HR and Payroll bulletin - July 2024

 

New Disclosure and Barring Service and Right to Work screening system

We have appointed a new background screening company, Giant Screening, to manage all pre-employment screening processes for the council and our partners. This change will take effect from Monday 22 July 2024.  

Giant has a strong reputation for providing thorough and efficient background screening services, and we are confident that their expertise will enhance our recruitment processes. Their services will cover a number of pre-employment screening, ensuring that we continue to uphold the highest standards of due diligence and compliance. 

Giant will not only handle all Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks but will also process right to work checks on our behalf. A key benefit of Giant's services is that they conduct digital ID checks which means that new employees will have their ID verified online as part of a right to work and/or DBS check and, therefore, will no longer have to bring in their ID documentation to be verified manually. In addition, all pre-employment checks using Giant Screening will be initiated, tracked and managed centrally by the Recruitment Team.  

Any ongoing DBS checks initiated up to and including 19 July will be completed by our current provider, First Advantage. All new screenings from 22 July forward will be managed by Giant.

Guidance on how to update a 'resolved' Service Request (SR)

If your Service Request (SR) has changed to 'resolved', you have five days following this where you can choose to add further information.

The default setting to view existing SRs does not include resolved requests, so when the status is changed to resolved, the SR may disappear from the initial view.

However, you can still view resolved requests. 

To do this, click on the advanced search filter (found next to the blank 'list' box near the top) and change the status filter to include 'All' requests. Add messages to existing SRs where it relates to the same query, rather than adding new SRs, as this will enable us to answer your query more efficiently.

Reminder - Register of Interests Declaration

Please remember to check and submit any 'Register of Interest' declarations that you need to make by 31 July 2024, details of what should be declared are outlined in the staff notice Register of Interests Declaration. This will ensure that we have accurate and up-to-date records of all financial and/or personal interests across the organisation.

To register an interest or receipt of a gift/hospitality on Fusion, follow the path - Me> Document Records> Click +Add> Select 'LCC Register of Interests' or 'LCC Gifts and Hospitality' from the Document Type drop down menu> Complete the form> Click Submit.

Oracle Guided Learning (OGL) pop-up tips and reminders

We have added more OGL pop-up hints and smart tips to Fusion. Smart tips can be seen wherever you see the ? symbol. These are in addition to the process guides that you can find in the OGL widget.

New hints and tips have been added when entering fixed term reasons, Local Government Pension Scheme dates and change assignments. For example, when you are entering a fixed term reason and can't find the reason you need when scrolling down, start typing the reason name, or part of it, in the reason field for it to appear.

Pensions reporting – Teachers and Local Government schemes

Teachers Pensions (TP)

TP contributions continue to be deducted from salary payments and paid over to TP each month. There remains an ongoing reporting issue preventing TP from allocating the contributions to the appropriate teachers' records which means that members' service records have not been updated since November 2022. We understand this is a cause for concern and we continue to address cases on an individual basis for retirement cases.

We are working closely with TP and solution experts and are in the process of testing a revised solution to get all member's service history up to date as soon as possible. 

Please note the latest TP advice regarding retirements and procedures for Actuarially Adjusted Benefits, Age Retirement, Phased Retirement, and Ill Health Retirement can all be found on the Schools Portal on the HR A-Z. Please remember that once you have submitted your retirement form the school terminates your employment on Oracle Fusion.  

There is a manual process in place for any members nearing or above retirement age to submit a request for their service to be updated.

Requests for manual updates for teachers planning for retirement within this academic year should be sent to: LCC centrally managed teachers: payroll-lcc@lancashire.gov.uk.

Local Government Pensions (LGPS)

LGPS contributions have continued to be deducted from salary payments and paid monthly to Lancashire Pension Partnership Administration (LPPA). Existing LGPS members' service has been reported up to 31 March 2024 and new starter information is being reported on an ongoing monthly basis.

The outstanding pensions issues have been shared with TP, LGPS (LPPA) and The Pensions Regulator. Teaching and non-teaching trade unions are also aware.

Claiming overtime/extra duties

When you are submitting claims, please select the correct plan, for example when a part-time care assistant is claiming extra hours, the care assistant's plain time hours plan should be selected, not Overtime etc. Advice and guidance for making payment claims can be found in the Hr, pay and employment section of the intranet. 

