CGL is going through a process in which the services your employer currently provides, in future, are going to be provided by Via.

This process is regulated by the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment Regulations) 2006 (known as TUPE) which means that we have certain obligations towards you.

Because you currently carry out work that will be taken over by Via, your employment will be transferred to us. You’ll no longer be employed by your current employer; you’ll become an employee of Via. We recognise that this may be a confusing and unsettling time for you and so we hope to answer some of your initial questions here.

The transfer will take place on 1 April 2024.

In most circumstances, the regulations prevent us from changing any of your contractual terms and conditions so your pay will stay the same. Via’s pay date is the 25th of each month (except in December where we pay earlier) and we pay 3 weeks in arrears and 1 week in advance. When you transfer to Via although your pay will remain the same, the pay date will change to Via’s pay date. Except for contractual pay increases, after the transfer you will receive Via’s pay reviews and pay reviews negotiated by a previous employer after the transfer date won’t apply.

As with your pay, any other contractual terms and conditions will normally stay the same, for example, your hours of work and annual leave entitlement. However, it may be the case that non-contractual terms will need to be reviewed because it may be impossible for Via to continue with them. We’re in close contact with your current employer about your terms and conditions and questions around these will be addressed in the consultation period.

We’ll endeavour to keep your terms and conditions the same, but it may be that your pension contributions are affected. If this is the case, the changes will be fully explained to you and we’ll always adhere to legal requirements.

No, you’ll carry your continuous service with you. Essentially, for these purposes, Via is stepping into the shoes of your current employer.

Following the Engagement Event, a number of meetings are going to take place before the transfer – this will be the consultation period, which will commence in the New Year. Because a large number of employees are transferring, we will conduct group consultation through employee representatives that have been elected by you to consult with us on your behalf. Where a recognition agreement exists, the consultation will also include representatives from the trade union.

The consultation period gives us the opportunity to keep you informed on what is happening and when, and any changes that will occur as a result of the transfer. We’d also like you to use this opportunity to put any questions you have to us through your representative where applicable. Where we can’t answer the questions straight away, we’ll ensure they are answered as soon as possible after the meeting.

In addition to the group consultation, we will be offering individual 1-2-1 consultations and you’ll be able to book your meeting on our microsite, at a date and time convenient for you.

Sometimes a transfer will involve a change in workplace. Where this occurs, we’ll inform you of this at the earliest possible opportunity, although in the main, we intend to keep existing sites.

Hopefully you’ll view the transfer as a positive one for both you and Via. However, if you’ve got any specific objections to the transfer then you’ll be able to raise this during the consultation process.

The Gloucestershire staff structure was shared with you at the Group Consultation meeting on 10 January 2024.

The Gloucestershire staff structure was shared with you at the Group Consultation meeting on 10 January 2024.

Yes, Via produces electronic prescriptions.

Where necessary, yes prescribers can generate their own prescriptions where the required technology is available such as prescription printer.

We’re a learning organisation and vacant roles are advertised internally and externally. In the interests of developing our staff, we recruit from within when it’s the right thing to do. We all have an annual appraisal with our line manager, where self-development and continuous professional development are discussed and potential opportunities.

The Gloucestershire staff structure was shared with you at the Group Consultation meeting on 10 January 2024.

Yes, Buvidal will be a treatment option for people who use the service.

We’ll provide clinical cover to ensure ongoing safe prescribing for service users as part of the transfer of the service including for any script re-starts following the bank holiday weekend, which will be held at Gloucester Hub.

CGL and Via clinical teams are working closely together to plan out both interim (to allow for the induction phase of the transfer) and longer term arrangements for coverage across the county.

The Gloucestershire staff structure was shared at the Group Consultation meeting on 10 January 2024.

As you’d expect, there is a new staff structure, some of which may reflect the existing structure, some of which may be new. There are new Via job descriptions, and these are available on this transfer site. We encourage you to look at these in advance of your 1-2-1 and we’ll discuss the work you currently undertake with you.

Not if your current role job matches with a Via role. Via job descriptions will be provided on this transfer site and we’ll discuss your current role with you at your 1-2-1 which will help to inform the job matching process.

Not all transfers involve redundancies. While we do not envisage a redundancy situation arising, and have no specific plans for making redundancies, we can’t confirm until we’re in receipt of all Employee Liability Information requested.

Your terms and conditions of employment automatically transfer to Via, but we understand you may be feeling anxious. The staff structure was shared at the Group Meeting on 10 January 2024, and we can further discuss your specific concerns at the 1-2-1s. We’ll write to you in advance of the transfer date to confirm Via as your new employer from 1 April 2024, and where there is a clear, and ideally agreed job match, we’ll confirm this too.

Information provided by your current employer and the consultations will inform the population of the staff structure and help to identify any potential vacancies. Where vacancies exist, we’ll recruit to them.

We’ll job match you where appropriate. After the transfer, we’ll discuss your career pathway with you, to better understand how you want to develop, and yes, there are opportunities to change roles at Via.

We’re a learning organisation and vacant roles are advertised internally and externally. In the interests of developing our staff, we recruit from within when it’s the right thing to do. We all have an annual appraisal with our line manager, where self-development and continuous professional development are discussed and potential opportunities, including secondments, can are identified.

There are opportunities for career progression and continuous professional development for all Via employees.

Via pay day is the 25th of the month or the nearest Friday if the 25th falls on a weekend or public holiday. Our December pay date is usually brought forward to allow for Christmas. Employees will receive their first pay from Via on 25 April 2024.

Employees who are already in a pension scheme will transfer to Via’s scheme and employer contributions will be matched up to a maximum of 3% and employees will continue to pay their current employee contribution, although may pay in more if they wish to. The total contribution rate (employer and employee combined) must be a minimum of 8%.

