October 2024

Read a message to District Chairs and District Lay Employment Secretaries

Read an overview of Employment Law Changes - April 2024

Section 8, Downloadable templates uploaded for Anti-Harassment and Anti Bullying Policy and Risk assessment

Section 4, Downloadable templates

Authorisation to Recruit Form, amended to include that the Terms and Conditions should be drafted and sent to the DLES prior to recruitment.

Section 7, Pay and Pensions

Living wage foundation pay rates updated as of 23 October 2024

Guidelines for determining salary figure for lay posts updated with Living Wage Foundation rates.

May 2024

Section 8

Flexible Working Requests

Updated to include that employees may only make one live request at a time, and correction to second bullet point, "has not already made 2 requests".

April 2024

Section 8

Key Policies and Guidance Documents (methodist.org.uk)
Flexible working policy & Flexible working request form : Downloadable templates: Flexible Working, Homeworking, Hybrid Working policies
Updated the Flexible working policy template and the request form template, following recent changes in Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 legislation.

January 2024

Section 8

Key Policies and Guidance Documents (methodist.org.uk) New sub-section added: Health & Safety: Downloadable templates: Health & Safety Policy (methodist.org.uk) - Adapted Health & Safety policy template based on Methodist Insurance H&S Policy template

November 2023

Section 7
Guidelines for determining the salary figure for lay posts (methodist.org.uk) Guidelines updated with the new Living Wage rates (Living Wage Foundation) and the increased amount for awarding additional point(s).

Section 8
8. Key Policies and Guidance Documents (methodist.org.uk) Under New Employee Orientation new sub-section has been added for: Line Managers' Handbook (methodist.org.uk) - Link to new resource 

Section 11
Learning and Development
New date for Lay Orientation training published:
Lay Orientation Training Day - January Registration, Fri 19 Jan 2024 at 10:00 | Eventbrite

May 2023

Section 8

Key Policies and Guidance Documents (methodist.org.uk) New sub-section added: Sickness Absence: Downloadable Templates (methodist.org.uk) - Sickness Absence Policy Template
- Return to Work Form Template

March 2023

Section 2

EDI: The Church Perspective, Monitoring and Law (methodist.org.uk) Under 'EDI Monitoring' the following information was added:  It is essential to ensure that that a process is established and implemented to monitor the data, and that the findings are used to inform subsequent relevant management decisions relating to EDI.

Downloadable Templates: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy, EDI Monitoring Form (methodist.org.uk) Template of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Form - the introductory notes have been supplemented with the following guidance: Please note this form should only be used once you have a clear internal agreement about how you will process the data that you are asking to collect. The data form should only be sent out once you have a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) in place so as to identify and take steps to minimise and avoid the risks of processing such sensitive data. The purpose for processing of this data should also be stated in your public facing Privacy Notice.

February 2023

Section 8

Key Policies and Guidance Documents (methodist.org.uk)

New sub-section added: Probationary Periods (methodist.org.uk) - Probationary Policy Template
- Probationary Review Form Template
- Setting Objectives - Briefing for Line Managers
- Letter template confirming successful completion of the probationary period - template

Section 5 

Downloadable Templates: Written Statement of Terms, Letters & Policies Written Statement of the Terms and Conditions of Employment - Template:
- Para 7. Hours of Work - additional optional paragraph added for variable hours of work.
- Para 10. Pensions - information re. qualifying earning figures updated.
- Para 15. Training - reference to mandatory training added.
- Para 17. Revised contract clause with options how to set out how the employee's notice period will work.
- Wording 'Line Manager/Supervisor' has been replaced by 'Line Manager' throughout the document to ensure that the responsibilities of the line manager are not confused with/ attributed to the Supervisors who are involved in the reflective supervision.

Template of the letter making conditional offer of employment:
- Removed reference to statutory notice period 
- Paragraph added advising the candidate not to resign from current employment until advised that the pre employment conditions are met.

Section 8

Downloadable Templates: Guidance on Hiring Self Employed Consultants Page 3, third para -  added reference to person authorised by the relevant decision making body.
Page 3, sixth para - reference added to the HMRC ‘Check Employment Status for Tax 

Section 4

Downloadable Templates: Recruitment forms, letters (methodist.org.uk) Application Form template - Right to Work Check
The 2006 Act replaced section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 (the 1996 Act).

Section 7

HMRC Employer Registration and Payroll Arrangements (methodist.org.uk) Registering as employer
Information re. the exemption applicable to LRC's re. registering as an employer and reporting PAYE has been removed.

Apprenticeship Levy
Note added from the Connexional Team's Finance Office that in order for local employers to pay apprenticeship levies, they will need to register with HMRC for PAYE and pay the levy regardless of their payroll size.  

October 2022

Section 7

Guidelines for determining the salary figure for lay posts (methodist.org.uk) Revised Living Wage rates and the revised value of the additional point element applied throughout the document.