Changing a Spinal Column Point (SCP) via Document Record

Automatic incremental progression, for example annual April progression for Local Government Services employees, will automatically be processed by Payroll Services. For all other SCP changes, please submit a Document Record and select 'Change of SCP'. You can specify the reason the SCP is being amended within the attachment function on the Document Record screen. 

Leaver's access to Oracle Fusion

Leavers will now retain access to Fusion employee self-service for a two month window following their date of leaving, allowing them to access payslips and P60's. The manual process to submit any outstanding claims remains in place, as it is not possible to enable this in Fusion once the termination date has passed.

Sickness absence input

When an absence is input on Fusion, for the action to be processed, you need to select 'Submit' and not just 'Save'. This will also ensure the absence shows on Fusion reports. Please also remember that when an end date is added to an open-ended absence, you must remove the open-ended tick, or it will continue to be processed as an open absence.

Submitting service requests (SR) on Oracle

Employees are encouraged to speak to their line manager in the first instance when querying any HR or pay-related issue. Where the line manager is unable to resolve the query, please raise your query/request via the Help Desk function in Fusion and include your name and pay reference/NI number in the subject title. 

If the issue being raised affects more than one person, please raise one SR from the responsible person and the response can then be cascaded to those affected.

Please don't send a separate email to the payroll team because this will duplicate work and may delay the response.

Change to mileage claims on Oracle Fusion 

A change has now been applied to mileage claims in Oracle Fusion, in line with the Travel and Expenses policy and procedure which is available on the HR, pay and employment rea of the intranet.

A vehicle must be insured before mileage can be claimed. The Fusion mileage plan has now been amended to check that your entered journey date is not before your approved vehicle start date or after your insurance expiry date.

Entering a mileage claim on Oracle Fusion

Entering a mileage claim is done in by following the path of Me> Show More> Manage Personal Contributions> Click +Add> Under 'Plan', select 'Mileage'> Under 'Option', select 'Mileage'> complete the remaining fields> Click 'Submit'.

If you do not have an approved vehicle on the journey date you enter, the vehicle drop-down menu will display 'pedal cycle' only. If this happens, click 'Cancel' to return to the main menu. You will then need to add a vehicle before you make a claim.

To enter a vehicle for manager approval, follow the path of Me> Document Records> +Add> Under 'Document Type' start typing 'Maintain Vehicle Details'.

If you have entered a vehicle on Fusion in the past, this will be displayed. Click on the 'glasses' symbol to view your current vehicle and the details. If these vehicle details are all correct and already display a start date and insurance expiry date that covers your journey date, and your manager has approved your vehicle, then you can make a claim. If you need to make a change, create a new DoR, do not edit the old one.

Creating a new Document Record to add a vehicle 

To create a new Document Record, follow the path of Me> Document Records> +Add> Under 'Document Type' start typing 'Maintain Vehicle Details'> Enter the details, attach any relevant documents> Click 'Submit'. Your manager will now be able to check your documents and approve your vehicle.

Once your manager has approved your vehicle, you can enter your mileage claim.

There are some useful OGL smart tips that you can refer to when entering a mileage claim or maintaining a vehicle. Look for the ? symbol. 

Change to the excess travel and training mileage rates from 1 June 2024

The excess travel and training mileage rate has changed from 13p to 14p per mile from 1 June 2024, in line with the change in the HMRC minimum advisory fuel rate for a petrol engine car that's effective from this date. 

Any mileage claimed in respect of excess travel or training accrued from 1 June 2024 onwards will be paid at the revised 14p rate. HMRC review their advisory fuel rates quarterly – on 01 March, 01 June, 01 September and 01 December each year – and we will notify employees of any changes that impact the council's existing rates as and when these occur.

Please note that 'Excess Travel' is not a valid option when claiming mileage for teachers and will not produce a payment.

Useful information, support and links

 Oracle Fusion – Training for managers

The Manager Self Service training course will show managers how to carry out the self-service tasks required as part of their manager role.

Payroll Deadlines 2024-25

Please make sure all payment claims are completed in line with our published payroll deadlines to guarantee changes are made in time for pay day.