Aim

To ensure a fair, consistent, and supportive approach to identifying suitable alternative employment for displaced employees or those unable to continue in their existing roles.

Scope

This policy applies to all displaced employees or those employees who are unable to continue in their current role. It does not apply to bank, agency, and sessional workers.

This policy complies with current legislation and meets the aims of the Public Sector Equality Duty of the Equality Act 2010. 

Definitions

Access period is the time an eligible employee can access the provisions of the Redeployment Policy.  

Displaced is the term applied to employees whose post is no longer needed or whose skills or experience have changed or are no longer required for the role. 

Matching involves the comparison of a vacant post’s essential criteria with the knowledge, skills, and experience of one or more employees. 

Redeployment is the process of securing suitable alternative employment for an employee who is displaced or unable to continue in their current role. 

Special class status is a category within the NHS pension scheme for some members pre-April 1995. Depending on the nature of the work, they are entitled to earlier than normal pension age and, in some cases, other enhanced terms. Mental Health Officer status has similar entitlements. 

Suitable alternative employment describes the factors used to determine if a post is appropriate in a redeployment situation. The factors include the following: 

• job role 
• pay and benefits 
• job location and hours of work 
• special class or mental health officer pension status
• employee’s skills and experience 
• employee's circumstances 

Roles and responsibilities

There is a range of standard expectations which underpin all policies. Read more about standard roles and responsibilities. In addition, the following specific responsibilities apply to this policy. 

Manager 

The employee’s manager will: 

• Provide regular contact and support to the employee whilst suitable alternative employment is sought or identified. 
• Engage with the employee to offer appropriate training and development opportunities for potential suitable alternative vacancies. 
• Make sure employees have access to this policy’s provisions from when they are displaced. 
• Seek advice from HR or designated redeployment contact, where necessary and appropriate, when dealing with redeployment issues. 

Hiring manager 

Managers recruiting for a vacancy will:  

• Consider employees for vacancies objectively and without prejudice. 
• Take a flexible approach to make sure employees matched to the vacancy are not unreasonably refused appointment to the role. 
• Actively consider reasonable adjustments to enable the employee to access continued employment. 
• Raise any concerns or issues about a redeployed employee as soon as possible or during any trial period to enable early discussion and resolution.  
• Seek advice from HR or designated redeployment contact, where necessary and appropriate, when dealing with redeployment issues. 

Employee 

The employee will: 

Actively engage with the redeployment process. 

• Take a flexible approach, particularly when considering suitable alternative roles. 
• Engage with training and development programmes integral to any role that they subsequently accept.  
• Raise any concerns or issues as soon as possible or during any trial period to enable early discussion and resolution. 
• Highlight any change of circumstances to their manager. 

Redeployment contact 

The redeployment contact will: 

• Make sure employees matched to vacancies are appropriately prioritised based on the reason for their redeployment. 
• Liaise with managers recruiting for a vacancy to appropriately match employees to the role. 
• Make sure that a manager's refusal to appoint an employee to a potential match is reasonable and stands up to objective scrutiny. 

Occupational health 

Occupational health will: 

• Provide specialist advice about whether the employee should be considered for redeployment for health reasons. 
• Provide specialist advice to inform a decision on fitness and suitability for alternative positions. 

Procedure

NHSScotland is committed to retaining employees. Redeployment supports employees who are unable to continue in their current roles. It also offers the opportunity to retain valued skills and experience within the organisation. 

Before advertising any vacant post, there will be full consideration as to whether the employer can fill it through redeployment. Managers recruiting for a vacancy should appoint an employee from those considered to meet the essential criteria of the post. Employees who are new to the redeployment register or who were not formally matched to the vacancy before advertising should still be considered before other candidates. They can be considered up until the point of a formal offer to candidates through the standard recruitment process.

Reasons for redeployment 

Redeployment may be a result of: 

• Organisational change, for example, removal of posts, shift changes, or employees on grade protection. 
• Capability, for example, health or performance issues. 
• End of a fixed-term contract, whether in a redundancy situation or not. 

Other circumstances resulting in redeployment will be by exception. These will be determined on a case-by-case basis to make sure the principles of fairness and consistency of approach are applied. 

Individuals on redeployment for organisational change reasons should refer to the local Organisational Change Policy to clarify the provisions that apply. This will include alternative posts for employees on protection. 

Redeployment may not be appropriate for health cases where the medical advice indicates the employee is unfit for their own post or any other type of work within the board. 

Redeployment may not be appropriate for individuals being sponsored for a work visa due to the restrictions of the visa conditions. 

Accessing redeployment 

Once an employee has access to redeployment, their manager will meet with them to: 

• discuss the provisions of the Redeployment Policy 
• confirm the employee and manager’s responsibilities 
• receive the Skills profile form
• complete the Redeployment referral form 
• explore training and development opportunities to support potential employment 

The forms will be passed to the redeployment contact, who will contact the employee to discuss their existing knowledge and skills.

Access period 

The employee’s manager will maintain regular contact with them throughout the access period. 

The employer should first limit the employee's access to redeployment to 3 months, except for employees on a fixed-term contract, who may have less. It should be reviewed before the 3-month period expires to consider whether an extension is appropriate. 

