Death in Service Policy

Transcription

1 Death in Service Policy Reference No: HR052 Version: 1 Ratified by: SWL CCG Governing Body Date ratified: January 2016 Name of originator/author: Name of responsible committee/individual: GEM CSU Governing Body Date issued: January 2016 Review date: January 2019 Target audience: Distributed via: All staff, Governing Body members, Chief Officer, GP Clinical Lead/Chair, Members of the CCG, Members of its committees or subcommittees and the committee or subcommittees of its Governing Body (including joint committees) Members of advisory groups and panels and Website Page 1 of 8

2 South West Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group Version control sheet Death in Service Policy Version Section/Para/Appendix Version/Description of Amendments Date Author/ Version Page 2 of 8

3 CONTENTS i Version Control Sheet ii Policy Statement 1. Roles and Responsibilities Member of staff who dies at work Salary sacrifice Conclusion 6 5. Appendix 1 Managers checklist Appendix 2 Managers letter to next of kin 8 Page 3 of 8

4 1. POLICY STATEMENT 1.1 This policy is to support managers in the sad event of an employee s death. It is essential that these situations are handled in both a sensitive and effective way to prevent any additional distress for relatives and colleagues. The policy will assist managers at a time when employees, including the manager, may be distressed, a sample letter for managers to use and a manager s checklist have been provided within this policy. 1.2 By following this policy the next of kin will be prevented additional distress, ensuring that they are treated in a respectful and sympathetic way whilst also ensuring practicalities are dealt with, for example, payment owed to the deceased staff member s estate and reclaiming the organisation s property. 1.3 Inherent within all of its practices this CCG is committed to the principles of diversity, equality of treatment and equality of opportunity and believes that direct or indirect discrimination against any person is unacceptable. This policy aims to ensure that no employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation or trade union membership. 2. ROLES AND RESPONSBILITIES 2.1 The Line Manager Page 4 of The line manager is likely to be the first person to be advised when a member of staff dies, therefore, it is the manager s responsibility to; if appropriate, contact emergency services (999) If appropriate, complete an accident reporting form (IR1) inform Payroll team and the HR Business Partner as soon as possible complete the Termination Form including the part which asks for details of annual leave. This form should then be sent to the Payroll Team who forward it to SBS and the NHS Pensions Team arrange for the deceased person s account to be assigned to them so that messages can be dealt with in an appropriate way notify colleagues in a sensitive way. Where appropriate, this can be done on a one to one basis. Any staff affected by the death of a colleague should be given the option of a referral to the Occupational Health Team consider whether to send a letter of condolence to the next of kin, an example letter is shown in Appendix contact the next of kin in a sensitive way to find out if they are happy for members of staff to attend the funeral and to ask what the families preferences are in relation to flowers or charitable donations. 2.2 HR Business Partner Support the manager to ensure that Payroll Team is notified and advise SBS to terminate the employee s assignment and NHS Pensions to action the employees pension arrangements (only if the employee was in the pension scheme) if required, provide the manager with the employee s personal address and next of kin details to allow the manager to contact the family.

5 2.2.3 If required, support the manager in completing the Pension s Death in Service Notification Template make enquiries as to who the family s Personal Representative is. If the employee dies intestate the bank account would be frozen, and relatives would need to consult a Solicitor. In this situation, the HR Business Partner would comply as directed by the Solicitor ensure that the information supplied to the Payroll Team includes; date of Death full name and date of birth home address details of husband, wife, civil partner details of any dependent children up to the age of 23 regardless of education status, including date of birth and home addresses details of the person dealing with the estate (Personal Representative) and full contact details details of Executor s or solicitor s details as applicable details of employee s annual leave The Payroll Team notify SBS and NHS Pensions of the death in service on receipt of the Termination form the Payroll Team will arrange for the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) to be updated. This will prevent correspondence such as the staff survey being sent out to the deceased staff member s address. 2.4 SBS following receipt of the Termination Form SBS will liaise with the Pensions Manager, if appropriate write to the Personal Representative for the estate to obtain details of a bank account. (The Personal Representative is the individual responsible for dealing with the deceased person s estate) pay any salary owed, including holiday pay, as instructed by the Personal Representative. If the deceased employee has taken more than their annual leave quota at the time of death it is unlikely that the CCG would wish to recover payment from the estate. 2.5 NHS Pensions Where the deceased member of staff was a member of the NHS Pension scheme, a lump sum will be paid to the spouse, civil or nominated partner. Arrangements will also be made for payment of an initial pension and life cover. Page 5 of 8

