Pay, Benefits, Pensions & Your Privacy

• Pay
• Allowances
• Staff Privacy Policy 
• Pensions 
• Overtime and TOIL
• Expenses 
• Reimbursement of Professional Fees Policy

1. Pay

Last review: September 2024

Next review: September 2026

Sport Wales places great importance on having a pay system which is fairly and     equally applied, offers adaptability and affordability for the future, and rewards     employees fairly for the work they perform.  This policy sets out our approach to pay, our pay structure and pay arrangements.

1.1 Equality 

Sport Wales is committed to supporting the principle of equality of opportunity in the workplace.  Sport Wales believes that its male and female workers should receive equal pay for the same or similar work, work rated as equivalent under job evaluation, or work of equal value.

To support the above, Sport Wales will conduct an Equal Pay Audit biennially.

An equality impact assessment has been carried out and this policy is not deemed to adversely impact on any people on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, language, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation or the Welsh language. 

1.2 Context 

Sport Wales is accountable to the Welsh Government.  We work within a funding framework and are expected to manage our funds with probity and in the public interest.  Our pay system and scales are subject to approval from Welsh Government.  We recognise the PCS for the purposes of Collective Bargaining for our pay system and pay scales. 

We comply with all relevant employment legislation in determining the pay and   remuneration of our employees.  Sport Wales ensures there is no pay discrimination within its pay structures and allowances and that pay differentials can be objectively justified through the use the Job Evaluation and Grading Support (JEGS).

1.3 Pay structure 

Our pay structure and associated pay scales are reviewed periodically with the following considerations:

• The need to recruit, retain and motivate suitably able, qualified and high-calibre people;
• Maintaining openness and transparency;
• Fairly remunerating employees for the work they do;
• Overall affordability within available resources;
• Pay practices in the wider public sector and comparator organisations; and
• Relevant legal obligations including equality and anti-discrimination requirements.

The grading structure consists of set pay scales, each role is allocated to a specific grade within the structure.  We pay our employees at a pay level commensurate with the responsibility and role, with equal pay for equal value roles.  The pay structure has been agreed with our recognised Trade Union and any changes to it are subject to consultation and negotiation with them under a collective bargaining agreement.  Any changes to the pay structure are equality impact assessed. 

All jobs at Sport Wales are evaluated using the Job Evaluation and Grading Support (JEGS), which is recognised by our Trade Union and is designed to meet equality objectives and provide equal pay for work of equal value.  Job Evaluation provides a score for a role, with scores grouped into ranges that equate to a specific grade. Scoring is undertaken by a job evaluation panel, consisting of Sport Wales and Trade Union representatives. Please refer to the Job Evaluation Policy for further information.  

1.4 Pay Arrangements 

All pay scales are based on financial years, pay scales are reviewed on 1st April, unless pay scales have been agreed for a longer period, i.e. two or three years.

Each year, the Welsh Government issues guidance on acceptable pay remits. Following this, the PCS union will submit a pay claim to Sport Wales.  The Sport Wales will negotiation the pay scales until agreement is achieved, at which point, approval by Executive Team will be sought.   Following Executive Team approval, PCS may ballot its members.  The outcome of the ballot will affect all Sport Wales employees.  Once approval is received by PCS, a submission will be made to the Welsh Government.  Once they accept the remit, the HR team will implement in accordance with the timescales agreed.

Sport Wales has implemented the Living Wage. The implementation and review of the Living Wage fit in with the annual pay review cycle, at 1st April each year.

All employees are paid via BACS transfer on 25th of each month.  Overtime and bank holiday hours are paid monthly in arrears.

1.5 Transparency of senior staff remuneration and remuneration of Board Members 

Senior staff are defined as those who have significant influence over the decision making for Sport Wales.  The remuneration of senior staff forming the Executive Team at Sport Wales is reported in the annual reports and accounts.  

The remuneration of the Sport Wales Board is also reported in the annual report and accounts.

1.6 Pay Relativities 

The lowest pay within Sport Wales is the starting rate in Grade 1, the highest is the Grade 14.  We publish pay relativity comparisons between the highest and lowest paid employees in our annual report and accounts.

Pay arrangements will take account of any particular focus needed for lower paid employees or in helping to address any issues flagged through equal pay audits.

1.7 Pay Progression 

Employees will progress through the increment points within their allocated grade, until they reach the top of the grade. 

The date for your incremental increase will be the anniversary from the date you joined the organisation.  This will apply to all employees on a fixed term/permanent contract, also to those who are on outward secondment.  Employees absent from work whether that be maternity/adoption/shared parental leave, sick leave, career breaks will be awarded an incremental uplift on their anniversary.

All employees will have the opportunity to progress to the highest incremental point for their role within a maximum of three years.  There is no form of performance-related pay.

1.8 Pay Upon Recruitment 

All employees will normally be appointed at the minimum of the appropriate pay grade.  In exceptional circumstances, the appointing manager may exercise discretion and appoint above this, subject to discussion with the HR team. Exceptional circumstances may include:

• To secure the best candidate, considering the candidate’s current circumstances; and
• Overall value for money when considering the costs of a further recruitment exercise.

1.9 Promotions/job changes 

Where employees are internally promoted to a higher grade, they will receive a new increment renewal date, being the start date in the new role.  The employee will move on to the bottom of the new grade.

Where employees move from one job to another, but at the same grade, they will retain their existing increment renewal date.

Where a role has changed requirements, an employee or manager may request that   a job evaluation is undertaken.  If, as a result of the job evaluation, the role changes to a higher grade this will be treated as an internal promotion, as above.

1.10 Substitution 

Substitution applies when an employee acts up into a higher graded post.  This involves carrying out all of the duties and responsibilities of that post.  

This policy only applies where arrangements are temporary and for longer than one month – for example to cover long term sickness, maternity leave or other short-term requirements.  The exception are those occasions where the substitution is covered on a shift basis.  If a permanent substitution is required, this is considered a promotion opportunity and should follow our recruitment and selection procedure. 

Where employees take on the full duties and responsibilities of a higher graded post they will receive the difference in their current salary and the minimum incremental point of the higher grade.  If employees are taking on part of the additional duties or responsibilities, for example, sharing responsibilities with another employee, their role should be evaluated and if this results in the role falling in a higher grade, the employee will be paid at lowest point of the newly evaluated grade.  The date from which the substitution commenced will be recognised as the new incremental date.  

Once the employee ends the substitution arrangement they will revert back to their previous grade and the previous incremental date will apply.

Where employees substitute for another role which is of the same grade, this policy will not apply.  If there is uncertainty whether the additional responsibilities may result in a grade change, the manager should follow the Job Evaluation policy.

Managers should contact HR to discuss substitution arrangements, which will need to be authorised via the Contract Variation Form and confirmed to employees in writing. 

1.11 Allowances 

Depending on business requirements, employees may be eligible for additional allowances during the delivery of their role.  These are covered in the Allowance Policy.

1.12 Overtime and TOIL 

Overtime or TOIL may be applicable in certain circumstances.  Overtime is paid at   basic rate but will include allowances for part time employees for the first 37 hours. Where overtime is worked on a bank holiday time off in lieu (TOIL) will apply. Further information is available in the Overtime and TOIL policy.

1.13 Wider Rewards 

In addition to an employee’s salary, Sport Wales offers a range of both financial and non-financial workplace benefits. This includes membership to a choice of two pensions schemes, Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and Scottish Widows (see Pension policy).  Access to salary sacrifice arrangements, options to purchase additional leave, exceptional learning and development opportunities and employee wellbeing schemes.  In addition, Sport Wales welcomes flexible working arrangements.

1.14 Voluntary exit, voluntary redundancy and compulsory redundancy 

To support organisational change, we may from time to time elect to run severance schemes.  Details of the scheme and any compensation payments will be communicated at the time.  Please refer to the Redundancy Policy for further information.

1.15 Casual Contracts and Hourly Rates 

Sport Wales ensures our basic hourly rates for casual employees are the Living Wage or higher.  We will ensure that casual employees are paid fairly for the work they do, this will be matched to equivalent permanent roles, where applicable.  These hourly rates will be reviewed each 1st April, in line with the pay scales. 

Individuals on casual contracts will be offered work as and when needed. Individuals who do not accept work for whatever reason will not suffer a detriment as regards being offered work in the future.

