Press release

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Moray Council slips on the ICE Regulations again

Moray Council has again fallen foul of the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations.

In a December 2005 ruling, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) decided Moray’s voluntary consultation arrangements with trade unions did not meet the legal requirements for “pre-existing agreements” and ordered it to negotiate new arrangements.

But in a second judgment earlier this month, the CAC ruled that Moray had not followed the correct procedure for drawing up the new arrangements. As a result, Moray will now be subject to the “fallback” consultation obligations in the Regulations. The CAC has ordered it to hold a ballot to elect employee representatives. Moray Council will also be liable to a fine of up to £75,000.

Commenting on the decision, Philip Sack, Director of Policy at employee consultation specialists ESG said:

“You would have thought that having slipped up once, Moray Council would have taken more care this time. They made some pretty elementary mistakes that could cost them dear – not just in terms of a possible fine, but also the consultation straightjacket they now find themselves in being subject to the fallback rules in the Regulations.

“Out of 5 cases where the CAC has had to take a decision under the ICE Regulations, 4 have gone against the employer, usually because they didn’t follow the fairly straightforward provisions in the legislation.

“With the Regulations about to be extended to cover all businesses with 50 or more employees from April this year, employers would do well to make sure they know their obligations.”