{{org_field_logo}}

{{org_field_name}}

Registration Number: {{org_field_registration_no}}

---

Supervision, Appraisal and Reflective Practice Policy

1. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide a framework for the supervision, appraisal and reflective practice arrangements operated by {{org_field_name}} for temporary workers and other staff employed or engaged by the agency.

{{org_field_name}} operates as an employment business supplying temporary workers to hirers. It does not itself provide or carry on a regulated health or adult social care activity and this policy does not therefore treat {{org_field_name}} as a registered provider for the purposes of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 or the Care Quality Commission Fundamental Standards.

The agency will manage supervision, appraisal and reflective practice in a manner consistent with its applicable legal obligations, including the Employment Agencies Act 1973, the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, the Equality Act 2010 and applicable data protection legislation.

Where a worker is required by law or by a professional body to hold particular qualifications, professional registration or authorisation, {{org_field_name}} will comply with its applicable obligations to establish and record the worker’s suitability for the assignment. Where workers are supplied to work with vulnerable persons, the additional requirements applying under the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 will also be followed.

Registered nurses, nursing associates and other regulated professionals remain responsible for complying with the standards and requirements of their own professional regulator, including the Nursing and Midwifery Council where applicable. Agency supervision and appraisal may support those professional obligations but do not replace any clinical or professional supervision, competency assessment or other oversight that a hirer or registered service provider is required to provide in connection with the regulated activity carried on by that organisation.

2. Scope

This policy applies to:

• All temporary staff employed or supplied by {{org_field_name}} including registered nurses, healthcare assistants, and other care staff working under zero-hours or flexible arrangements.
• Directors and office-based staff responsible for implementing and overseeing supervision and appraisal.
• All supervision, appraisal, and reflective practice activity carried out by {{org_field_name}} as part of the agency’s commitment to professional development, clinical governance, and regulatory compliance.

3. Related Policies

• Staff Support and Wellbeing Policy
• Training and Development Policy
• Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy
• Safeguarding Adults Policy
• Whistleblowing Policy
• Disciplinary Policy
• Code of Conduct

4. Policy Statement

{{org_field_name}} is committed to:

• providing appropriate supervision, appraisal and opportunities for reflective practice to staff employed or engaged by the agency;
• using supervision and appraisal to support worker competence, conduct, professional development, wellbeing and suitability for assignments;
• identifying and responding appropriately to concerns relating to a worker’s competence, conduct, health and safety, safeguarding responsibilities or professional registration;
• supporting workers to reflect upon their practice and to identify learning and development needs;
• complying with the agency’s responsibilities under applicable employment, recruitment, equality and data protection legislation;
• supporting registered professionals to meet relevant professional standards while recognising that responsibility for professional registration and revalidation remains with the individual registrant; and
• working appropriately with hirers where information arising from supervision or appraisal affects a worker’s suitability for an assignment or gives rise to a safeguarding, health and safety, professional or legal concern.

Supervision or appraisal undertaken by {{org_field_name}} does not replace clinical or professional supervision, competency assessment, induction or operational management that must be provided by a hirer or registered service provider in connection with the work carried out at the placement.

5. Definitions

Supervision is a formal process of regular, planned, and supportive discussions between staff and a supervisor (in this case, usually a director or senior member of the agency) to review performance, address challenges, and plan professional development.

Appraisal is an annual formal review of performance, achievements, learning needs, and goals for the future.

Reflective Practice is the process by which staff review and learn from their experiences to develop their skills, knowledge, and practice.

6. Responsibilities

Directors

The directors of {{org_field_name}} are responsible for:

• Establishing and maintaining a system of supervision, appraisal, and reflective practice.
• Acting as supervisors for all agency staff or delegating this role appropriately.
• Ensuring that staff are provided with induction, supervision, appraisal, and access to reflective practice.
• Providing constructive feedback to support staff development.
• Identifying training needs through supervision and appraisal and ensuring appropriate learning opportunities are provided.
• Maintaining accurate records of supervision and appraisal.