6 3. MEMBER OF STAFF WHO DIES AT WORK 3.1 If the staff member dies as a result of an accident at work, the Line Manager must dial 999 and request an ambulance, also, they must contact the Health and Safety Executive immediately. The Health and Safety Executive can be contacted on The manager needs to be prepared to give the employee s date of birth, address and details of the incident. 3.2 In the event of the employee dying whilst driving on work business the Health and Safety Executive do not need to be contacted. 3.3 If the employee dies whilst at work, but not as a result of an accident, an ambulance must be called immediately, but it is not necessary to contact the Health and Safety Executive. 3.4 The normal accident reporting process should be followed in conjunction with this policy. 4. SALARY SACRIFICE SCHEMES 4.1 Where a member of staff has an agreement where payment for goods, ie, Cycle to Work Scheme, or services, ie, Childcare Vouchers, is taken directly from their salary, the agreement will cease if the member of staff dies. No further payments will be deducted from their salary. 4.2 The outcome of what will happen to any goods obtained in this way will be dependent on the contract signed at the time of agreeing to take part in the scheme. 5. CONCLUSION 5.1 Sensitivity must be displayed at all times when dealing with the death of a member of staff. Relatives and colleagues must be treated with courtesy and respect. It is recognised that this is a difficult time for colleagues and referrals to the Occupational Health Service can be requested if and when required. 5.2 The Manager should follow the Manager s Checklist, below, to guide them through the process. Page 6 of 8

7 Managers Checklist Action 1 As soon as notified of the death of a member of staff contact: Appendix 1 Tick as appropriate Page 7 of 8 Human Resources Business Partner on or In the case of a member of staff dying whilst at work; 1. Dial 999 and request an ambulance 2. Contact Health and Safety Executive if death is as a result of an accident giving details of employees date of birth, address and details of the incident (Human Resources will be able to provide date of birth and address information if required) 3. Complete a Health and Safety IR1 (Incident Reporting 1) form. 2 Complete the Termination Form and send to Payroll Team Complete the annual leave section as this will have an impact on the payment received by the Personal Representative - the manager will need to state whether the employee has any annual leave entitlement accrued. If the employee owes any time, ie, has taken more annual leave than their entitlement to date, the organisation would not claim this back. Arrange for termination of any salary sacrifice scheme, ie, bike scheme, childcare vouchers on this form. 3 Notify staff in a sensitive way. If appropriate, offer to refer them to Occupational Health for counselling. Send letter of condolence to next of kin sample letter shown in Appendix 2. Discuss with CEO whether this letter comes from manager or CEO. 4 Contact next of kin find out if they are happy for staff to attend the funeral and whether it will be acceptable for flowers to be sent or if they would prefer a charitable donation. 5 Arrange to return any personal possessions to the next of kin. Arrange for the return of any laptops, mobile phones, passes, smartcard and any other equipment belonging to the organisation. 6 If the individual had a lease car, arrange for any lease car arrangements to be cancelled and for the car to be collected. There will be no penalties for the early termination of the lease car contract. 7 Contact IT Services to arrange for the employee s IT to be disabled.

8 Appendix 2 Managers Letter to next of Kin To be used with appropriate letterhead Address of next of Kin Date Dear [Next of kin] I was truly sorry to hear of the loss of [employee s name]. He/she will be missed by everyone in the [xxxxx department]. Manager may insert a personal paragraph in the letter at this point. I know that all [employee s name] colleagues would like me to pass on their deepest sympathies at this very difficult time. If there is anything I can do to help you further at this time, please do not hesitate to contact me on [telephone number]. Yours sincerely [Name] [Job title] Page 8 of 8