No regular appraisals, no improvement plans, and in the year I have been there no meetings with my direct manager that I can recall.

Many thanks for the reply. No formal warnings over performance, oral or written, have been given and no action plan has been given pre to the yearly review. My direct manager has complained that a job took too long but that was little more than a complaint, the job was completed to spec. Re stats that would be very difficult as the type of work I do is essentially project work with very rough timings, in fact in the majority of cases there is no visibility, at least from my perspective, to any formal plan, just rough notes. Re the restructure that is a distinct possibility. I am actually looking for a new post, although not for this reason rather I'm looking for a job with less of a commute. Not the best timing...

Hi All I'm due to have my yearly review shortly and I have been pre warned by a senior manager, although not my direct report, that it may not go well and that I may possibly be forced into a demotion and that this may be due to perceived performance problems. Can they legally take this course of action, should they not at least offer some sort of improvement plan? I must state that this is all theory an conjecture at the moment, I've heard nothing from my managers, and why this manager has warned me isn't entirely clear.. Many thanks in advance..

Hi HB Sorry to be a bit obtuse, just being careful. There is nothing in my contract to cover this, the present contract is approx five years old and has not been amended. There has been a rumour that there is a new contract for the last couple of years but, like Billy Bunters Postal Order, it never appears...

Hi All A very short (few weeks ago) my company suddenly impelemented a new ticketing system for our onsite engineers, this we were informed, was to track metrics, (time), on work carried out per customer in order to obtain a charging baseline. Not for tracking engineers time as they were quite happy with the engineers performance, especially as engineers carrying out unapid overtime of between 10 - 15 hrs per week is not uncommon..... All went well for a few weeks until the company very suddenly and without any consultation, implemented timesheets for the engineers, i.e all time per customer is tracked and all engineers must have a total time entry equal to their working week -10%. Hmmm.. The third installment of the story is a sudden global email informing all engineers that any timesheet submitted with less than the total required time of working week -10% may result in monies being withheld for that week. There has been no consultation, no amendments to contracts and as the current contract is at least five years old this cannot apply. Obvious question possibly but is this legal?

Nope, not connected but looks like this is a very common problem...

Many thanks all for the replies. As far as I'm aware there are no clauses in my contract re these offenses, a new contract is pending that may or may not have this included. This requiring a major change to the contract is of some concern as the company do have a record of changing work conditions without warning or even notification, e.g loss of company perks, sudden lowering of mileage allowance etc etc. I was considerning obtaining legal advice when the new contract is received but I think this is essential. My main concern is confidentiality, I do have serious concerns that the results of the check may be shown to a 3rd party without warning or consent. In this case I think I'll take the advice to ring the helpline pronto...

Hi Honeybee Not really relevant, I have a company car as a perk but as the DD was 31 years ago and as I'm well into middle age it has no effect on insurance etc. I work in IT networking consultancy, very very occasionally in schools but purely as a technician and working only with networking equipment, usually after hours or during the various holidays.

Hi All I've recently been asked by my employer if I have any objections to being subect to a CRB check, this is not actually a request on behalf of my employer but rather one of our customers has demanded that all of our staff have a CRB check. No CRB check, no customer. As the client is dealing with fiancial institutions as opposed to schoosl etc my guess is that this will be a standard check. This sounds fishy to me, can a customer demand such a check and if so what are their rights to view the results of the check. Surely this should be subject to strict privacy conditions i.e. a matter for only myself and our HR dept. Regarding the actual data returned from the check I'm only really concerned about a driving ban from 31 years ago. Also about 25 years I got drunk and recieved a telling off from the police with a quick visit to to the cells for a couple of hours then sent home. Don't think I was arrested or even cautioned but can't remember much about the night due to being drunk..... Surely neither of these wil show up?

Went to send the prove it letter today but the PO was closed down:sad: Will be sending tomorrow via registered post. This is the letter body, does this look comprehensive enough? My Address Date Ref Dear Sir/Madam I DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE ANY DEBT TO YOUR COMPANY OR ANY COMPANY YOU MAY REPRESENT You have contacted me regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself. I would point out that I have no knowledge of any such debt being owed in regard to this reference. I am familiar with the CPUTR 2008 and the Office of Fair Trading's Guidance on debt collection, which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question. I would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. AND in not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods. Furthermore ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment. I would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my liability for the debt in question. I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to Trading Standards and also inform the Office Of Fair Trading of your actions. I look forward to your reply. Yours faithfully My Printed Name

Hmmm, the little creep turned up again but was in the garage so didin't hear the doorbell. This time the grubby little note is in red ink!!!! ooherr...

Many thanks for that advice, I'm not expecting him to be stupid enough to try anything but you never know. I've no intention of doing anything other than telling him to go away and call the police. I do get the impression that these chancers rely on intimidating people into thinking that they have more power than they actually have, quite disgusting I think. Btw just about to send of the prove it letter, is it best to send this registered post?

Fully agree. I've printed off the "go away" template letter, this will be sitting ready by the front door ready to hand to the unwelcome caller. As an aside v occasionally the garage door may be open, what if he trys to gain entrance that way, is that essentially trespass of a more serious nature?

I cant be 100% sure it's SB, hence the prove it letter - presume this is the correct order?

Right. The prove it letter and the doorstep letter have been written, just need to post off the former. Prob is I've two addreses for these lot, a red letter that is an address in Cleckheaton but the doorstep visitors card has a Belfast address, which one is correct? Both have the same ref. BTW I cant find the letter but I'm sure they offered to let me pay this off for about £150 sometime last Xmas. I'll have to dig out the letter.