Those who have been undertaking regular hours over an extended period of time will be reviewed to determine whether a casual contract remains the most suitable type of contract.

Individuals undertaking casual work will be able to accrue annual leave, as set out in their terms and conditions of employment.  Where it is not possible to arrange leave during the period of work, a payment will be made to reflect the individual’s entitlement to statutory holiday pay at the end of the period of work.

1.16 Pay Protection 

Pay protection arrangements may be needed in situations such as:

• Changes to the grade of the post, for example, following a job evaluation which reduces the pay band of the role
• If a post is declared redundant or disappears through restructuring and the individual is undertaking work at a lower grade

Pay protection means that an employee’s salary will be held at their current level of pay for a period of time, even where the salary exceeds the maximum of the grade for their revised post.

Pay protection will normally be at one years, at full pay from the date that the negative change in pay comes into effect.  This may vary in length depending on the situation and needs of the business.

A shorter period may apply in specific circumstances, for example if an individual has requested redeployment to a lower-paid post or such redeployment is the result of performance proceedings. Any such protection will be considered by the HR team on a case-by case basis, referring to relevant HR policies.

2. Allowances

Last review: September 2024

Next review: September 2026

Allowances are payments made in addition to basic pay in recognition of a particular duty, skill or condition or circumstance.  The application of such allowances are explained below.  

All allowances will be reviewed as part of regular policy review.

Sport Wales is responsible for ensuring the reasonable and equitable implementation of these arrangements, particularly with regard to the impact of the policy on male and female staff, those with caring responsibilities, and part-time staff. An equal pay audit will be undertaken biennially to ensure equal pay for work of equal value.  

The application of an allowance may change as business requirements change. In this circumstance, individuals will be given adequate notice of the change or removal of the allowance.  If the removal of the allowance is as a result of an individual applying for a new post internally, which does not require the application of an allowance, the allowance will be removed with effect from the start date in the new post. 

2.1 Shift allowance 

Shift allowance is awarded when an individual’s working pattern varies from week to week on a rota basis.  It is not payable where an individual is not on a fixed rota pattern or where they work the same hours every week, even if those hours are outside of normal office hours.  This only applies to posts up to and including Grade 5, to recognise the lower levels of pay coupled with the demands of employees needing to be flexible. 

The shift allowance is applied at two different rates:

• 16% allowance is applied for posts which require a two week or more shift pattern, involving weekends, and hours outside 7am to 8pm.
• 8% shift allowance for two week or more pattern which may involve weekends, with hours between 7am and 8pm.

Both of these allowances are pensionable. 

This allowance is automatically applied to applicable posts.  If you think that this should be applied to your post, and has not been, please raise this with your manager in the first instance.

2.2 Mobile phone 

The mobile phone allowance is applied to employees by application.  The allowance is provided to employees who have not been issued with a Sport Wales mobile phone, and need to make and receive phone calls  away from the office.  Part of this agreement will be that the employee is contactable during normal working hours and uses the email functionality to keep up with important emails etc. The responsibility for the phone, upgrades and content on the phone will therefore be a personal one. 

To compensate the employee, Sport Wales will contribute the sum of £25.00 per person per month inclusive before deductions which will be paid through the normal payroll process. Note that this contribution does not count towards pension entitlement or any other additional payments.  

Employees who meet the criteria for a Mobile Phone Allowance are required to:

• Complete the Mobile Phone Allowance Form available on the intranet
• Use equipment sensibly to obtain a work life balance both for themselves and colleagues
• Not use mobile phones whilst driving or operating machinery during working hours.
• Provide the mobile telephone number to ICT so that it can be used internally for work-specific purposes.
• Provide a suitable mobile phone or Smartphone that is capable of connecting to the corporate email system. See below for guidance on suitable handsets
• Agree to Sport Wales erasing the contents of your device if it is lost or stolen. This will only be done after consultation with you and is a condition of connecting to the corporate email system. You should make regular backups of all content on their device to minimise the loss of information should this situation arise.
• Notify ICT Service Centre if your device is lost or stolen. Note you are advised to use tools such as ‘Find my phone’ to aid recovery of lost devices.
• Enable security ‘Password’ or ‘PIN’ on your device to increase security

Managers are required to:

• Ensure there is appropriate business justification for requesting the mobile phone allowance.
• Review the application of the allowance to ensure the justification still applies.
• Notify payroll if the allowance no longer applies.
• Sport Wales undertakes to:
• Provide suitable remote access to the corporate email system;
• Notify the user of any issues that may affect connecting to Sport Wales’ systems.

2.3 On-call

This allowance is applied to employees who are required to be part of a set on-call rota and remain continuously and immediately available at home outside normal hours for a period of more than 12 hours.  This is applied to posts up to and including Grade 9.  

Employees may be required to respond to emergencies or to monitor media activity.  Employees who receive this allowance will make their mobile phone number available and ensure that they are immediately available to respond to calls when on-call.  

Where a call out requires employees to either attend their place of work or media matter for more than half an hour, the time will be compensated as flexi-time or as overtime payment if this is not possible.  

The value of the allowance is £159.77 per month, or £1,917.30 per annum. This will be reviewed alongside the annual pay review.  This will be pro-rata for part time employees, if they were a proportionately reduced on-call rota. This allowance is non-pensionable.

This allowance will automatically be applied to relevant posts.  If you feel that this allowance should be applied to your post, please raise this with your line manager in the first instance.

The application of this policy is on condition of continuing business requirement.  If call outs are in-frequent and do not meet the above requirements this allowance will be removed, with adequate notice.

2.4 Home Working 

The home working allowance is applied to employees who permanently work from home for the majority of their contracted hours, this may be as a result of business need or by application.  

Further information regarding practical arrangements can be found in the  Working at Home policy. 

Employees are compensated at the rate advised by HRMC for compensation of electricity, gas, internet and telephone line rental. This rate is pro-rata for part time employees. Should the home working arrangement end, the home working allowance would also come to an end.  This payment is not pensionable.

2.5 Recruitment and Retention 

Recruitment and Retention Allowance (RRA) can be applied to individual jobs, or groups of jobs, where employment market pressures make it difficult for Sport Wales to recruit and retain employees in sufficient numbers at the normal salary scale.  Payments under this policy will be based on a clear business case and will be subject to independent decision-making.

All RRA payments are subject to the submission of a clear business case for approval.  Heads of Department are responsible for compiling and submitting cases and resubmitting them for review where applicable.  Such business cases should include evidence such as:

• Failed recruitment exercises in the past 12 – 18 months where despite advertising, Sport Wales has been unable to attract the right candidate and evidence suggests this is due to the pay level.
• Evidence from exit interviews indicating that pay is a significant reason for leaving, with evidence of a job offer for a similar role at a higher level of pay.
• Evidence from current pay surveys that demonstrate that pay for a comparable post in a comparable organisation is at least 10% higher than in Sport Wales.  The post should be similar in terms of duties, competence requirements, breath and complexity of the role, location, management and budgetary responsibilities.

Comparisons must be made on the whole package including other elements of the reward package, including annual leave and pension benefits.

The business case will go to HR for scrutiny and recommendation to the Executive Team who will make the decision.  The panel will only consider business cases where there is a difference of more than 10% between the total pay at Sport Wales, compared to the pay level the evidence suggests.

RRA will apply to posts rather than employees and will be applied equally to all applicable employees.  Where an employee moves to a different post that does not attract the allowance, their entitlement to any previous RRA will cease. 

A short-term RRA may be applied where employment market conditions are expected to be short-term and where the need for the allowance is expected to disappear or reduce in the foreseeable future.  This will be awarded on a fixed term and will be reviewed at the end of this term.  This allowance may be withdrawn or have the value adjusted, subject to adequate notice period.

Long-term RRA will apply where employment market conditions are more deep-rooted and the need for the allowance is not expected to vary significantly in the foreseeable future.  This allowance will be reviewed regularly and may be withdrawn or have the value adjusted, subject to notice period of six months.

Both long-term and short-term RRA will be expressed as a percentage of the basic pay for the post.  The payment will count towards the employees’ pension entitlement.  This amount will not exceed 25% of the basic salary. 

