Secondment Policy - January 2023

4. Eligibility

It is essential that, prior to an offer of secondment being made, the host and substantive department will need to discuss and agree so that all parties are clear about their obligations, expectations and accountabilities before the secondment commences:
 
•    Employees are required to have satisfactorily completed their probation period with the Authority.
 
•    Secondments must be a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 2 years duration.  This timescale will largely depend on the purpose of the secondment.  The timescale agreed should reflect and consider the service delivery needs of the secondee’s employing department and team. For external secondments the period of secondment must be clearly defined in the secondment agreement signed by all parties.
  
•    It is recommended that the secondment period should be for a minimum of 12 months.  This is to ensure that the secondment is beneficial to the host department, the employee’s development and to enable the original employing department an opportunity to plan for the employee’s absence to minimise the disruption to their service area.
  
•    Should an extension to secondment be agreed by the substantive and host department this must be for a minimum period of 6 months.  

Please note the Authority’s Secondment Policy should be used as guidance in instances where an external substantive organisation is seconding an individual to work within the Authority and that organisation does not have their own secondment policy.