Temporary Workers and Agency Staff

All staff are responsible for:

• Engaging actively with supervision, appraisal, and reflective practice.
• Preparing for supervision and appraisal meetings, including reflecting on their own performance.
• Being open and honest about challenges and development needs.
• Using supervision to seek advice, support, and guidance on professional issues.
• Implementing learning identified during supervision and reflective practice into daily practice.

7. Supervision

Supervision will be provided to all agency staff through:

• Planned supervision meetings with a director or designated supervisor.
• Supervision at least annually as a minimum, but more frequently for new staff, those returning after a break, or where issues are identified.
• Supervision sessions that may be individual or in small groups where appropriate, depending on the needs of the staff member.

Topics to be covered during supervision will include:

• Review of recent work and placements.
• Reflection on practice, including successes and challenges.
• Review of adherence to agency and client policies, codes of conduct, and regulatory requirements.
• Discussion of wellbeing and support needs.
• Identification of learning needs and training requirements.
• Career and personal development planning.

Records of supervision sessions will be documented, signed by both parties, and retained securely by {{org_field_name}}.

8. Appraisal

All staff will receive an annual appraisal, which will:

• Review performance across the past year.
• Assess whether objectives from previous appraisals and supervisions have been achieved.
• Identify learning and development needs.
• Set objectives for the following year.
• Provide an opportunity for staff to give feedback on the agency’s support, placements, and development opportunities.
• Be documented, signed, and retained securely.

Agency workers will be offered appraisal even if they are on zero-hours or ad-hoc arrangements. Participation is strongly encouraged to support professional development and maintain placement opportunities.

9. Reflective Practice

{{org_field_name}} encourages staff to engage in reflective practice as part of continuing professional development and learning from their work and assignments.

Reflective practice may include:

• reflecting on experiences during supervision and appraisal discussions;
• considering what went well, what could have been improved and what learning should be applied in future practice;
• reflecting upon feedback, incidents, complaints, safeguarding concerns or other relevant experiences;
• using an appropriate structured reflective model where this assists learning and development; and
• keeping reflective notes where appropriate, provided confidentiality, data protection and professional requirements are observed.

Workers must not include unnecessary personal information or information capable of identifying patients, service users, colleagues or other individuals in reflective records. Information obtained during an assignment must continue to be handled in accordance with applicable confidentiality, data protection and professional obligations.

For nurses, nursing associates and other professionals registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, reflective activity undertaken under this policy may contribute towards professional development but does not, by itself, constitute completion of the NMC revalidation requirements. Each registrant remains responsible for completing the reflective accounts, reflective discussion and other requirements prescribed by the NMC for revalidation.

Where an NMC reflective discussion is undertaken for revalidation purposes, it must be carried out in accordance with the NMC’s current requirements, including the requirement for the reflective discussion partner to be an NMC-registered nurse, midwife or nursing associate.

Directors and supervisors will support reflective practice by encouraging appropriate learning from work-related experiences and by identifying any action, training or development arising from reflection.

10. Confidentiality

Information discussed or recorded during supervision, appraisal and reflective practice will be handled confidentially and in accordance with applicable data protection legislation, including the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

Personal information will only be collected, used, retained or disclosed where there is an appropriate lawful basis and where the processing is necessary and proportionate for the relevant purpose. Where special category personal data is processed, an applicable condition for that processing will also be identified where required by law.

Access to supervision, appraisal and reflective practice records will be restricted to persons who require access for a legitimate and lawful purpose.

Confidentiality is not absolute. Information may be disclosed where it is necessary and lawful to do so, including:

• to protect the health or safety of the worker or another person;
• to address a safeguarding concern;
• to investigate or manage concerns about competence, conduct or suitability for an assignment;
• to meet a legal or regulatory obligation;
• to respond to a lawful request from the Fair Work Agency, a court, law enforcement body, professional regulator or other competent authority;
• to make a referral to a professional regulator or safeguarding authority where the relevant legal or professional threshold is met; or
• where disclosure is otherwise required or permitted by law.