2.6 Exceptional Work Demand 

Sport Wales is committed to work-life balance, actively discourages a ‘long hours’ culture and encourages and trusts its staff to manage their time appropriately and sensibly. However, there can be exceptions to this, due to the nature of our   business i.e. where staff work in high-demand partner environment, where working patterns are dictated by the partner or a business outcome.  For example, attendance for long periods of time at sport events or a consistent need to provide athlete services outside and in addition to normal working hours.

In most roles there will be varying levels of business need from time to time and Sport Wales appreciates employees’ flexibility in meeting business needs.  In most cases this will be for a short period of time or can be managed by adapting working patterns.  The Exceptional Work Demand allowance, is designed to fairly compensate staff when the level of business demand reaches a height by which working patterns cannot be adapted to meeting the demand.  This will impact upon some employees more than others, therefore, the application of this allowance will be on a business case basis and include a review period.

All Exceptional Work Demand payments are subject to the submission of a clear business case for approval.  Heads of Department are responsible for submitting a case for review.  Such business cases should include:

• Evidence that current working patterns and allocation of work cannot be adapted to meet the level of business demand.
• Detail the nature of the business pressure, whether this is for an extended period due to a sporting event or due to consistent athlete demand.

The business case will go to HR for scrutiny and recommendation to the Executive Team who will make the decision.  When making their decision, the Executive Team will set a review period to ensure the allowance is applicable and to ensure employees are not being placed under undue pressure for extended periods of time.

HR will inform employees of the outcome of the decision along with the review period.  Employees are expected to keep a record of their exceptional work demand and Heads of Department will need to monitor this to ensure that working hours are not excessive.  The Exceptional Work Demand payment will be expressed as a percentage of the basic pay for the post.  This payment will not exceed 5%.

The equality of the application of this allowance will be monitored through the biennial equal pay audit.

2.7 Unsocial Hours Allowance 

This historic allowance applies to people who have opted out of the current pay and grading structure.  This means that those in receipt of this allowance have a responsibility and regular commitment to work hours considerably longer than those ordinarily expected of staff.  Staff are expected to work flexibly to meet business needs.  These hours worked will be of an unsocial and irregular nature in the evenings, on weekends and on public holiday periods.  Those in receipt are not eligible for overtime payment, flexi-time, TOIL, shift allowance or on-call allowance, or any allowance associated with the new pay and grading structure.

Unsocial hours allowance is set as a percentage of salary.  For Grades up to and including Grade D, on the old pay scales, the allowance is 20% of salary.  In the case of some Grade E posts, it is 12% of salary.  This allowance, which is pensionable, is paid with salary.

3. Staff Privacy Policy

Last review: September 2024

Next review: September 2026

We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information.

Under data protection law, we are a “data controller”. This means that we hold personal information about, for example, our employees and are responsible for deciding how we store and use that personal information.

As a data controller, we are legally required to provide certain information to individuals whose personal information we collect, obtain, store and use. That information is contained in this document (our “privacy notice”).

It is important that you read this document (together with any other privacy notices we may provide to you on specific occasions), so that you are aware of how and why we are using your personal information and the rights you have in relation to your personal information.

This Privacy Policy applies to all employees, volunteers, secondees, work experience/placement students, seasonal staff and consultants (“Workers”).

We will comply with data protection law. This says that the personal information we hold about you must be:

1. Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
2. Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
3. Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
4. Accurate and kept up to date.
5. Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
6. Kept securely.

3.1 What Personal Information do we hold about you? 

As a Worker of the Organisation we will ask you to provide us with certain personal information relating to you at the outset of you commencing work for us and during the course of your employment/engagement.

Data protection law protects personal information which is essentially any information from which an individual can be identified. There is a type of personal information which receives additional protection because of its sensitive or private nature, this is sometimes referred to as ‘special category personal information’ and means personal information about an individual’s race, ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership (or non-membership), genetics information, biometric information (where used to identify an individual) and information concerning an individual’s health, sex life or sexual orientation.

This information is collected either directly from Workers or sometimes from an employment agency or background check provide, for example the National Brand Initiative. We may sometimes collect additional information from third parties including former employers and other referees, credit reference agencies or other background check agencies, pension administrator, medical professionals, other employees, the home Office, the Disclosure and Barring Service, intranet and internet facilities.

The information we will collect during your employment/engagement with us will include some or all of the following:

• your name, address and contact details
• your date of birth
• your gender
• your family details
• your education and qualifications
• your skills, experience and membership of professional bodies
• your National Insurance number and tax code
• your emergency contact details and next of kin
• your bank details, payroll details and tax status information
• your salary, annual leave, pension and benefits details
• evidence of your ability to work in the UK, your nationality and immigration status
• your driving licence
• information provided about you from your previous employer(s) and other referees
• your employment history information collected during the recruitment process that we retain
  during your employment
• your working terms and conditions (e.g. pay, hours of work, holidays, benefits)
• details of any other offices or appointments or business interests you hold
• any accidents connected with work
• any training you have undertaken
• any disciplinary, grievance or other issues relating to your employment or in relation to which you are able to provide information
• your attendance record and leave taken (e.g. holiday, sickness absence, family leave)
• your performance reviews
• any other personal information you share with us, including lifestyle and social circumstances
• any reasonable adjustment(s) made to your role or your work under the Equality Act 2010
• CCTV footage and any other information obtained through electronic means
• Information about your use of our IT, communication and other systems
• Details of your use of business related social media such as LinkedIn

3.2 What will we use your personal information for and what are our legal bases for doing so? 

We use the personal information we hold about you for a number of different purposes, which we list below. Under data protection law we need to have a valid legal basis for using your personal information, we also set out below the legal bases which we will be relying upon.

We use the personal information we hold about you for the following reasons:

• to comply with and demonstrate compliance with our legal obligations, such as checking you are legally entitled to work in the UK, deducting PAYE and National Insurance contributions, complying with equality legislation and other employment laws
• to prevent fraud
• to comply with health and safety obligations
• to comply with and demonstrate compliance with any regulatory requirements

In these cases, the legal basis that we will be relying upon to process your personal information will be because it is necessary for us to do so to comply with our legal obligations.

We will also use the personal information we hold about you for the following reasons:

• to comply with and enforce our contract with you and inform you of any changes
• to pay you and provide you with any benefits you are entitled to including pension
• to deal with any disciplinary and grievance issues which may arise relating to you or in respect of which you may be able to provide relevant information
• to record your absences from work and your leave
• to review and manage your performance and development
• for general employment or contract administration purposes
• to monitor compliance with any of our policies and procedures

In each of these cases the legal basis that we will be relying upon to process your personal information will be because it is necessary for the performance of the contract between us.

We will also use the personal information we hold about you for the following reasons:

• to enable business management and planning, including accounting and auditing
• to respond to reference requests
• to conduct performance reviews, manage performance and determining performance requirements
• to make decisions about salary reviews and compensation
• to assessing qualifications for a particular job or task, including decisions about promotions
• to gather evidence for possible grievance or disciplinary hearings
• to make decisions about your continued employment or engagement
• to make arrangements for the termination of our working relationship
• to assess education, training and development requirements
• to monitor your use of our information and communication systems
• to ensure network and information security, including preventing unauthorised access to our computer and electronic communications systems and preventing malicious software distribution
• to conduct data analytics studies to review and better understand employee retention and attrition rates

In these cases, the legal basis that we will be relying upon to process your personal information will be because it is in our legitimate interests. Our specific legitimate interests are:

• to be a fair and reasonable employer in relation to your employment/engagement and our employment/engagement of others and be able to demonstrate good employment practice and/or
• to comply with and demonstrate compliance with our obligations as an employer and/or our policies and procedures relating to Workers and/or
• to enable us to manage the Organisation effectively and efficiently

3.3 What Special Category Personal Information do we hold about you? 

We will need to keep certain special category personal information in relation to you which might be relevant to your employment, such as your:

• racial or ethnic origins
• political opinions
• religious or philosophical beliefs
• membership of a trade union
• physical or mental health (including details of any disability)
• sexual orientation
• details of any known disability
• commission or alleged commission of any offence, including the results of Disclosure and Barring Service (‘DBS’) checks

3.4 What will we use your special category personal information for and what are our legal bases for doing so? 

We use the special category personal information we hold about you for a number of different purposes, which we list below. Data protection law prohibits us from processing any special category personal information unless we can satisfy at least one of the conditions laid down by data protection law. We also set out below the specific conditions we rely upon when processing special category data.

