Notice Period
Once appointed to the sessional bank, Sessional Worker details will remain "live" until one of the following situations arises :
- The Sessional Worker no longer wishes to be included on the bank and resigns
- The Sessional Worker is subject to disciplinary proceedings and is dismissed
In both of the above situations, there will be a requirement to provide written notification. If a Sessional Worker has accrued four weeks continuous service at the date that the agreement ends, then the minimum statutory notice period of one week will apply. Following this, the Sessional Workers details will be deleted from the bank.
9. Supervision and Review
Sessional Workers will participate in one hours' paid supervision for every six weeks worked. Each Sessional Worker will be linked to a Manager who will have responsibility for collating review information from services within which the Sessional Worker has worked. Review will be carried out annually, and aims to assess the Sessional Worker's suitability for continuation as a member of the relevant bank.
10. Group Life Assurance
Sessional Workers are not entitled to join the organisation's Group Life Assurance scheme.
11. Learning and Development
- Induction
Having been recruited to the Sessional Bank, Sessional Workers will undergo local induction, provided within the area in which they may work. This will be completed prior to working within any service, and will attract the appropriate number of hours pay.
- Ongoing learning and development
A Sessional Worker who works 500 hours will be entitled to one day of internal training, which must be relevant and identified in conjunction with the appraising Service Manager.