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Home » Publications » Human Resources Policy and Guidance » Personnel Management Manual » Staff movements within the CPS, including retirement, redundancy, promotion and transfer » Chapter 9 - Work experience

Chapter 9 - Work experience

Introduction Principles Procedures
Payment Health and Safety
General Workplace hazards Safety precautions Emergency procedures
Liability and insurance Security

Appendices

  1. Model letter of understanding
    2.
  2. Self-sponsored work experience applications
    3.

    Introduction

  1. This chapter outlines the procedures for setting up work experience schemes for school pupils in the Crown Prosecution Service.

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    Principles

  2. Work experience and other visits by school pupils to work places are increasingly common and their value is widely recognised. The aim of having work experience schemes in the Crown Prosecution Service is to foster a better understanding amongst school pupils of the place work fills in adult life and the role the CPS plays in the UK legal system.
  3. The responsibility for setting up work experience schemes lies with their Area Business Managers (ABM)/Personnel Branch 2 (For HQ staff). Any scheme must follow the principles and procedures set out in this chapter and must also be agreed at Area/HQ Whitley Council.
  4. Work experience is governed by the Education (Work Experience) Act 1973 which suggests that pupils will normally be aged 15 or above at the time of their attachment. Whilst there is no longer any age limit on the associated workplace activities they must not involve any significant element of work experience if the pupils are aged under 15.
  5. The various types of workplace activity are as follows:

    • work experience - in which a pupil carries out particular jobs more or less as would a regular employee (though with the emphasis on the educational aspects of the experience);
    • work shadowing - in which a pupil is assigned to "shadow" existing employees going about their normal tasks (allowing close observation of jobs which, for example, for reasons of complexity or age cannot be done by the pupil);
    • work based projects - in which individuals or groups of pupils carry out projects on the Department's premises;
    • work observation and workplace visits - are also appropriate in certain circumstances, such as attendance at court. However, in so far as most CPS work is paper driven, these may not always be very beneficial to school pupils who seek an insight into office procedures.
  6. The operation of work experience schemes will be based at all times on current legislation and CPS policy and practice in relation to equal opportunities.

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    Procedures

  7. When setting up schemes it is generally advisable for the ABM/Personnel 2 for HQ staff to act through the relevant Local Education Authority (LEA) which will liaise between the Department and local schools to ensure that placements are arranged according to location and availability.
  8. As pupils up to the age of 16 must engage in full-time education schools arranging workplace activities with the CPS must ensure that any work experience makes a direct contribution to pupil's education and the school's curriculum. Work experience activities are regarded as educationally valuable if they contribute to:

    • pupils' general personal and social development;
    • their learning in specific subjects;
    • their development of economic awareness and enterprise skills;
    • their learning about the world of work.
  9. Before the scheme is set up a teacher or other school representative should visit Area Personnel/Personnel Branch 2 (Recruitment Unit) for HQ staff to discuss the following:

    • the aims of the scheme;
    • matching individual pupils as closely as possible to the openings available;
    • getting an idea of the constraints facing the Department in placing pupils (access to information, supervision etc);
    • checking on practical arrangements and the division of responsibilities;
    • making arrangements for teachers to visit pupils during their placements (including the amount of advance notice that will be required by the Department);
    • considering the availability of CPS staff to participate in the debriefing part of the exercise after the placement has ended.

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    Payment

  10. Pupils under 16 on exercises organised in connection with their school work should not be paid for work done as the activity is part of their education. When they are attending school pupils may be in receipt of assistance in respect of meals and/or transport. It is for the school to consider the arrangements to be made, if any, for transport and/or meals for the period of the placement. The ABM/Personnel Branch 2 (Recruitment Unit) for HQ staff should, therefore, ensure before any placements commence that the school has made adequate arrangements in this regard.