We use the special category personal information we hold about you for the following reasons:

• to monitor equality and diversity.

In this case the condition we rely upon for processing the information is to monitor equality and diversity which is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, namely for the purposes of identifying or keeping under review the existence or absence of equality of opportunity or treatment between groups of people specified in relation to that category with a view to enabling such equality to be promoted or maintained.

We also use the special category personal information we hold about you for the following purposes:

• to comply with and demonstrate compliance with employment law and best practice and any other applicable laws
• to comply and demonstrate compliance with any regulatory requirements
• to deal with any disciplinary and grievance issues which may arise relating to you or others in respect of which you may be able to provide relevant information
• to record your absences from work
• to provide you with any health benefits you may be entitled to
• to assess your fitness for work
• to administer your trade union membership
• to make any reasonable adjustments to your role

In these cases, the conditions we rely upon for processing the information are because it is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights in the field of employment law.

In cases where a claim has been brought against the Organisation or there is a potential risk of a legal dispute or claim we may need to process your special category personal information where it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

There may be circumstances where we need to process your special category personal information, particularly relating to your health, where it is necessary to protect your interests (or someone else's interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent.

We envisage that we will hold information about criminal convictions.

We will only collect information about criminal convictions if it is appropriate given the nature of the role and where we are legally able to do so. Where appropriate, we will collect information about criminal convictions from the DBS as part of the recruitment process or we may be notified of such information directly by you during the recruitment process or during your period of work.

We will only use information relating to criminal convictions where the law allows us to do so. This will usually be where such processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, namely, preventing or detecting unlawful acts, protecting the public against dishonesty, preventing fraud or suspicion of terrorism or money laundering.

Less commonly, we may use information relating to criminal convictions where it is necessary in relation to legal claims, where it is necessary to protect your interests (or someone else's interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public.

3.5 Further general information about using your personal information 

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

Some of the personal data we request will be because we have a legal or contractual requirement to obtain and use the information or it is necessary for us to obtain the information to be able to enter into a contract with you. An example of this would be under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 we are required to satisfy ourselves that you have the right to work in the UK. Failure to provide certain information will prevent us from employing or engaging you or from performing the contract we have entered into with you.

 We do not carry out any automated decision-making or profiling in relation to you.

3.6 Who do we share your information with? 

Your personal data will be held by the HR department. Your personal data will be shared internally with other individuals and/or departments where this is reasonably necessary for the processing purposes set out in section 2 above. For example, it will be necessary to share some of your personal information with the Finance department in order to pay you.

From time to time we will need to share your information with external people and organisations. We will only do so where we have a legitimate or legal basis for doing so and in compliance with our obligations under data protection laws.

Your information may be disclosed to:

• Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in connection with your pay and benefits
• Banks and other financial institutions in connection with your pay and benefits
• Pensions providers (Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Pension Scheme) for providing and administering your pension
• Payroll provider (currently RSM) to enable us to pay you
• Companies and businesses who provide or administer any benefits we offer.
• Other people who help us provide our website, in-house WIFI network, they include information technology experts who design and host our website
• Our insurers and insurance brokers (the Crown Insurance Service) who provide us with comprehensive cover against the risks of running a business
• Employment and recruitment agencies and outplacement organisations
• Professional bodies and regulators such as the Wales Audit Office and Deloitte
• Our professional advisors including our accountants when they need it to give us their professional advice
• The Police, local authorities, the courts and any other government authority if they ask us to do so (but only if us doing so is lawful).
• Other people who make a subject access request, where we are allowed to do so by law.
• Complainants, where this is necessary to respond to any complaints received
• Private investigators
• Debt collection and tracing agents
• Where we are legally obliged to do so, e.g. to comply with a court order
• Prospective employers in response to reference requests
• Educational establishments, examination bodies, course providers in relation to any training you undertake or have undertaken
• Marketing service providers who carry out marketing activities on our behalf
• Cloud service providers such as Cascade, Halogen, Office 365.
• Your family or representatives

3.7 International Transfer of Your Information 

We do not transfer any of your personal data outside the European Economic Area.

3.8 How Long Do We Keep Your Information For? 

To make sure we meet our legal data protection and privacy obligations, we only hold on to your information for as long as we actually need it for the purposes we acquired it in the first place.

In most cases, this means we will keep your information for as long as you are employed or engaged by us and for a period of 7 years thereafter. The reason for keeping your personal data for this length of time is to comply with HMRC requirements and because of the fact that some claims can be brought up to 6 years after your employment/engagement ends.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

3.9 Individuals’ rights 

Data protection legislation provides individuals with a number of different rights in relation to their data. These are listed below and apply in certain circumstances:

• Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
• Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
• Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
• Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
• Request data portability of your personal information.  In certain circumstances, you may have the right to require that we provide you with an electronic copy of your personal information either for your own use or so that you can share it with another organisation. Where this right applies, you can ask us, where feasible, to transmit your personal data directly to the other party.

If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact the Head of HR.

No fee usually required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

3.10 Ability to withdraw consent 

Where your personal data is processed on the basis of your consent or explicit consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time. You can do this by emailing the Head of HR. Any withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing of your personal data based on consent before the withdrawal is notified.

3.11 Accuracy 

If any of your personal details change during your employment/engagement you should contact a member of the HR team to notify them and provide them with the updated accurate information. We will as a matter of course send an email out annually to remind everyone of the need to ensure that the personal data you have provided to us is accurate.

3.12 Updates to this privacy policy 

We review the ways we use your information regularly. In doing so, we may change what kind of information we collect, how we store it, who we share it with and how we act on it.

Consequently, we will need to change this privacy policy from time to time to keep it accurate and up-to-date.

We will keep this policy under regular review to ensure it is accurate and kept up to date.

3.13 About Us 

Our full name is the Sports Council for Wales.

We are the data controller of the information you provide us with. The term “data controller” is a legal phrase used to describe the person or entity that controls the way information is used and processed.

3.14 Where to Go if You Want More Information About Your Rights or to make a Complaint 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) regulates data protection and privacy matters in the UK. They make a lot of information accessible on their website and they ensure that the registered details of all data controllers such as ourselves are available publicly. You can access them here.

You can make a complaint to the ICO at any time about the way we use your information. However, we hope that you would consider raising any issue or complaint you have with us first. We will always do our very best to solve any problems you may have.

3.15 Contact us 

You’re welcome to get in touch with us to discuss your information at any time. We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) to oversee compliance with this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact the DPO.The DPO’s contact details are as follows;  

• Phil Stevens
• Email [javascript protected email address]

4. Pensions

Last review: September 2024

Next review: September 2026

4.1 Auto-Enrolment 

Categorisation 

The scheme into which individuals are auto-enrolled, if any, is determined by their categorisation below:

Eligible Job Holder (EJH)

Eligible Job Holders are ‘eligible’ for automatic enrolment. Sport Wales will automatically enrol an eligible jobholder into the Scottish Widows defined contribution pension scheme (automatic enrolment scheme).

Eligible Job Holders are those who:

• are aged between 22 and state pension age
• are working or ordinarily work in the UK under their contract
• have qualifying earnings payable by the employer in the relevant pay reference period that are above the earnings trigger for automatic enrolment

Non Eligible Job Holder (NEJH)

Non-eligible jobholders do not meet the additional criteria required to be eligible jobholders, so do not need to be automatically enrolled. However, they do have a right to ‘opt in’ to Sport Wales’ automatic enrolment scheme, or LGPS 2014 CARE scheme if they choose.

Non Eligible Job Holders include workers who either:

• are aged between 16 and 74
• re working or ordinarily work in the UK under their contract
• have qualifying earnings payable by the employer in the relevant pay reference period but below the earnings trigger for automatic enrolment
• are aged between 16 and 21, or state pension age and 74
• are working or ordinarily work in the UK under their contract
• have qualifying earnings payable by the employer in the relevant pay reference period that are above the earnings trigger for automatic enrolment

Entitled Worker (EW)

Entitled workers are not automatically enrolled in to the Sport Wales pension schemes. However, they do have a right to join a pension scheme. The pension scheme used by Sport Wales for Entitled Workers is a defined contribution scheme provided by Scottish Widows.