Yes, all employees have the legal right to request flexible working – not just parents and carers, although to be eligible you must have at least 26 weeks service. We have a Flexible Working Policy and both formal and informal flexible working arrangements.

All sorts! We have part time working, working shorter hours each day or fewer days in the week; we have job share, where two people share the same job working opposite days and times to each other; we have adjustment to contracted hours, permanently changing the start and finish times of when you are in the office; we have compressed hours, where your weekly working hours are perhaps done in 4 days rather than 5, or over a 9-day fortnight; we have term time working, where you take your holidays in line with school holidays and/or reduce hours to match a school year and we have working from home, where you work some or all of your week from home rather than in the office. It’s about making it work both for you, and for the service.

Your existing contractual benefits, including time off, will transfer. At Via, we have additional time off work benefits, such as Birthday Leave and your Child’s First Day at School Leave. Some benefits are available to all Via employees, some are available to those on Via terms & conditions. Time off to care for dependents is available to all staff and may be paid or unpaid, depending on the circumstances.

We plan to continue to deliver services and satellite provision from the same locations currently in use by this service where possible. That’s to say the Gloucester, Cheltenham, Stroud and Cinderford hubs. Any potential change of base will be discussed at 1-2-1s.

We care about the health and wellbeing of everyone who works with us. We have a Wellbeing Policy and a Welling Strategy Group, as well as various support groups including Mental Health First Aiders, Menopause Allies, and a Men’s Wellbeing Group. We’re interested to hear about the ‘wellbeing hour’ and perhaps you could tell us more about it at your 1-2-1.

Please email people@viaorg.uk with your name, job title and details of the appointment you would like to cancel (date, time and venue).

The OCN Tackling Substance Misuse Level 3 Qualification recently replaced the requirement to complete the NVQ Level 3 Health & Social Care. Completion of both is not required but a qualification specific to substance misuse is.

You’ll be supported post transfer to complete the OCN Tackling Substance Misuse Level 3 Qualification and this will include 1 hour per week paid study time for you to manage and use in a way that suits you best. No financial cost is incurred to you, even if you were to change your hours or leave the service prior to completion.

Completion is expected in 12 months from start to finish. You’ll be informed about start dates post transfer and as part of your induction.

Via staff request their annual leave using our HR system called People Hub (sometimes referred to as CIPHR); requests are then automatically sent to the respective line manager for authorisation. You’ll have access to People Hub within the few days of the transfer. If you have any specific concerns about holidays you have booked and paid for, please raise them at your 1-2-1.

We have both formal flexible working arrangements at Via, and informal. Via’s Flexible Working Policy is available to all Via staff (as are all of our policies). If you wish to submit a formal request post transfer, you should refer to the policy and procedure and we will consider your request, in line with the policy and taking your circumstances into account. If you have immediate concerns, please raise at your 1-2-1 and we’ll be happy to discuss with you.

If your question is a confidential/personal matter, please send any questions to the following email address and we’ll respond directly to you: people@viaorg.uk.

For all other questions please do continue to use this service transfer site.

While we believe we’ve now met with the vast majority of those in scope to transfer, we’re aware that some of you are yet to attend a 1-2-1. If you’ve not attended a 1-2-1 but would like to, please email people@viaorg.uk and we’ll do our best to accommodate.

Once the consultation closes (on 6 March 2024) and if you are in scope to transfer, we’ll write to you to confirm Via (and where already identified, the Nelson Trust) as your new employer from 1 April 2024. We’ll take this opportunity to inform you of your new job title where possible to do so.

We currently await full employee liability information from your current employer but 1-2-1s have proved extremely useful in identifying where a suitable job match exists.

We have no wish to cause any anxiety but we need to follow process.

If you have individual and/or particular concerns, please raise them with your managers, with your representatives or contact people@viaorg.uk. We’ll do our best to support you at this time.

Each area has its own process for managing referrals into residential services which we’ll continue to follow in Gloucestershire. We’ll share our experience of delivering residential services to support any local pathways.

We’ll ensure that interpretation services are available.

You’ll hear more about the different areas of service delivery at the Group Consultation and we’ll also share more details on this transfer site.

We’ll be consulting with staff and people who use the service to understand where there may be a need to increase presence across the county.

We want to ensure continuity of care for the people who use the service throughout the transfer process and will be reviewing caseloads as part of this process.

Apprenticeships will be discussed as part of the 1-2-1 process but wherever possible we’d look to continue apprenticeships.

We’ll be consulting with you and people who use the service about how we can improve access to our services. This will include understanding how we can use satellite sites and any financial barriers relating to travel costs.

There’s a new staff structure, some of which may reflect the existing structure, some of which may be new. There are new Via job descriptions, and these will be available on this transfer site. We encourage you to look at these in advance of your 1-2-1 and we’ll discuss the work you currently undertake with you.

We’re intending to retain the current premises across the county subject to discussions with landlords.

Yes – Via and CGL implementation teams are working together to ensure any useful data and information to ensure continuity of service delivery is transferred over.

The frequency of 1-2-1s would be determined by the individual service users wants, needs and assessed risks – you as practitioners are able to determine this in conjunction with the people you are supporting.

We anticipate with more of you carrying a caseload, that individual caseloads will reduce as they are distributed across a larger team. Therefore, there will be capacity for group work and assessments to be incorporated into this.

We’ll be reviewing the group work provision and how this works for different team members considering caseloads and wider requirements of roles that are working with a specific group of people or within partner agencies.

We’ll be working with you to build on what’s already working well and identifying opportunities for further developing the group work provision.