NB This Guidance assumes union agreement to 52 week reference period - negotiations as at date of writing are ongoing

(DRAFT) WORKING TIME REGULATIONS - SCHEDULING GUIDANCE FOR BBC NEWS

This guidance note should be read in conjunction with the Agreed Statement C1a3 "Corporate Framework on Conditions of Service" agreed with the Trade Unions and with the "Corporate guidance note on scheduling and the provision of compensatory rest", which sets out the detail of the BBC's Conditions of Service now amended to incorporate the requirements of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and providing a framework for good scheduling practice in the BBC.

(A copy is available on Gateway.)

This note provides further guidance for Schedulers and Managers in BBC News on the provisions in the Regulations particularly relating to Weekly and Daily Rest breaks. For details of the wider provisions of the Regulations refer to the Agreed Statement

1. Introduction

The nature of News and Current Affairs programmes means that unpredictable working, flexibility in the hours worked and often long hours of work over concentrated periods of time are necessary. Health and Safety considerations must however, remain paramount. In addition the quality of life of members of staff must be respected so that they have sufficient time off to balance the needs of work and home life . In BBC News existing rotas and indicative schedules are already built around this premise.

2. Summary - Requirements introduced by The Working Time Regulations

• no more than 48 hours per week average working time over a 52 week reference period starting 1st January each year

• a daily rest period of not less than 11 consecutive hours

• an uninterrupted rest period of not less than 24 hours in each 7 day period or 48 hours in each 14 day period

• minimum 20 minute rest break where the working day is longer than 6 hours.

• a minimum of 3 weeks paid annual leave (4 weeks from November 1999 which is accrued after 3 months

• be permitted to take 'an equivalent period of compensatory rest'; or

• in exceptional cases where providing equivalent compensatory rest is not possible be given other equivalent protection.

3. Other Derogations under the Working Time Regulations

The Working Time Regulations describe, in addition to the Broadcast derogation, several special circumstances under which the entitlement to rest periods does not apply. The principal ones are known as the 'location' derogation, foreseeable surge and 'unforeseen' circumstances. In all these cases workers are entitled to compensatory rest (see below). Further guidance should be sought in the event that these circumstances apply.

4. Opt-Outs under the Working Time Regulations

The Working Time Regulations permit staff to 'opt out' and agree to work longer than 48 hours per week on average. In BBC News this is likely to only be required on a limited basis and the framework principles must be observed.

Unless an Opt-Out Agreement is in force workers hours must fall within the 48 hour average over the 52 week reference period.

5. Scheduling Practice

Staff responsible for scheduling staff and Managers who determine working practices, are required to follow the principles contained within the Agreed Statement.

The same principles should be applied by those staff who are responsible for scheduling their own hours

Only after very careful consideration and where there is a clear need for continuity of service or production will schedules require staff, whether in conditions of service or on all-inclusive salaries(SPS), to work patterns which feature:

• less than a 11 hour break between turns of duty;

• more than 6 consecutive working days in 7, or 12 days in 14;

• more than 6 hours between meals or refreshments;

• frequent changes from day to night working

In these circumstances staff must be given appropriate compensatory rest , either within the schedule or as soon as possible after the completion of the assignment.

Any new Indicative schedules/rotas which utilise the flexibility of a derogation must be agreed by the Head of Department or other senior manager in the Business Unit as well as being discussed in advance with the staff required to work them.

6. Mechanism for resolving individual concerns

Staff who believe that their pattern of work is outside the principles contained in these Guidelines, may raise the issue with their Head of Department /Senior Manager. They may be accompanied by a recognised trade union official or colleague if they wish. Concerns should be raised as quickly as possible and staff are assured that if they raise a concern about their scheduling they will not be penalised in anyway as a result of doing so.

The complainant will be notified of the outcome in writing. Once this has occurred the procedure is at an end. Notes of meetings! correspondence related to the complaint will be treated as confidential and not normally placed on personal files.

7. Scheduling Compensatory Rest

Compensatory rest should usually be provided within a reasonable time from when the infringement took place.

Where infringements have been scheduled in advance, ideally the corresponding compensatory rest should be built into the schedule in accordance with the principles set out below.

Compensatory rest must be time off from duty; hours owed as compensatory rest cannot be bought out.

Under the Regulations compensatory rest need not be provided at a time when the individual would otherwise have been working , providing that there is sufficient rest time in the current or subsequent accounting periods to comply with the working time regulations. It is therefore not paid time-off.