Entitled Workers are those who:

• are aged between 16 and 74
• are working or ordinarily work in the UK under their contract
• do not have qualifying earnings payable by the employer in the relevant pay reference period

Opting Out 

Whilst Sport Wales will automatically enrol those identified as Eligible Job Holders, and ‘opt-in’ those Non Eligible Job Holders who request this, on-going membership of the relevant scheme is not compulsory.

Where an individual has been automatically enrolled, or enrolled as a result of an opt-in request, they can choose to ‘opt-out’ of their scheme:

• Eligible jobholders may choose to opt out after they have been automatically enrolled*
• Non-eligible jobholders who have opted in may choose to opt out after they have been enrolled*
• Entitled workers who have asked to join a scheme do not have the right to choose to opt out.  If an Entitled Worker wants to leave the scheme, they must cease membership in accordance with the relevant schemes rules

* can only opt out during what is known as the ‘opt-out period’

Opt Out Period

• The opt-out period is one calendar month and starts from the later of the date the individual:
• becomes an active member of the scheme with effect from the automatic enrolment date (i.e. the date that the administrative steps for achieving active membership are completed)

Or

• is given written enrolment information

Individuals cannot opt out before the opt-out period starts or after it ends. If they decide to leave the scheme outside this period, they will instead be ‘ceasing active membership’.

Further details on the opting out process are available from the relevant pension scheme provider.

4.2 Re-Enrolment 

Provided staff are still eligible, Sport Wales will re-enrol those that have opted out back into the automatic enrolment pension scheme. This re-enrolment will occur every 3 years.  

Staff will have the option to opt-out of the scheme once they have been re-enrolled. Opting out will need to take place in line with the one month opt out period as described above.

4.3 Eligibility Monitoring 

Changes in Age and/or Salary

Sport Wales regularly monitor changes in age and earnings of its staff to enable the identification of those that become eligible for automatic enrolment.

If it is identified that individuals have become eligible for auto-enrolment or opting in to a scheme, Sport Wales will follow the process for auto-enrolment, which is available from the HR department.

New Starters

On the appointment of a new member of staff, Sport Wales will check their eligibility for auto-enrolment and follow the process applicable for the category of worker in which they fall.

4.4 Pension Schemes 

Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) 

Until 31st March 2014 the LGPS Defined Benefit scheme was based on final salary and promised to pay out an income based on how much an individual was earning at the point of retirement or departure from Sport Wales.

On the 1st April 2014 this scheme changed to a CARE scheme (Career Average Revalued Earnings). The CARE scheme is also a defined benefit scheme. However, unlike the final salary scheme, the CARE scheme promises to pay out income based on the average income an individual has earned across their career.

Those staff who were within the LGPS Final Salary scheme on 1st April 2014 will have been transferred to the LGPS CARE scheme from this date. All benefits accrued to 31st March 2014 under the Final Salary scheme will be fully protected, meaning that all membership to this date will still be worked out using the individual’s final salary on retirement or departure from Sport Wales.

The LGPS CARE scheme (Career Average Revalued Earnings) is a defined benefit scheme. The CARE scheme promises to pay out income based on the average income an individual has earned across their career. For further, detailed information please click on the following link: https://www.cardiffandvalepensionfund.org.uk/

Scottish Widows 

The Scottish Widows pension scheme is our qualifying scheme for automatic enrolment purposes. It is a Defined Contribution scheme which means it is built up through an individual’s contributions and those of Sport Wales, together with tax relief from the government. Defined contribution schemes give an accumulated sum on retirement.

Staff falling into the Eligible Job Holder category will be automatically enrolled into this scheme unless they advise they wish to join the LGPS.

The Scottish Widows defined contribution scheme is also available to those falling within the Non Eligible Job Holder and Entitled Workers category should they wish opt-in to the scheme.

• For further information on joining the Scottish Widows scheme, please contact the HR department
• For information on a Scottish Widows policy, please contact Scottish Widows directly

4.5 Contribution Rates 

Pensionable Pay 

Individual’s contributions rates are based on pensionable pay. This includes basic salary, overtime and include all other allowances apart from the mobile phone allowance.

LGPS 2014 Care Scheme Contribution Rates 

Employee Contribution Rate:

The contribution rates vary dependent on your annual salary.

Cardiff Council will issue revised contribution levels for Sport Wales and its employees. These are fixed, non-flexible contribution levels.

Members of LGPS 2014, as an alternative, are able to enter into a 50/50 arrangement, whereby they contribute half of the contribution percentage applicable to their salary and receive half of the benefits they would have received under the main section of the scheme.

Employer Contribution Rates:

Regardless of the individual’s contribution rate, Sport Wales contributes to the fund of those participating in the LGPS pension scheme.

Salary Changes

Where salaries changed during the year, we will review the band within which your new salary sits and notify payroll and pensions at Cardiff of this change.

Scottish Widows Contribution Rates 

Employee Contribution Rates:

Staff joining the Scottish Widows pension scheme will be required to pay a minimum contribution rate of their total pensionable pay.

Employer Contribution Rates:

Sport Wales will continue to contribute a percentage of your pensionable pay in line with legislation.

4.6 LGPS Retirement Options and Pensions Provisions

Retirement Options 

Within the LGPS there are a number of ways in which Retirement may occur:

Normal Retirement

The scheme retirement age is to be linked to the state pension age at the time of retirement.

Member driven early retirement

Employees are able to claim their pension from the age of 55. However, significant reductions would apply.

Ill Health

An active member who has qualifying service for a period of two years and whose employment is terminated by Sport Wales on the grounds of ill-health before the member reaches normal pension age, is entitled to, and must take, early payment of a retirement pension if that member satisfies the following conditions:

That the member is, as a result of ill-health, permanently incapable of discharging efficiently the duties of the employment the member was engaged in

That the member, as a result of ill-health, is not immediately capable of undertaking any gainful employment

Three tiers of ill-health retirement are available:

Tier 1 benefits

If the member is unlikely to be capable of undertaking gainful employment before normal pension age, the member will be entitled to an immediate payment of benefits without reduction and an enhancement to membership equivalent to 100% of the period from the date of leaving to normal pension age.

Tier 2 benefits

If the member is:

• not entitled to Tier 1 benefits; and
• is unlikely to be capable of undertaking any gainful employment within three years of leaving the employment; but
• is likely to be able to undertake gainful employment before reaching normal pension age.

Where a second tier pension is awarded the member will be entitled to an immediate payment of benefits without reduction and an enhancement to membership equivalent to 25% of the period from the date of leaving to normal pension age.

Tier 3 benefits

If the member is likely to be capable of undertaking gainful employment within three years of leaving the employment, or before normal pension age if earlier, Tier 3 benefits will be available without reduction but with no enhancement.

Redundancy

Please refer to the Redundancy policy for guidance on early retirement and redundancy

For further information on the retirement options listed, please speak to a member of the HR team.

4.7 The 85 Year Rule 

If you were a member of the LGPS scheme at any time between 1st April 1998 and 30th September 2006, some or all of your benefits could be protected from an early payment penalty under what is called the 85 year rule.  Sport Wales has exercised its discretion to apply the 85 year rule for relevant members. For further information regarding this please contact HR.

4.8 Flexible Retirement 

Flexible working requests will be dealt with on a case by case basis. Please refer to the Flexible Working policy regarding flexible working requests.

For those in the LGPS, employees aged over 55 may apply to retire flexibly whilst continuing in their employment on a reduced hours or/and grade basis. In this circumstance the employee can continue to contribute to their pension fund whilst receiving their pension benefit. Your pension however would be reduced in these circumstances depending on your age at flexible retirement.

Sport Wales will usually only consider flexible retirement cases where there is no cost to the organisation and business needs are met.

Criteria

Employees must meet the criteria set out below:

• Employees must be aged 55 or over
• Employees must submit their request to flexibly retire to their manager in writing
• Employees must show there is no increase in cost by allowing this request
• The employee must commit to a permanent reduction in hours or a decrease in grade or both.

Request for Reduction in Hours

• Must be at least a 40% reduction from previously contracted hours
• Will be a permanent contractual change
• Employees will be unable to work additional hours above the newly reduced contracted hours whilst in this post

Please note that pension accrued before the reduction of hours will be unaffected by the change, however pension accrued after the change will be affected.

