Acting Up and Honoraria Policy - October 2024

Honorarium

Where there is the need for an employee to either act up into a higher graded post or take on some additional duties on a temporary basis, if there is more than one suitable employee with the appropriate skills and experience to undertake the additional duties and/or responsibilities, then a selection process will need to be followed to determine the best person to undertake those duties and/or responsibilities. Please contact your HR Advisor regarding the appropriate process to follow.

Honorarium payments will only apply once the acting up / additional duties have been undertaken for a period of 28 days. Payment will be backdated to day one.

Any honorarium payment will be for a maximum of 12 months and will be reviewed and authorised on a three-monthly basis. If the acting up / additional duties are going to continue longer than 12 months then the manager should seek advice from their HR Advisor.

Exceptions – emergency acting up

There will be occasions where an employee is required to act up as emergency cover, e.g. to cover sickness absence. This will usually apply to frontline services where the service will be unable to run without someone covering the post, for example a Refuse / Recycling Loader acting up into the role of an absent Refuse / Recycling Driver.

An exception to the 28-day rule will be made in these instances as the acting up is likely to be for a short period and on an ad hoc basis. If you are unsure whether emergency acting up is applicable, please consult with your HR Advisor.

Care should still be taken to ensure fair application of the acting up opportunity where there is more than one employee with the appropriate skills to undertake the role.

Emergency acting up will only apply when an employee is covering the full role of the higher graded post. The full amount of the difference between the existing salary and the minimum salary of the higher grade should be paid. If the minimum salary of the acting up grade is lower, or the same as, the employee’s current salary, they should be paid the honorarium at the next SCP above their current salary.

In cases of emergency cover, payment will be made from day 1 of the acting up. Details of the acting up should be submitted to payroll by the manager.

Procedure

A business case must be made by the relevant manager to support the application for an honorarium payment using the “Request for an Honorarium
Payment” form (Appendix 1) and submitted to the departmental Director for approval.

Types of evidence include:

• The reason for the payment, e.g. to cover for long term absence, or to undertake a specific piece of work.
• Details of the post affected and the grades of the substantive and higher graded post.
• Whether the extent of the duties are full or partial – if partial, the duties must have been evaluated by the Pay and Reward team before submitting the business case.
• Cost – calculation of the amount per month the employee would be entitled to receive.

The full amount of the difference between the existing salary and the minimum salary of the higher grade should be paid. If the minimum salary of the acting up grade is lower, or the same as, the employee’s current salary, they should be paid the honorarium at the next SCP above their current salary.

Where longer-term situations may apply, e.g. maternity cover, the Authority’s Recruitment and Selection policy should be followed.

Where the additional duties are evaluated as being the same grade as the employee’s substantive post, no payment will be made. It is for the manager to ensure that the additional workload is manageable within the employee’s standard working hours, or, with the appropriate approval, authorise overtime where necessary.

Method of payment

Honorarium payments will be made on a monthly or four-weekly basis in line with the employee’s normal pay periods and will be shown as a separate, identifiable payment on the payslip.

Authorisation

Once the business case has been agreed by the Director it should be forwarded to the Senior HR Advisor for their consideration. Where the payment request is in relation to additional duties, and the role is covered by the job evaluation scheme, the Pay and Reward team will also need to authorise to confirm that the grade being applied is correct.

The business case will then be passed to Payroll for the payment to be set up.

Monitoring

Honorarium and acting up payments will be regularly monitored by the People Management division.

Employees on protected salaries

Employees who are on protected salaries and who undertake duties of a higher grade than their substantive grade, but not higher than their protected salary, are not entitled to receive any additional remuneration. They should still be encouraged to undertake the opportunity of acting up as part of their development to assist them in improving their promotion prospects.

Ending the acting up / temporary additional responsibilities

The employee should be fully supported, and their performance regularly reviewed, whilst undertaking additional duties. Additional training and support may be required during the acting up period. If concerns regarding performance do arise then these should be discussed before the decision is taken to end the acting up / temporary additional responsibilities arrangement.

If a post that has been covered by acting up arrangements is advertised and the employee who has been covering the role is the successful applicant, the period of acting up will be considered when agreeing the spinal column point, they will be paid on.

When the arrangement is ended, at least one week’s notice should be given, and a further change of circumstance form must be completed by the manager to ensure that payment for acting up/additional duties is ended. Settling back into their original role can be difficult for an employee and managers need to be sensitive to potential concerns in this respect. Employees who have acted up into a role have no automatic right to it on a more permanent basis.

However, employees who have acted up/taken on additional responsibilities who are not subsequently appointed to a higher graded post following competitive interviews must receive constructive feedback as to why they were not successful.

This is with the exception of acting up arrangements due to health & safety and/or minimum staffing requirements which can be reviewed daily by the operating manager.

Concerns by employees

The fair application of the above policy is designed to avoid concerns raised by employees in respect of acting up/ temporary additional responsibility arrangements. However, where an employee has a concern, they should first seek to resolve the matter informally by discussing it with their line manager, in keeping with the Council’s Grievance Procedure. The advice of the HR Advisor should be sought at an early stage in these circumstances to avoid any ongoing concerns.

ENSURING EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY

All employees are required to adopt a positive, open and fair approach and ensure the Authority’s Equality and Diversity Policy is adhered to and applied consistently to all irrespective of race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins, disability, religion and belief or non-belief, age, sex, gender reassignment, gender identity and gender expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity, marital or civil partnership status.
In addition, the Welsh Language Standards ask us to ‘ensure that the Welsh language is treated no less favourably than the English language’ and this principle should be adopted in the application of this principle.

If you have any equality and diversity concerns in relation to the application of this policy and procedure, please contact a member of the HR Team who will, if necessary, ensure the policy/procedure is reviewed accordingly

If you require this publication in an alternative format, please contact CEDutyHR@carmarthenshire.gov.uk

How to submit an honorarium request

• Go to MyView
• My People
• Employee
• Left hand Select Manager Forms
• Manager Forms
• Honoraria
• Complete online form and submit