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Caerphilly County Borough Council is changing the way council staff work from home, the amount of annual leave days they receive, and how they claim travel expenses.

Four policy changes were approved by the council’s cabinet on Wednesday, December 14, but trade unions have raised concerns.

Lianne Dallimore, from the Caerphilly branch of the public services union UNISON, has called for the agile working policy to include a home working payment.

At a policy and resources scrutiny committee meeting on Monday, December 12, Ms Dallimore said: “We are in a cost-of-living crisis and there are costs with working from home.”

She added: “We know there are lots of staff at home, cold.” Ms Dallimore previously called for financial support for those working from home in January this year.

Lynne Donovan, head of peoples services, said working from home is not enforced by the council and staff could change their mind.

The flexi scheme policy also raised concerns for Ms Dallimore. The scheme states that managers must be able to ‘ensure that they know where the employee is and what they are doing’. Ms Dallimore described this part of the policy as “overkill”.

Richard Edmunds, director for education and corporate services, said the policy was for managers to ensure their staff were following health and safety precautions.

The flexi scheme is changing so that employees can log work hours anytime of the day, seven days a week. Previously, it was between 7am and 7pm, Monday to Friday.

A change in working hours would have to be agreed by the member of staff and the manager.

Cllr Brenda Miles, who represents Nelson, questioned why an employee who was leaving the job wouldn’t be paid for the left over flexi hours they had worked.

Cllr Miles said: “If there’s a legitimate reason that a person has accrued the hours, with management approval, they should be paid.”

Mr Edmunds said this was a “very specific” situation that could be worked through.

As part of the changes, every council employee is to receive six additional annual leave days. The report states: “The proposal to increase leave is to assist recruitment and retention as the council is not as competitive as other local authorities with its current annual leave offer.”

The extra annual leave is estimated to cost the council a total of £2.459 million.

There are also changes to the mileage scheme, which means employees working from home will claim travel expenses from home to their destination, and those flexible or based in the office can claim from a designated council building to their destination.

At the cabinet meeting, council leader Sean Morgan said: “This is a 21st century policy, there’s an element of mutual trust between management and workers.”