Reduction in hours will also affect redundancy benefits and the Local Government Pension Scheme ill health benefits.

Where a reduction in hours is requested, a flexible retirement request form must be filled in and submitted to your line manager. This request will then be subject to the Flexible Working Policy.

4.9 Additional Contributions and Payments 

Additional Voluntary Contributions 

An employee can choose to pay Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) which are invested separately in funds managed by the AVC provider. The full cost of these additional contributions is funded by the employee.

Additional Pension Contributions 

An employee can opt to buy extra pension for their retirement by paying Additional Pension Contributions (APCs). If the employee is in the main section of the Scheme, they can pay more in contributions to buy up to £6,500 of extra pension.

Any extra pension purchased is payable each year in retirement and is payable on top of normal LGPS benefits. The full cost of these additional contributions is funded by the employee.

Shared Cost Additional Pension Contributions 

Shared Cost Additional Pension Contributions (SCAPCs) cover the amount of pension ‘lost’ during periods of unpaid additional Maternity, Adoption and Paternity leave or periods of unpaid authorised leave of absence.

New Parent Leave

If the employee is a new parent and has a period of relevant child related leave the amount of pension they build up won’t be affected.

Relevant child related leave covers all periods of Ordinary Maternity Leave, Ordinary Adoption Leave and Ordinary Paternity Leave and any paid Additional Maternity Leave, Additional Adoption Leave and Additional Paternity Leave.

That means that if the employee has a period of reduced contractual pay during relevant child related leave their pension is still worked out using an average of their usual pensionable pay (before the reduction in pay took place).  

Employees will only pay contributions on any pay that they receive.

Unpaid additional Maternity, Adoption or Paternity Leave

If the employee decides to take a period of unpaid additional Maternity, Adoption (usually from week 39 to week 52) or Paternity Leave they will not build up pension benefits. They can elect to cover the period of pension ‘lost’ by taking out a Shared Cost Additional Pension Contribution (SCAPC) contract.

Where a SCAPC contract is taken out to cover the pension ‘lost’ during a period of unpaid additional Maternity, Adoption or Paternity leave, the cost is shared 1/3rd to the employee and 2/3rds to Sport Wales, provided that they make an election to buy the ‘lost’ pension within 30 days of returning to work.

Authorised Unpaid Leave

If an employee decides to take a period of unpaid leave, they will not build up pension benefits. The employee can elect to cover the period of pension ‘lost’ by taking out a Shared Cost Additional Pension Contribution (SCAPC) contract. Where a SCAPC contract is taken out to cover the pension ‘lost’ during a period of authorised unpaid leave, the cost is shared 1/3rd to the employee and 2/3rds to Sport Wales, provided that you make an election to buy the ‘lost’ pension within 30 days of returning to work.

Redundancy

Sport Wales will not be exercising its discretion to grant extra annual pension to those active Scheme members, or those within 6 months of leaving, whose employment was terminated on the grounds of redundancy or business efficiency.

4.10 LGPS: Early Retirement and Actuarial Reductions 

Sport Wales will make use of the discretion to waive actuarial reductions only when there is a clear financial or operational advantage to the organisation.

Any application for early retirement on compassionate grounds and the waiving of all or part of the reduced pension benefits will be decided by the Remuneration Committee.

The following discretions apply to:

• Active members voluntarily retiring on or after 55 who elect to draw benefits immediately
• Deferred and suspended tier 3 ill health pensioners

4.11 Discretions and Ceased Active Membership 

LGPS 2008 Discretions 

The following discretions are applicable to scheme members who ceased active membership between 1st April 2008 and 31st March 2014.

Applications for early payment of deferred benefits

Sport Wales will not be exercising its discretion to grant applications for the early payment of deferred pension benefits on or after age 55 and before age 60.

Waiving actuarial reductions on deferred benefits

Sport Wales will not be exercising its discretion to waive any actuarial reduction that would normally be applied to deferred benefits which are paid before age 65, on compassionate grounds

Applications for early payment of suspended tier 3 ill health pension

Sport Wales will not be exercising its discretion to grant applications for the early payment of a suspended tier 3 ill health pension on or after age 55 and before age 60.

Waiving actuarial reductions on suspended tier 3 ill health pension

Sport Wales will not be exercising its discretion to waive any actuarial reduction that would normally be applied to any suspended tier 3 ill health pension benefits which are brought back into payment before age 65, on compassionate grounds.

LGPS 1995 Discretions 

The following discretions are applicable to scheme members who ceased active membership before 1st April 1998.

Applications for early payment of deferred benefits

Sport Wales will not be exercising its discretion to grant applications for the early payment of deferred pension benefits on or after age 50 and before age 65, on compassionate grounds.

Scottish Widows Discretions 

There are no discretions available under the Scottish Widows Group Personal Pension Plan.

5. Overtime and TOIL (Time off in Lieu) Policy

Last review: September 2024

Next review: September 2026

5.1 Overtime 

Approval of Overtime 

Overtime is not contractual, and employees are not obliged to undertake overtime as part of their role, likewise Sport Wales is not obliged to offer employees overtime. Where overtime is required it will be offered to all relevant employees.  Overtime may be paid by prior approval from a Head of Department.  This policy only applies to roles that operate on a shift/rota pattern. 

Overtime Rate 

The overtime rate is paid at the basic rate.  For part time staff this will include shift allowance up to the first 37 hours, and thereafter, at basic rate only.

At the discretion of the relevant Head of Department, you may be given the equivalent paid hours as time off in lieu (TOIL) instead of payment for overtime.  This will only be permitted if the TOIL criteria outlined below are met.  If authorised, your TOIL record will be adjusted accordingly.

Overtime Rules 

Overtime and TOIL must be recorded in 15 minute periods, which must be worked, not rounded up.  This must be authorised by the relevant line manager.

Overtime will be paid monthly in arrears.

Entitlement and Premium Payments for Bank Holidays 

The assumption is that employees will take their time off on bank holidays unless they are required to work.  Staffing levels during Bank Holidays are at the discretion of the line manager.

Employees on a shift pattern who are scheduled to work on a bank holiday will receive full payment for their contractual hours as part of the normal monthly salary payment. 

If the employee attends work on the bank holiday, they will be:

• credited TOIL with the bank holiday entitlement to be taken on a different day.
• receive a premium payment for the actual hours worked which will be paid at basic rate plus allowances.
• if the employee is sick on this day, they will not receive the premium payment

If the bank holiday falls on a scheduled rest day the bank holiday entitlement will either be credited to the employee’s annual leave balance, or credited as TOIL to be taken on a different day. 

 If the bank holiday falls on a scheduled rest day but the employee works the day they will receive;

• receive a premium payment for the actual hours worked which will be paid at basic rate plus allowances.
• the bank holiday entitlement will be credited as TOIL to be taken on a different day.

The bank holiday entitlement for a full-time employee is 7.4 hours. Part-time employees can calculate bank holiday entitlement by using the calculation below:

7.4 hrs / 37 x your p/t hrs = bank holiday entitlement in hours.

If the centre closes on a day you were due to be in work and your bank holiday entitlement is less than your contracted hours for that day, then the remaining hours will be deducted from your annual leave entitlement or TOIL card.

If the Centre closes on a day you were due to be in work and your bank holiday entitlement is more than your contracted hours for that day, then the remaining hours will be added to your annual leave entitlement or TOIL card for you to take on a different day.

5.2 Time Off in Lieu (TOIL) 

This section provides some guidelines and criteria around taking TOIL.

Approval of TOIL 

As with Overtime, the accrual of TOIL must be given prior approval from the Head of Department. 

TOIL will only be authorised if all of the relevant criteria below apply. If authorised, your TOIL record will be adjusted accordingly.  

If the criteria below are not satisfied, then the equivalent hours will be paid as overtime the following month. 

Your line manager must approve all leave in advance, including TOIL. You may only commit to your leave plans, including booking holidays, once your line manager authorises your request for taking TOIL.

If your application for TOIL is refused, your line manager will notify you as soon as possible.  Where there are conflicting annual leave or TOIL requests, priority will be given to the member of staff whose request was received first, subject to business needs.