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    Health and Safety

  11. It is essential that proper arrangements are made for briefing, instruction, training and supervision of all work experience placements. Before attachments begin the ABM/Personnel 2 for HQ staff should discuss with the school's representative:

    • the activities which pupils are to engage in, including whether there are any areas which should be prohibited to any, or all, pupils and what steps need to be taken to ensure that pupils do not stray into prohibited areas;
    • whether there are any pupils for whom special arrangements should be made e.g. on medical grounds such as asthma, epilepsy, or disability such as hearing impairment. If special considerations such as these exist, the school must give advice to the Area concerned.
  12. It will be the joint responsibility of the school and the Department to stress to pupils the importance of following safety instructions and generally behaving in a disciplined way while in the workplace.
  13. The following paragraphs list some of the Health and Safety considerations which should be addressed in the pre-placement briefing of pupils:

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    General

    • safety policy - explain the policy and point out any aspects that apply to pupils in particular. Emphasise the pupils' personal responsibilities;
    • safety literature - distribute and explain any relevant safety literature, taking into account the pupils' ages, the length of their stay and their likely exposure to hazards;
    • key safety people - introduce them or give them their names and ensure pupils know where they can be found and what they do;
    • prohibited areas - describe any areas which pupils must not visit for safety reasons and tell them why this is so.

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    Workplace hazards

    • prohibited plant and machinery - explain to pupils that they must never operate any machine without the permission of their supervisor, unless trained to do so. Stress that they must not attempt to repair any machine on their own and that all faults must be reported to their supervisor;
    • manual lifting and carrying - the hazards associated with the lifting and carrying of heavy files and papers are of particular concern to the CPS because of the need to transport files within offices and between offices and courts. All prospective work experience placements should be instructed on the risks involved and provided with an up to date copy of any departmental guidance on lifting and carrying;
    • housekeeping - explain the importance of, for example, keeping drawers and cupboard drawers shut; safe positioning of loose telephone, WP cables etc; safe storage of material; keeping the work area clean and tidy.

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    Safety precautions

    • safe Systems of work - briefly describe any hazards associated with the work the pupils are to do, and explain the importance of safe working practices. Make sure pupils get any necessary further briefing they need before they move on to something new;
    • safety equipment - explain when and why it must be used, where it is kept, and how to use it.

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    Emergency procedures

    • first aid - explain the first aid facilities and advise pupils of the location of notices, names of first aiders etc;
    • accident procedures - explain that all accidents must be reported and that all injuries, no matter how minor, must be entered in the accident book. Explain where the accident book is kept and to whom pupils should report in the event of an accident;
    • fire and incident alarm - explain what pupils should do if they discover a fire. Describe how they will know if the alarm has been raised and explain the procedure for emergency evacuation, including the route to be taken, use of emergency exits, assembly points and reporting procedures.

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    Liability and insurance

  14. Experience to date suggests that serious problems very rarely arise, but in principle the main risks which might arise in connection with a pupil's placement fall into the following categories:

    • injuries to the pupils themselves;
    • injuries to CPS employees;
    • injuries to visitors to Government premises;
    • damage to Government property;
    • damage to or loss of other property.
  15. The school/LEA will ensure that Personal Accident Insurance to cover the pupil against injury caused by accident during the course of work with CPS is arranged.
  16. The CPS, as a Government Department, is not bound by the Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 which obliges all employers to have employer's insurance to cover its employees (including work experience pupil placements) in case of accident or injury. In the case of accident or injury, work experience pupils, like CPS employees, are entitled to claim against the Department, which would in law be liable for such accident or injury if caused by its negligence or the negligence of its employees. In these circumstances the Department would be obliged to settle any claim for damage and would normally seek to do so by an ex-gratia payment.
  17. The CPS is again exempt from the legislation governing employers and public liability insurance, but extends to pupils acting as servants to the Department the protection already afforded to Crown employees under the general principles of Agency Law. The vicarious liability which the Department is deemed to hold for the actions of its employees would, therefore, for the duration of the work experience placement, be extended to the pupil.
  18. The ABM/Personnel 2 for HQ staff should be aware that the forms of liability outlined in paragraph 14 are in respect of injuries or accidents arising at the workplace only. The LEA or school organising the placement will have responsibility for the pupil at all other times, including travel to and from the placement.
  19. LEAs or schools organising work placements will normally seek a letter of understanding from employers to cover the terms and conditions of the placements and to confirm insurance cover. As this is inappropriate for the CPS (mainly because of the insurance exemptions) the specimen letter at Appendix 1 should be used. This letter, which details the respective responsibilities of the Department, pupil and LEA/school during the placement, must be signed by both the CPS and the LEA/school before the placement begins.

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    Security

  20. ABMs/Personnel 1 must ensure that the standard NIS check is completed on work experience pupils before the placement begins. All pupils must also be provided with the basic guide to the Official Secrets Act 1989 and asked to sign the declaration for non-civil servants on being given access to official information. Consideration should also be given to whether the relative youth of work experience pupils may warrant any restriction of their access to particularly sensitive material.

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