The access period may be extended where: 

• Suitable alternative employment opportunities have arisen or will arise within a reasonable time. 
• An extension to the access period may amount to a reasonable adjustment for a disabled employee. 
• Employees have been displaced due to organisational change, including those on grade protection.

Further information on reasonable adjustments can be found in the Guide to reasonable adjustments.

The access period for employees displaced due to non-renewal of a fixed-term contract can be for up to 3 months but certainly no less than their contractual notice period. 

If the person is not able to do their current post while on redeployment, meaningful alternative duties will be found. The employee will retain their existing terms and conditions until a suitable alternative employment opportunity becomes available or their period on redeployment ends. 

Matching 

The redeployment contact will use the completed Redeployment referral form and the Skills profile form for matching. 

As redeployment aims to preserve employment, the redeployment contact will normally only consider employees for posts at their current or a lower pay band. However, if the employee is disabled, consideration may be given to vacant posts at a higher pay band or grade in exceptional circumstances. Employees should be considered for matching if they meet the essential criteria for the post or would fully match the criteria with a reasonable period of training.

Where several employees are suitable for an available post, the redeployment contact will consider the circumstances of redeployment. They will establish whether any employee takes priority over others due to displacement reasons or any characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010. 

The order of prioritisation from highest to lowest will normally be as follows:  

• Pregnant employees and employees on maternity, adoption or shared maternity and shared adoption leave, subject to organisational change. This includes any protected period following maternity, adoption or shared maternity and shared adoption leave. 
• Disabled employees in line with the Equality Act 2010. 
• Employees displaced on the grounds of organisational change and employees on fixed-term contracts resulting in redundancy.  
• Employees being redeployed under the Attendance Policy. 
• Employees being redeployed under the Capability Policy. 
• Fixed-term employees in a non-redundancy situation in line with the Fixed-term Contract Policy. 
• Employees returning from a career break. For more information, see the Career Break Policy. 
• Employees who are unable to continue in their existing role due to other exceptional circumstances.

The redeployment contact will: 

• Match employees with the highest priority to an available post. 
• Advise employees of the match and pass their details to the manager recruiting for the vacancy. 
• Alert the employee's manager. 

If no appointment is made, the same process will apply to those with the next priority level. The process will continue until an employee is appointed or the process is exhausted. 

Entitlement to protection would only apply to employees displaced on the grounds of organisational change, including the expiry of fixed-term contracts resulting in redundancy.  

The employee or the hiring manager may consider the matched post unsuitable. The employee should discuss this with the redeployment contact and their manager. The hiring manager should also discuss this with the redeployment contact. 

Selection decisions  

The hiring manager will assess individuals against an agreed person specification and job description. Subject to agreement with HR, the hiring manager may need to use a more formalised selection process in the following circumstances:  

• Where a post is not an exact match, and the individual’s suitability for the role should be explored. 
• Where more than one employee with the same priority level is matched to a vacancy.  

Any subsequent employment offer will be conditional upon all relevant pre-employment checks in the Employment Checks Policy.  

Unsuccessful candidates will be provided with verbal and written feedback. 

Trial periods or retraining 

A trial period of 4 weeks will apply to employees appointed to posts via redeployment. The manager may extend trial periods by agreement. An extension may be necessary where the employee requires additional training and development or in response to specific circumstances, such as a reasonable adjustment if the employee is disabled.   

Where the pay band of the new post is lower, employees will retain the pay band and terms and conditions of their previous post during the 4-week trial period. Upon satisfactory trial completion, they will move to the pay band for the new post unless they are in receipt of pay protection. If the trial is extended, the employee will be paid the rate of the new post. 

Where a disabled employee is appointed to a higher band, the employee will be paid at a higher rate during the 4-week trial period. If the trial is extended, the employee will be paid the rate of the new post. If the employee does not satisfactorily complete the trial period, they will return to their substantive pay band. 

Redeployment into a fixed-term post 

When the organisation matches a permanent employee to a temporary or fixed-term post, they will retain their permanent employment status during this period. Consideration of further redeployment will be linked to the original reason for redeployment. 

Determining the suitability of a post 

Where an employee has declined several suitable alternative employment opportunities, the redeployment contact will meet with the employee and their manager to explore the reasons fully.  

Where the hiring manager considers an employee unsuitable, they must provide reasons in writing to the employee. These will address why they consider that the employee does not meet the essential criteria and is unlikely to be able to do so following a short period of training and development. 

During the trial period, the hiring manager or the employee may determine that the post is unsuitable. In either case, they must clearly demonstrate the unsuitability of the post. If appropriate, the employee's manager will be responsible for pursuing further redeployment. 

Where the employee has failed to engage with the process, unreasonably refused suitable alternatives, or where there is no potential for suitable alternative employment, consideration should be given to terminating employment in line with the relevant NHSScotland Workforce Policy. 

Resolution of disagreements 

Should a disagreement arise, the employee has the right to raise matters under the Grievance Policy. It may be appropriate for either party to seek advice on resolving the matter from HR colleagues or a trade union representative. They should seek early resolution wherever possible.

Related policies 

The following policies are related to the Redeployment Policy: 

• Attendance Policy
• Capability Policy
• Fixed-term Contract Policy