 TOIL Rules 

TOIL must be recorded in 15 minute periods.  You must work for the full 15 minute period that you are claiming. This must not be rounded up. 

No more than 4 days (30 hours) credit will be able to be carried over into the following month, apart from in exceptional circumstances, as authorised by the relevant Head of Department. Any additional hours will be paid as overtime.

No more than 1 day (7.5 hours) TOIL debit will be able to be carried over into the following month, apart from in exceptional circumstances, as authorised by the relevant Head of Department. Any additional debit hours will be processed as unpaid leave.

TOIL Cards 

Staff are responsible for completing their TOIL card and managers are responsible for approving TOIL to be credited and authorising TOIL requests.  Line managers should also record any TOIL activity via Cascade.

Line managers are responsible for recording any TOIL for bank holidays.

6. Expenses

Last review: September 2024

Next review: September 2026

6.1 Travelling Expenses 

Key Principles

Sport Wales will meet the cost where employees are required to travel on official business. 

Employees should ensure they use the most efficient and economic means of travel, taking into account the cost of travel, the cost of subsistence and savings in official time.  More expensive means of travel will be authorised only when justified by an operational benefit agreed in advance.  All unnecessary travel must be avoided.

If an employee is travelling on official business they must take advantage of any cheap facilities which may be available, for example, day return or season tickets, where their use is consistent with the efficient and economic conduct of the official business.

If an employee considers their proposals for travel involve a novel or contentious application of these principles, they should obtain their Line Manager’s/Director’s approval first. 

Sport Wales reserves the right to refuse to meet the whole or part of claims in respect of unreasonable expenses or expenses which could have been avoided had the journey been better planned.

The current allowance rates for travel and subsistence are available from the intranet or the Human Resources’ team.

Use of Procurement Cards

When using a procurement card for travel and accommodation purposes, authorisation will be required from the Line Manager and Budget Holder prior to the purchase being made and in line with the expenditure levels set out within this policy.

Employees need to ensure they also follow their responsibilities as Procurement Card holder as set out in the Procurement Card Scheme procedure (FIN010) which can be found in the Finance area of the intranet.

Whilst the process for the use of procurement cards is regulated by the Procurement Card Scheme procedure, the principles set out for travel and subsistence within this policy still apply. 

Submission of Claims

Employees should submit their claims promptly using the travel and subsistence claim form, available from the intranet.

Claims submitted later than the following time limits may be disallowed (unless there is good reason for the delay):

• monthly, for employees travelling regularly
• within a reasonable period of time, but certainly within the current financial year

Employees must ensure that claims for travel and subsistence allowances have been counter-signed by the relevant travel and subsistence budget holder or their line manager, whichever is the more senior.

6.2 Types of Expenditure 

Employee expenses might include one or more of the following:

Travel:

• Travel by Road
• Travel by Rail
• Travel by Air

Subsistence:

• Meals
• Overnight accommodation
• Personal Incidental Expenses linked to overnight accommodation

Sport Wales will reimburse an employee where the travel is for business purposes only.

6.3 Travel 

What journeys qualify as business travel?

Business travel for both tax and National Insurance Contributions is defined as those journeys that have to be made in the course of an employee’s job. This includes:

• If an employee travels from their office to visit a third party and uses their own vehicle
• If an employee travels directly from home to visit a second party (unless the journey is practically the same as their ordinary home to work journey, because the premises are just down the road from the office)

What journeys DO NOT qualify as business travel?

Journeys that do not count as business travel include:

• Ordinary commuting - travel between home, or any other place an employee attends for personal reasons (such as the home of a friend or relative) and their usual workplace.
• Private travel - any other travel where the purpose is not for business.

6.4 Travel by Road 

Employees' Own Car, Bicycle or Motorcycle

It is Sport Wales’ policy not to pay for travelling expenses unless they qualify as business travel as defined above.

Business mileage will be reimbursed in accordance with the approved rates. These rates will be reviewed periodically by the Senior Management Team, in line with Inland Revenue regulations.

Insurance for Business Use

Employees who use their own vehicle on Sport Wales’ business are required to ensure their insurance policy covers them for business use of the vehicle. The employee must meet any additional costs.

When employees use their private motor vehicle on official business, they must complete and sign a form the travel and subsistence form, acknowledging that they know and understand these insurance requirements, that they are covered accordingly and that they will immediately notify Sport Wales of any change which leaves them with less cover than the rules require.

Pool Cars

There is a separate policy for the use of Pool Cars.

Hire Cars

Where the use of a Sport Wales’ pool car, or private motor car, is not available, or public transport or a taxi does not provide the most efficient means of travel, employees may request provision of a hire car.

Employees should choose the cheapest option when hiring a vehicle.  This will usually mean use of the approved car hire scheme of Sport Wales.  The procedure for requesting a hire car is detailed on the intranet.

Normally hire cars should be used for journeys which require an absence from the normal place of work of more than half a day and a journey distance of more than 60 miles.  Prior approval of your line manager must be obtained before hiring self-drive cars.

Sport Wales has its own comprehensive fleet insurance policy to cover hire vehicles.  This is limited to vehicles with a maximum of seven seats.  If employees have a requirement for the hire of a minibus, they must also obtain additional insurance from the hire company.  The policy covers any Sport Wales’ employee.

Passenger Supplement

If employees use their private motor vehicle and carry passengers whose fares would otherwise be paid by Sport Wales, they may be paid a passenger supplement for each passenger carried. The current rate for which is available on the intranet, or from Human Resources. 

Associated Expenses

Car parking fees, congestion charges and bridge tolls paid for during the course of official business will be reimbursed subject to the production of proof of expenditure.

Claims should be made using the travel and subsistence claim form.

Home to Office Journeys

Daily travel between home and the workplace is an employee’s responsibility.

Only in exceptional circumstances may payment be made for mileage allowances for use of a private vehicle for this journey, i.e. if employees are required to make additional attendance outside of normal working hours.

Fines

Sport Wales will not reimburse:

• Parking fines
• Congestion charge fines
• Clamping release fees
• Vehicle recovery fees
• Motoring offence fines

Please note this list is not exhaustive.

Disqualification

Employees who are required to travel during the course of their normal duties may be required to make suitable alternative arrangements at their own expense if disqualified from driving.

Loss or Damage

Subject to the provisions of the following paragraph, Sport Wales would not reimburse for any loss or damage resulting from the use of private motor vehicles used on official business, whether or not the cost of such loss or damage can be claimed under your insurance policy.

If the insurance policy is subject to an excess clause, Sport Wales may reimburse the cost of any loss and damage which cannot be recovered from the insurance company because of the operation of that excess clause, provided that: 

• The irrecoverable loss or damage up to £165
• Any loss or damage occurred whilst employees were on official business
• Employees repay to Sport Wales any monies originally paid by Sport Wales under this provision, if reimbursement from any other party is obtained
• The loss or damage was not due to the employee’s negligence

Accidents

In the event of an accident involving other parties, employees should obtain the names, addresses, registration number(s), and insurers of the other parties and also the names and addresses of witnesses. 

Employees should not admit liability to any third party at the scene.  After any accident, they must complete and submit an accident report form to Sport Wales, the form for which is available on the intranet.  Completed forms should be sent to the Human Resources Manager.

Theft

In the event of the theft of a hired car or any of its contents you should inform the police immediately it becomes known and, thereafter, the hire company. 

Employees will be required to complete and submit a motor vehicle theft report form to Sport Wales, the form for which is available on the intranet.  Completed forms should be sent to the Human Resources Manager.

6.5 Travel By Bicycle 

Employees may claim a mileage allowance for all business journeys (other than to and from your normal workplace) made by bicycle.  Please see the Expenses and Allowances Rates on the intranet.

6.6 Travel by Taxis 

Taxi fares may only be reimbursed in the following circumstances:

• For journeys for which there is no other suitable method of public transport
• When heavy luggage has to be transported to or from terminal stations
• Where the saving of official time is important. There may be very little saving of official time by using taxis in large towns and in central London
• Where employees would otherwise be placed at personal risk in order to undertake official business e.g. a late night journey that could involve waiting at a lonely bus/railway station

6.7 Travel by Rail 

When travelling by rail, employees should, as far as possible, travel standard class and should book their journeys sufficiently in advance to obtain the best possible prices.

