Fair Work First: guidance

Monitoring delivery of Fair Work First

During the grant funded period

It is for funders to be assured of compliance and appropriate progress. Grant recipients’ compliance with the two mandatory conditions and their progress on the remaining five desirable Fair Work First criteria (as set out in its confirmation) will be monitored as part of standard grant monitoring process as agreed by the funder.

Before the final grant payment

As part of the funder’s grant monitoring and reporting arrangements, the grant recipient should provide brief confirmation indicating that it has complied with the two mandatory conditions and progress on its commitment to the remaining five desirable Fair Work First criteria as confirmed for the grant. This should be confirmed by an appropriate workforce representative, and submitted by the grant recipient to the funder before the final grant payment is made. The workforce representative should be the relevant trade union(s) where one or more is recognised, or other appropriate workers’ representative where there is no union recognition. Employers will often have their own structures with their recognised trade unions that facilitate agreements. Where these exist, they should be used for confirming Fair Work First requirements and commitments; at a minimum employers should make their best efforts to ensure that all recognised trade unions have agreed to the confirmation and at least one recognised union must sign in all instances.

End of the grant funded period

As part of continuous improvement, the funder is encouraged to conduct a short survey at the end of the funded period to gather information about the changes the grant recipient has made as a result of applying the Fair Work First criteria, and the related impacts for the organisation. The funder should use the information gathered as part of its monitoring arrangements, and may consider this to inform future funding decisions. A suggested template survey is provided for this purpose in supporting documents to this guidance. However, funders that have other mechanisms for gathering information about Fair Work First outcomes may use these to monitor change.

Employers should engage the relevant trade union(s) and/or other appropriate worker’ representative(s) to review action and outcomes and identify further improvements for advancing Fair Work First criteria, and is encouraged to do so.

A summary of the evidence/information to be provided during each stage of the grant funded period is provided below:

Application

• Evidence compliance with the two mandatory FWF criteria:
  • payment of at least the real Living Wage
  • appropriate channels for effective voice
• Confirm commitments to the five remaining desirable FWF criteria
• Trade union or workers’ representative sign-off to be provided

During the grant funded period

• Continue to demonstrate compliance with the rLW/EV conditions and any progress on commitments to the five remaining desirable criteria as part of the funder’s standard grant management processes

Before final payment

• Provide brief confirmation of continued compliance with the rLW/EV conditions
• Provide brief confirmation of progress on five remaining desirable criteria (as set out at application-stage)
• Trade union or workers’ representative sign-off to be provided

End of grant funded period

• Encouraged to complete a short survey
• Trade union or workers’ representative sign-off to be provided if completing the survey

Public bodies and other public sector partners

In agreeing their annual priorities with relevant Scottish Government policy/ sponsorship teams, public bodies and wider public sector partners should describe how they are meeting and/or intend to advance the Fair Work First criteria as both employers and funders. They should confirm this has been agreed in collaboration with an appropriate workforce representative and provide assurance to the sponsorship team through their agreed arrangements. The representative providing confirmation must be from the relevant trade union(s) where one or more is recognised, alternatively where there is no union recognition, it should be another appropriate workers’ representative.

As part of the arrangements for monitoring service delivery, the body/partner should provide evidence of progress towards delivery of its Fair Work First commitments to the relevant policy/sponsorship team in a manner agreed between the parties.

Public facing confirmation of commitment to Fair Work First

While evidence for the mandatory and desirable Fair Work First Criteria requires to be provided to satisfy the award of a grant, the Scottish Government also asks that grant recipients include a brief overview of their commitment to advancing the Fair Work First criteria on their own website. This should be developed in conjunction with the recognised trade union(s), or with other appropriate workers’ representative where there is no union recognition. This kind of constructive dialogue between employers and their workforce not only enhances effective voice but can be valuable in identifying appropriate fair work priorities for the organisation.

Those Civil Service bodies who are already part of an agreement on Fair Work standards expected for the civil service sector between the Scottish Government and relevant trade unions may wish to highlight this commitment.

Reporting

Funders should maintain a record of grants they have awarded, including any approved and declined requests for a limited exception. They should report annually to the Scottish Government in a format and timescale to be advised by the Fair Work Policy team. A template for this purpose is provided in the supporting documents to this guidance which funders are encouraged to use.