- Section: 3
- Source: Cabinet - 4th March 2010
- Issue Date: 1st July 2010
- Amended: August 2010, February 2012, January 2013, April 2014, May 2016, April 2017, August 2019
Preamble
1. The Council provides car parking at many of its work location however there is generally insufficient car parking space at each of the Council’s offices to provide a car park space for all those employees who would like to have one.
2.The allocation policy applies only to Council premises and their associated employee car parks (including, for example, sport centres and libraries if they have dedicated employee car parks); it does not apply to schools or to the premises of partner organisations. (For the avoidance of doubt, the allocation and charging policy will apply irrespective of any building’s previous use e.g. old school premises now being used as Council offices or as a training centre etc.)
3. Where car parking can be provided it will be offered on the basis of the allocation policy described below. Employees accepting the offer of a car parking space will be required to pay the appropriate charge identified (on a monthly basis).
4. The offer of a car parking space at any of the Council’s premises will be prioritised in the following way.
| Priority A | Disabled employees (for the avoidance of doubt this relates to employees with mobility impairment. The issue of a “Blue Badge” to a employee will be the standard for determining eligibility. If necessary a referral to the Council’s Occupational Health provider will be made to determine eligibility). Employees will be allocated a space as near to the building entrance as possible. |
| Priority B |
Employees with contractual working hours or a pattern of working that restricts their access to public transport. (For the avoidance of doubt this relates to employees contractually required to start work before 7am or finish work after 10:30pm on a regular basis, i.e. daily or on an alternating shift pattern where at least 50% of the start or finishing times meets the above standard.) |
| Priority C | Employees designated as critical car users. A critical car user is an employee who is required to use their car as part of their role on an daily/regular basis. |
| Priority D | Employees designated as non-critical car users. A non-critical car user is an employee who is required to use their car as part of their role on an occasional basis. |
| Priority E | Employees who are not required to use their car as part of their role. |
5. The above prioritisation will be undertaken on a building by building basis. In every case employees in priorities A & B will be offered a space in the car park nearest to the building they work in.
6. If there is then sufficient capacity, employees in Priority C will be offered a space in the car park nearest the building they work in. Should that car park be full they will be offered a space at the next nearest car park and so on.
In considering the “order” of allocations within Priority C, weighting will be given to:
- Any agreed space sharing arrangements within teams (e.g., a team of 6 is allocated 4 designated spaces and they manage their own attendance to ensure that no more than 4 employees are in the office at any time). Those employees wishing to share car park spaces must identify which employees are to be charged and make their own arrangement to share the overall costs between themselves.
- Pay grade (if necessary SCP).
7. If capacity still remains, employees in Priority D will be offered a space in the car park nearest the building they work in. Should that car park be full they will be offered a space at the next nearest car park and so on. In considering the “order” of allocations within Priority D weighting will be given to:
- Any agreed space sharing arrangements within teams (e.g., a team of 6 is allocated 4 designated spaces and they manage their own attendance to ensure that no more than 4 employees are in the office at any time). Those employees wishing to share car park spaces must identify which employees are to be charged and make their own arrangement to share the overall costs between themselves.
- Pay grade (if necessary SCP).
8. If an employee leaves the employment of the Council, or should they decide to relinquish their allocated car park space at the end of the agreed term (i.e. at the end of the tax year), their car park pass/key/card/badge must be returned and the vacant space will then be allocated in accordance with the above policy. Car park spaces do not “belong” to departments nor are they transferable between staff.
9. Motorcycles – spaces will be allocated in accordance with the above policy.
10. A waiting list will be held for employees wishing to be offered a car park space.
11. The annual charge is £240 (charged at £20 per month). All employees will be charged the same standard charge via monthly deductions from salary.
12. The charging rate will be reviewed annually with any change to be effective from the 1st April.
13. Employees will only pay one car parking charge irrespective of the number of bases/offices they are required to work from or visit. The charge will be pro-rata for any job share and part time employees allocated a car parking space. The pro-rata element is based on the contracted hours per week and will be levied in 20% increments as shown below.
| Contracted Hours per Week | Gross Deduction per Month |
| 0 - 7.29 | £4 |
| 7.3 - 14.49 | £8 |
| 14.5 - 21.69 | £12 |
| 21.7 - 28.89 | £16 |
| 28.9 - 36 and over | £20 |
14. Any individual arrangements for working compressed weeks or working from home will not be considered as part of this scheme.
15. It is the employee's responsibility to advise the Property and Facilities Team of any change in working hours that may result in their monthly charges either increasiong or decreasing. The Council may backdate any increase to the date that the change became effective.
Corporate Travel Pass Scheme
16. The Council has implemented a Corporate Travel Scheme in agreement with Merseyrail and Merseytravel that allows employees (subject to eligibility criteria) to purchase an annual travel pass with an interest free loan granted by the Council. Should you wish to take advantage of this scheme as an alternative to using your car, you must provide adequate notice to end your car parking arrangement.