If employees prefer not to pay for an approved rail journey themselves before making a claim, they may obtain a rail warrant from the Finance team. An application for a rail warrant can be obtained from the intranet\Finance documents. The rail warrant is then exchanged at the railway station’s ticket office for a ticket. 

Alternatively they may purchase the ticket using a procurement card (information on procurement cards are available from the Finance team).

Employees should retain all tickets and credit card vouchers.

6.8 Travel by Air 

Within the UK

All air travel within the UK is classified as Non–Standard Travel and as such prior approval by the Line Manager is required.

Air journeys should only be made where it is apparent that such travel results in either direct or indirect cost savings, where there is no other practicable method of travel, or where other special circumstances apply.

Regular travellers may qualify for one of the ‘air-miles’ schemes of the major airlines. However, employees should not benefit personally from accumulating air miles but should use them to offset the costs of official journeys.

International

All overseas travel requires prior approval from the relevant Corporate Director.

All air travel must normally be made utilising the most economic fare available at the time of booking. It is expected that employees will travel economy class. In exceptional circumstances business class travel may be appropriate. Senior Management Team approval will be required in these circumstances.

Bookings should be made at the earliest opportunity to take advantage of special fares.

Staff who choose to travel business class, club class or first class without the prior approval of the Senior Management Team will be required to reimburse Sport Wales for the difference in cost between the economy fare and the fare charged.

Employees need to ensure that they hold a full and valid passport when travelling internationally. Travel to certain countries requires specific visas and these should be organised by the employee along with travel insurance.

6.9 Loss of or Damage to Personal Property 

Employees should note that, whilst travelling on official business, Sport Wales has no liability to pay compensation for the loss of, or damage to, any personal property, either in this country or abroad.

Employees should therefore make their own personal insurance arrangements according to your needs.

6.10 Subsistence 

Sport Wales would not wish employees to be at a disadvantage financially when attending meetings or other events out of their normal office. As such, Sport Wales will pay subsistence if they necessarily incur additional expenses when away from the home or office as a direct consequence of their work.

On the other hand, Sport Wales has to show propriety in the use of public funding.  Consequently, this policy and process seeks to adopt a balanced approach.

Claiming Subsistence 

Sport Wales will reimburse reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred by an employee when:

• It is necessary to stay away from home overnight
• Additional expenses are incurred as a result of having to travel on Sport Wales business

Where costs exceed the rates specified, these cannot be claimed for, unless there are exceptional circumstances and it has been possible to obtain the prior approval of the employee's Corporate Director.  Under such circumstances, receipts should be obtained and submitted with their expense form.

Information on the rates applicable can be found in the Expenses and Allowances Rates on the intranet.

Meals 

Expenditure on meals will only be reimbursed on production of original receipts up to the approved limits (please see the Expenses and Allowances Rates on the intranet). Individual receipts for each claim must be submitted.

A receipt shared by multiple claimants is not permissible. However, where one employee submits a claim of expenses for a number of employees, each employee must be identified by name and position.

Subsistence may not be claimed for meals when these are provided at no cost to employees.

The current meal limits will be periodically reviewed by the Senior Management Team and updated accordingly.

Breakfast Reimbursement

The cost of breakfast can only be claimed when Sport Wales business requires employees to leave home prior to 7am or to stay overnight. Reimbursement is subject to the maximum values specified in the Expenses and Allowances Rates on the intranet.

Lunch Reimbursement 

When employees are required to work or attend work at a location other than their normal place of work it is expected that they will provide their usual lunch arrangements without making an expenses claim.

However, where business requires employees to work through the full 12pm-2pm lunch break for a meeting with external parties and additional expenditure is incurred in the purchase of meals, including non-alcoholic drinks etc., necessary and agreed expenditure will be reimbursed, subject to the maximum values specified in the Expenses and Allowances Rates on the intranet.

Evening Meal Reimbursement 

The cost of an evening meal (including non-alcoholic drinks) can only be claimed when as a result of Sport Wales business employees would stay away overnight or not return home until after 8pm. Rates are available on the intranet.

Note: Subsistence cannot be claimed for meals that have been provided, for example, at a seminar, training course or conference, or if the hotel accommodation includes breakfast or an evening meal.

Refreshments

When a member of staff is away all day from their place of work, the cost of refreshments and snacks can also be claimed within the maximum detailed in the rates available on the intranet.

6.12 Overnight Accommodation

Hotels

Employees will be reimbursed for the cost of reasonable overnight accommodation when necessarily away on Sport Wales’ business.

In the spirit of showing propriety in the use of public funding, hotel accommodation should be sourced and if appropriate, pre-booked using the discounted rates for government bodies.

Please see the Expenses and Allowances Rates on the intranet for details of the maximum allowances for hotel accommodation.

If discounted rate hotels are unavailable, or costs exceed the guideline rates, actual costs will be reimbursed against VAT receipts provided employees can satisfy their line manager that it is the most efficient option available, taking account of cost, time and convenience.  Employees should pay the bill and submit a claim for reimbursement at the appropriate rate. 

National Centre Accommodation

Employees will be expected to stay at either of the National Centres when business is undertaken at, or reasonably near, Cardiff or Plas Menai. ‘Reasonably near’ should be interpreted as within 30 miles.

In the event of accommodation not being available, employees should arrange for accommodation locally at economical rates or consider changing the meeting arrangements if appropriate.

If employees stay at a National Centre, the bed and breakfast cost, plus other meals, as appropriate, will be charged direct to Sport Wales by the management of the Sport Wales National Centre, or Plas Menai.

6.13 Late Duty Allowance 

Where an employee is required to work on until at least 2000 hours in addition to their normal duty, they may claim a light meal/snack given the late finish to the working day. This will be claimed for in the normal way, if it has not been possible to obtain the light meal/snack from either the National Centre in Cardiff or Plas Menai.

Such late working will be treated as overtime, unless employees are in receipt of an unsocial hours’ allowance.

6.14 Gratuities 

It is not Sport Wales’ policy to pay for tips and gratuities. These will be excluded from any claim for reimbursement, unless they have been specifically included as a service charge. It is essential that this be adhered to in order to comply with Inland Revenue regulations.

6.15 Unreasonable Expenses 

Sport Wales may refuse to reimburse unreasonable expenses at its absolute discretion.

7. Reimbursement of Professional Fees Policy

Last review: September 2024
Next review: September 2026

The reimbursement of professional fees is a scheme introduced to highlight Sport Wales’ commitment to the development of its staff and of the provision of a professional service for its customers and partners.

7.1 Criteria 

Sport Wales will reimburse you the professional fees you pay where a particular qualification or membership is detailed as an essential requirement of your role, i.e. stated as essential within the person specification or job advert.

7.2 Value of Reimbursement 

Where membership of a professional body is deemed to be essential for you to carry out your duties, you will be entitled to be reimbursed for the full amount of the subscription upon receipt of proof of membership payment.

Please note, that only one membership will be supported, unless there is a legislative requirement that a membership is held alongside a professional qualification, as is the case with the Health Care Profession Council.

7.3 Reviewing Roles 

Managers may wish to review the requirements of the roles within their departments where there is deemed to be an essential requirement for a professional qualification or membership, but this was not asked for previously.

Where changes are made to the job description and person specification full consultation should take place with HR and approval sought from the relevant Director.

7.4 Courses 

Membership will be paid by Sport Wales if you are undertaking any course required and sponsored by Sport Wales, where membership is essential in order for you to undertake the course (for example, courses in marketing, finance, information and communication technology, human resources). 

If you choose to retain their membership following completion of the course, applications for the reimbursement of professional fees will be considered in line with the criteria of this policy.

7.5 Applying for Reimbursement 

Applications should be submitted on the ‘Reimbursement of Professional Fees’ application form and together with a completed expenses form, receipt and a copy of the person specification or job advert for the role* showing the requirement, forwarded to the line manager who should sign the application.

The completed application should be signed off by the line manager and approved by any one of HR/OD Advisor, HR/OD Manager or Head of Corporate Performance.

HR will then make arrangement with Finance for payment via the normal expenses process.

Please note that all fees will be payable from the departmental budget and this should be noted on the expenses form.

* Where no person specification or job advert is available, evidence will be required to show that, for regulatory or professional purposes, the membership is essential to the role.