It may be, provided that:
- it fulfils certain basic legal requirements, and
- your employees are happy with it.
The basic requirements are that the agreement must:
- cover all employees, though there may be different arrangements for different parts of the undertaking;
- establish the ways in which you as employer are going to inform employees, and how their views will be fed back to you;
- be in writing, and dated;
- be signed by you, or on your behalf; and
- be explicitly approved by your employees - either directly (for example, by the signatures of a majority, or by a majority vote in a ballot), or indirectly (for example, by the signatures of a majority of the individuals selected by employees to represent them in information and consultation negotiations).
If your existing arrangements fulfil these requirements, but 10% (or more) of your employees nevertheless come forward with a formal request for new arrangements, you will either have to instigate changes, or ballot your whole workforce to find out whether they agree with the need for a change, or are happy with the existing arrangements (see question seven) in that case. If the ballot indicates support for change and you don't start negotiations (or do but fail to agree), a set of 'standard procedures' will apply, determining what you must inform and consult about, and how you do it (see question 16).