Car Parking in Southport
17. It is accepted that there are particular problems with parking in Southport due to the shortage of employee car parking availability. Departments must not pay for employees to park in commercial car parks.
18. Where employee car parking spaces are identified near the town centre they will be allocated in accordance with the above policy. Generally, employee car parking within Southport will be identified at the Esplanade Park & Ride however if/where car parking spaces are identified closer to the Town Hall then within Priority C further weighting for the allocation of those spaces will be given to employees regularly having to transport equipment or significant volumes of documentation between sites
19. All employees visiting Southport from bases elsewhere in the Borough will be able to park at the Esplanade Park & Ride for no charge – on display of their Sefton Car Parking sticker. The payment of other car parking charges for visits to Southport (e.g. on street parking or at commercial car parks) will not be reimbursed.
20. A loading bay is provided at Southport Town Hall to facilitate employees transporting equipment or documents to and from other places of work. The use of the loading bay will be limited to no longer than 30 minutes at any one time.
Exceptions
21. It is recognised that there may occasionally be exceptional circumstances in relation to either the provision of a car parking space or the levying of a charge for that space that may fall outside the general remit of this policy. In such exceptional circumstances a request to address either allocation or charging issues outside the policy will be considered at a joint management and Trade Union panel. Each case will be considered on its individual merits but it is not expected that with will become the norm nor will this process be used as an “Appeals” process for issues that are clearly addressed within the policy.
Partner Agencies
22. Wherever contractually permissible the same car park charging arrangements will be applied to Partner Agencies occupying Sefton Council employee car parks. The appropriate charges will be required from the Partner Agency itself and it will their own internal choice on whether they wish to transfer the charge to their employees and on what basis such charges should be levied. Wherever possible Sefton MBC will seek to maximise the car parking available for its own employees.
Maternity/Adoption Leave/Shared Parental Leave
23. Where an employee has been allocated a car park space and subsequently commences a period of maternity/adoption/shared parental leave, the employee will not be charged for the car park space during that absence. However, the space will be reallocated during the absence and whilst the employee will be allocated a replacement space on return to work, its location cannot be guaranteed. If an employee should have any mobility problems during their pregnancy, every effort will be made to accommodate the employee's requirements by relocating their already allocated car park space from one place to another.
Short Term Issues
24. Where short term issues occur, e.g. mobility problems stemming from accidents, injury or operation every effort will be made to accommodate the employee's requirements by either relocating their already allocated car park space from one place to another, or to provide a temporary car park space to facilitate their attendance at work. (In the latter case this space will be charged for in the normal way)
Long Term Sickness
25. Deductions from salary for each long term sickness case will be suspended after 8 weeks of continuous absence and reinstated upon return to work. This means that the employee will not be charged for the car park space during that absence. However, the space during that absence will be reallocated and whilst the employee will be allocated a replacement space on their return to work, its location cannot be guaranteed.
26. The Property and Facilities Team must be notified immediately if an employee has been absent for 8 weeks as refunds of contributions will not be backdated.
Staff Relocations
27. Where a minor relocation of employees takes place, e.g. moving from one office to another nearby office, then it may not be necessary to change any existing car parking arrangements. However, if there is the opportunity to rationalise car parking between buildings (e.g. with staff also moving the other way, or spaces becoming available due to employees leaving) then this rationalisation would normally be expected and priority would be given to the “incoming” employees in accordance with the allocation policy.
28. Should a major relocation of employees take place then it will be necessary to reflect this change in accordance with the car park allocation policy. In some cases this may mean employees having to move their car park space to another (nearby) location or in the worst case it may mean that employees in a lower priority losing their car park space altogether until additional spaces become available. Clearly, if employees lose their car park space charging will cease.
Car Park Passes
29. All designated staff car park users will be issued with an appropriate car park pass, key, swipe card or badge, which will remain the property of Sefton MBC and must be returned to the Council should the employee leave or relinquish their allocated car park space in line with one of the life events. If an employee should lose their car parking pass/key/swipe card they will be charged £5 for a replacement. Employees will not be allowed into their allocated car park if they do not have an up to date car parking pass/key/swipe card. REplacements can be obtained from the Property and Facilities Management Team.
30. Car park permits are issued for the personal use of the named employee only and are not transferable to any third party. Permits may be used by the employee in respect of any vehicle driven by him/her.
Unlined Car Parks
31. Not all car parks are paved and lined out for individual use. In these cases the number of employees allocated a space in the car park will be based on a level of capacity calculated by employees parking “reasonably” close together.
Loss or Damage
32. Vehicles and their content are left in the car parks at the owners own risk. The Council does not accept responsibility for any loss or damage to vehicles and their content.
Misconduct
33. Systematic misuse of the Council’s staff car parking arrangements will be subject to disciplinary action. Dependant on the nature and extent of the misuse this disciplinary action could be either Misconduct or Gross Misconduct.
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