Where disclosure is necessary, {{org_field_name}} will disclose only information that is relevant and proportionate to the purpose of the disclosure and will maintain appropriate records of the decision where required.

11. Managing Poor Performance

Where supervision or appraisal identifies concerns about a staff member’s competence or conduct: The issue will be discussed openly with the staff member. An action plan will be agreed upon, including training, mentoring, or increased supervision if appropriate. Where necessary, formal processes such as capability, disciplinary, or safeguarding procedures will be followed in line with {{org_field_name}} policies. Directors will monitor progress and provide ongoing support.

12. Equality and Diversity

{{org_field_name}} is committed to ensuring that supervision and appraisal are conducted fairly and without discrimination. All staff will be treated with dignity and respect. Reasonable adjustments will be made to supervision and appraisal arrangements for staff with additional needs.

13. Training and Support

All supervisors will receive training on:

• Effective supervision and appraisal skills.
• Reflective practice facilitation.
• Handling concerns identified during supervision or appraisal.

All staff will be provided with information and guidance on: The purpose and benefits of supervision, appraisal, and reflective practice. How to prepare for supervision and appraisal.

14. Record Keeping

{{org_field_name}} will maintain accurate and appropriate records of supervision and appraisal and will process those records in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.

Supervision, appraisal and reflective practice records will:

• be stored securely with access restricted to authorised persons;
• contain only information that is relevant and necessary for the purpose for which the record is maintained;
• be retained for no longer than is necessary for the applicable employment, contractual, safeguarding, professional, legal or regulatory purpose, subject to any statutory minimum retention period that applies; and
• be securely deleted or destroyed when there is no longer a lawful or necessary reason to retain them.

Where information contained in, or associated with, a supervision or appraisal record also forms part of a record that {{org_field_name}} is required to maintain under the Employment Agencies Act 1973 or the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, the applicable statutory retention requirements will be observed.

In particular, records required under regulation 29 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 will be retained for at least the minimum period required by those Regulations. Records relating to applications from work-seekers and hirers will be retained for at least one year after {{org_field_name}} last provided work-finding services to the relevant work-seeker or hirer, as applicable.

Records will be maintained in a form that enables {{org_field_name}} to comply with any lawful inspection or information requirement. Where records are lawfully requested by the Fair Work Agency or another competent authority, {{org_field_name}} will provide the records within the applicable statutory period and subject to applicable data protection requirements.

15. Monitoring and Quality Assurance

The directors of {{org_field_name}} will:

• monitor the implementation of supervision, appraisal and reflective practice arrangements;
• review supervision and appraisal records where this is necessary, proportionate and lawful for management, compliance or quality assurance purposes;
• ensure that access to records for monitoring or quality assurance purposes is limited to authorised persons and is carried out in accordance with applicable data protection requirements;
• review the effectiveness of this policy at least annually and sooner where relevant legislation, regulatory requirements or professional standards change; and
• consider feedback from staff about the supervision and appraisal process in order to identify appropriate improvements.

16. Continuous Improvement

{{org_field_name}} will use feedback from supervision, appraisal, complaints, incidents, and staff surveys to: Improve supervision and appraisal processes. Enhance training and development opportunities. Support the wellbeing and professional development of all staff.

17. Policy Review

This policy will be reviewed annually by the directors of {{org_field_name}} or sooner if:

Issues are identified through audits, complaints, or incidents.

Changes in legislation or regulatory guidance occur.

Feedback from staff or clients suggests a need for revision.

---

Responsible Person: {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}}
Reviewed on: {{last_update_date}}
Next Review Date: {{next_review_date}}
Copyright © {{current_year}} – {{org_field_name}}. All rights reserved.