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| Apprenticeships - 4. Membership Agreement |
Membership Agreement
Choose a subcategory from the menu below to browse this section:
Definition: 'Apprentice'
means Apprentice or Advanced Apprentice aged under 25 receiving
funding under the Apprenticeship scheme.
4.01: Apprentice Pay and
Hours.
Apprentice payments Where a regional pay structure
has been agreed member companies will be expected to adhere to
agreed rates. Where no structure has been agreed, pay rates
will be determined by the
company.
| Overtime
payments |
In accordance with the
company's normal practice. |
| Public holidays |
As above |
| Sickness |
As above |
|
Holiday entitlement |
As per individual company
rules. |
NB. Apprentices will be expected to
take their holidays during college term Breaks.
4.02: Equal
Opportunities.
In order to attract Government
funding, it is essential that all nominees for the
apprenticeship have been selected in accordance with existing
equal opportunities legislation.
All participating
companies will be expected to have an Equal Opportunities
Policy and a means of monitoring it. Companies will be
expected to select nominees on the basis of ability and
provide an equality of opportunity which ensures no
unjustified discrimination and is regardless of race, ethnic
origin, religion, age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation
or, subject to necessary constraints,
disability.
Companies participating in this scheme
acknowledge that they will not commit any act of
discrimination rendered unlawful by the Sex Discrimination Act
1975, Race Relations Act 1976, Employment Acts 1988-1989 or
the Disabilities Discrimination Act 1996 or any enactments
modifying or replacing them.
Participating companies will be required
to supply SITO Ltd with details of
apprentices' names, addresses, age, gender, and ethnic origin,
in order that SITO Ltd may fulfil its obligations
with regard to monitoring the application of equal
opportunities policy.
4.03:
Health and Safety
It is an essential
requirement of the Apprenticeship scheme that
participating companies have, and implement, an effective
health and safety policy regulating the employment of
apprentices and others on government-funded training
schemes.
The policy must
be in written form and address at least the following key
points:-
| a) |
Any specific arrangements for the
training of apprentices in health and safety
matters. |
| b) |
Strict supervision of apprentices in the
workplace including the identification and
monitoring of prohibited activities, locations and use
of machinery. |
| c) |
Procedure for monitoring and recording
health and safety in the apprentice's workplace
including the reporting of injuries and dangerous
occurrences.
NB: Serious and other injuries that
cause the apprentices to lose time at work or college
are to be reported to SITO Ltd by telephone as
soon as the initial details are known. |
| d) |
Provision of written safety policies and
risk assessments where required by
legislation. This must be supported and promoted
by senior management and it must be regularly reviewed,
at least annually. |
| e) |
Arrangements for dealing with
emergencies. |
| f) |
The company must agree to allow SITO to
carry out an inspection of the company premises and
health and safety practices at the start of the
apprenticeship. They must implement any actions
deemed necessary as a result of this inspection. |
| g) |
The company must cooperate with and allow
SITO representatives access to apprentices in the
workplace for the purposes of monitoring their health
and safety at least twice a
year. |
4.04: Recruitment
| a) |
Apprentices |
|
Participating companies are free to use
their normal recruitment practices in selecting and
recruiting apprentices onto the scheme (subject to 2
above) but must ensure that each applicant is vetted
successfully in accordance with BS 7858. |
| b) |
Participating companies |
|
Companies wishing to join the Co-op
scheme must demonstrate that they: |
|
are recognised by an inspectorate body as noted in
the ACPO unified
policy or are a
quality company acceptable to the other member
companies of the Co-operative.
comply with the health and safety and equal
opportunities
requirements
described earlier.
are able to provide work experience opportunities to
enable
apprentices to complete
the NVQ levels 2 & 3 under
supervision. |
4.05: Apprentice
Progress Review
Whilst SITO and the College will
provide support in ensuring that apprentices remain within the
programme, all participating companies will be expected to
take an active part in the apprentice review process.
This involves ensuring that they attend College regularly and
punctually, are up to date with their logbooks and records of
work carried out on site (portfolios) and have undertaken a
variety of practical work based activities.
4.06: Insurance
Participating
companies shall take out, and maintain in force with a
reputable insurance office, adequate insurance against any
losses or damages on the part of the company incurred whilst
participating in this scheme, including, but not limited to
Employers Liability and Public Liability. Such insurance
shall cover all reasonably foreseeable loss or damage caused
to or by any person undertaking training and assessment under
this programme, including death or injury or damage to
property.
4.07: Grievance and Disciplinary
Procedures
The apprentice must, from the
first day of the programme, have access to clear grievance and
disciplinary procedures. In order that the managing
agent may meet its obligations a written report of serious
grievances raised or disciplinary action considered must be
forwarded to SITO.