It is important to note that Compensatory Rest is an entitlement under the Working Time Regulations it is not the same as, nor should the terminology be confused with Compensatory Leave in lieu of WOODS which result from existing BBC Conditions of Service. Time given as Compensatory Rest should therefore not be credited for calculation of pay purposes.

The following principles must be noted when scheduling compensatory rest:

• If time off (days or additional hours) has been identified in advance as compensatory rest

• effort should be made to safeguard these days! hours.

• If it is necessary for operational reasons to subsequently work on a day assigned for compensatory rest further time off must be scheduled to compensate. If on the second occasion time allocated as compensatory rest is also worked (or where the alternative cannot be given within two accounting periods from notification of when the original infringement took place), it will be replaced by time which could have been scheduled as working time. The exception to this will be when an additional/penalty payment has already been claimed for the same infringement and would therefore lead to a double payment.

• Where the compensatory rest is a full day, the full day will be safeguarded

• When assigning days / hours as compensatory rest , the manager will take into account the wishes of the individual and the requirements of the business.

Where a worker has had at least as many off duty days as there are weeks in the accounting period, they will be deemed to have had the appropriate number of days of weekly rest.

Where a worker has had fewer off duty days than there are weeks in the accounting period, they will be owed compensatory rest.

Compensatory rest must be provided as a full day of rest (24 hours for a single day of rest, over and above the daily rest of 11 hours).

9. Daily Rest Periods

Where a worker has had less than an 11 hour rest period in each 24 hour period, they will be owed compensatory rest. Compensatory rest must be equivalent to the number of hours by which the 11 hour rest period was infringed. For example, if a worker only had 9 hours between duties, they would be entitled to 2 hours of compensatory rest.

Where the infringement has been for a period greater than 4 hours, the compensatory rest will be in the same form - i.e. greater than 4 hours.

Where an infringement is 4 hours or less, subject to operational requirements compensatory rest may be aggregated, if this can be done in a way which suits both the individual and the department.

10. Calculating Compensatory Rest

Any rest time over and above the requirements of the Working Time Regulations can count as compensatory rest . This will include:

• any period of time where individual has not completed their required minimum hours/days in an accounting period.

• any period of time off at the end of an assignment or between assignments

• any days given as time off in lieu either under conditions of service (eg compensatory leave for WOODS) or for any other reason.

• any off duty days( including any protected days) in excess of the required statutory minimum number of weekly rest days in an accounting period (for example, if an individual has 6 off duty days in a 4 week accounting period, 2 of these can be regarded as compensatory rest, providing each is of the appropriate duration)

• where rest periods between duties are of greater than 11 hours duration, the hours in excess of the statutory 11 hour daily rest period may be used to offset any compensatory rest.

• Hours /Days given as compensatory rest for infringements of the weekly rest periods cannot also be counted towards compensatory rest for infringements of the daily rest provisions.

• Sick leave does not count as weekly/daily rest nor can it be used to offset Compensatory rest

• Annual Leave; neither the statutory minimum nor any in excess of the minimum should be used to offset compensatory rest.(the Regulations do not prevent the excess being used in this way but the BBC, for the time being ,has decided not to apply this).

17/26 week reference period

(DRAFT) WORKING TIME REGULATIONS SCHEDULING GUIDANCE FOR BBC NEWS

This guidance note should be read in conjunction with the Agreed Statement C1a3 "Corporate Framework on Conditions of Service" agreed with the Trade Unions and with the "Corporate guidance note on scheduling and the provision of compensatory rest", which sets out the detail of the BBC's Conditions of Service now amended to incorporate the requirements of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and providing a framework for good scheduling practice in the BBC.

(A copy is available on Gateway.)

This note provides further guidance for Schedulers and Managers in BBC News on the provisions in the Regulations particularly relating to Weekly and Daily Rest breaks. For details of the wider provisions of the Regulations refer to the Agreed Statement

1. Introduction

The nature of News and Current Affairs programmes means that unpredictable working, flexibility in the hours worked and often long hours of work over concentrated periods of time are necessary. Health and Safety considerations must however, remain paramount. In addition the quality of life of members of staff must be respected so that they have sufficient time off to balance the needs of work and home life . In BBC News existing rotas and indicative schedules are already built around this premise.

2. Summary - Requirements introduced by The Working Time Regulations

• no more than 48 hours per week average working time over a 17/26 reference-period