4.08: Absences
Apprentices will be entitled to
the following absences from the programme.
| a) |
Verified sickness - All absence due to
sickness shall be kept under review. If it becomes
clear that periods of sickness are such that the
individual's training is unlikely to be achieved to the
required standard, on time, the company should consider
whether to adapt the training provision or, where
necessary, terminate the apprenticeship.
For the
purposes of this programme 'verified sickness'
means: |
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For the first seven calendar days (one college day)
of a bout of
sickness, sickness
in respect of which a self-certificate or medical
certificate is produced.
For any continuance of that bout of sickness from 8
- 21 calendar days
(two or more
college days), sickness in respect of which a medical
certificate is
produced. |
| b) |
Agreed holidays and time off -
Apprentices will be expected to take their holidays in a
manner which does not preclude them from attending
college or from maintaining progress against their
training plan within company. This includes
Bank and Public holidays. |
| c) |
Attendance at Courts of Law - Absence due
to jury service or appearing as a defendant. |
| d) |
Compassionate Leave - Such absence
should not exceed three Calendar Weeks. |
| e) |
Industrial Dispute - In which the apprentice is not
taking part but that prevents effective and/or safe
working. |
4.09: Unauthorised
Absence
This is any absence other than those
listed above. In extreme cases apprentices may have
their apprenticeships terminated. Apprentices who are
absent for more than 10 consecutive working days (Monday to
Friday) without authorisation will be deemed to have left the
scheme.
NB. Their
continued employment is a matter between the employer and the
apprentice.
4.10: Attendance Records
In order for claims to be made
to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), participating
companies must return to SITO a periodic, written record of
attendance for each apprentice, every accounting period.
Failure to do so will result in the LSC withdrawing their
financial support. The appropriate form(s) will be
supplied by SITO.
4.11: Member Company Appeals
Procedure
All appeals against decisions
made in relation to this agreement or the training scheme are
to be made to the Regional Co-op committee, via the Chairman,
in writing and within 21 days. The decision of the
committee will be final.
4.12: Grievance
Procedure
Any grievance against Network,
or any participating company should be forwarded to the
committee in writing, via the Chairman. The decision of
the committee will be final.
4.13: Company
Contact
Each participating company must nominate a
'point of contact' who is capable of dealing with
administrative issues as they arise.
4.14: Staff
Training
Participating companies will be expected
to nominate , and release for training purposes,
suitable staff member(s) who are to act as Work Based Expert
Witnesses/Mentors for the level 2 and 3 NVQ awards.
Participating companies who fail to take advantage of any
courses offered as a result of SITO securing funding, or whose
nominee fails to honour a course booking, will be expected to
re-imburse the Co-operative Network the costs of alternative
training.
4.15: Scheme
Verification
SITO and the LSC will require
reasonable access to apprentices during the programme in
order to evaluate the effectiveness of the scheme.
4.16: Recoverable Costs
and Charges
| a) |
The Co-operative Network, reserves the
right to recover from participating companies any costs,
incurred by the Network on their behalf, resulting from
unreasonable early withdrawal from the scheme or other
actions in contradiction of the terms and conditions
expressed in this document, which cannot be claimed from
other sources. |
| b) |
In addition, the Co-operative Network
reserves the right to request payments from
participating companies to cover shortfalls in the
income from LSC funding during the period of the
apprenticeship. |
| c) |
The Co-operative Network reserves the
right to charge member companies for the costs incurred
when planned monitoring or assessment visits are
cancelled or if the apprentice is moved to a location
where a visit is impractical. Companies will be
charged a visit cancellation fee of £100 for each
cancelled or frustrated apprentice assessment
visit. This charge will fall due if companies fail
to notify the assessor: |
|
at least 48 hours before the scheduled visit date
and/or
relocate the apprentice so as to make the scheduled
visit
impracticable and/or
the apprentice is not engaged in suitable work for
assessment
purposes |
4.17: Employment
A
member company is not permitted to employ an apprentice
employed by, or formerly employed by, another member company
during the period of the training scheme, without the
expressed permission of the regional committee.
4.18: Training Objectives
In support of the skill development
training by the College, the employing companies will provide
opportunities to trainees to work in as wide a variety of
situations as possible. The ultimate outcome being to
complete the full assessment at the skill levels defined in
the NVQs.
4.19: Variations
The Network reserves the right
to vary the terms of this agreement (in whole or in part) and
upon receiving 21 days written notice of such variation a
participating company shall be deemed to have accepted the
same unless, prior to the expiry of the said 21 days, the
participating company gives SITO written notice by registered
post cancelling this agreement.
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