Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Swift. Councillor Okonkowski was in attendance as a substitute.

At this point Members must declare whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest, or other interest, in any of the items on the agenda, unless it is already entered in the register of members’ interests or is a “pending notification “ that has been disclosed to the Solicitor to the Council.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 August 2014 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 September 2014 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 September 2014 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

The minutes of the Employee Appeals Sub-Committee meeting held on 11 September 2014 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

            The Director of Governance presented a report to the Committee to ensure that all roles, which had been newly created as a result of the senior management proposal, had job descriptions that accurately reflected the work undertaken and the standards expected of the post holder.

            The report sought the Committee’s approval for the proposed job description for a newly created post in the Governance Directorate to provide a leaner management tier. The proposed post brings together the Head of Legal Services post, deputy monitoring officer role and the former Head of Governance role to create an Assistant Director for Legal and Democratic Services.

            The key points highlighted by the Director of Governance from the report and in response to questions included:

·           The Governance Directorate was now one year old and was approaching its final structure.

·           The Job Description attached to the report was still going through the HAY Group evaluation process, meaning the pay band of the position was not yet known.

·           It was hoped that interviews for the position would be carried out early in the new year.

·           Currently the more senior posts within the Governance Directorate were filled on an interim basis or by consultants. The proposed new position would be permanent.

·           While succession planning was important and would take place within Governance going forward, at the current time there was no employee with the required skill and experience for the position in question.

·           Regular training and development was being undertaken within Legal Services and Democratic Services.

·           The role was a combination of two former posts and the duties had been merged into a simple Assistant Director post. This had created a saving of approximately £75,000.

The Committee discussed the report and job description. It was established that the newly created position was not expected to receive a pay higher than that of the current Head of Legal Services. The pay band of the position was not yet known, however it was expected to be pay band 5.

It was clarified that prior to any interviews for the position a pay scale would be known. However, details of any successful candidate’s specific pay could not be made public until after the position had been offered and accepted.

In response to a question from a member of the Committee the Director of Governance advised that some of the responsibilities of the Head of Legal Services role had been moved into the remit of the Director of Governance, other responsibilities had been moved to the legal and governance senior roles. The proposed new role would enable a more clear hierarchy to be established within Legal Services and Democratic Services.

A member of the Committee requested that information be provided on the responsibilities of the current head of services roles that had been moved and what responsibilities would be considered extra to each of the current head of services roles. The Director of Governance agreed to circulate this information once confirmation had been received from the HAY Group regarding the pay  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Advisor to Human Resources presented a report to the Committee following a referral from the Council meeting on 16 April 2014, where it was resolved Employment Committee would revisit the senior officer’s salaries in the new municipal year and make recommendations on changes as it saw fit, including reducing senior officers’ pay.

            The key points highlighted by the Advisor to Human Resources from the report and in response to questions included:

·           The HAY Group had assisted the Council in reviewing the senior manager pay scales. The HAY Group were highly respected and had undertaken a second, independent review of the proposal. They were not considered to be biased in any way.

·           In his view, the previous decision of the Employment Committee was a reasonable one.

·           The group data taken into account during the review included only the public sector. If the private sector had been included, this would have distorted the results up 20%.

·           The Committee had decided to approach the pay scale banding using a median level. A 10% differential had also been accepted to establish the width of the salary bands.

·           The use of market supplements was in line with Council policy. Independent data had been sought and was considered relevant and accurate. Market supplements would be reassessed after a two year period. One year of this had already gone by.

·           The legal implications of making any changes to senior management salary were considerable. If, following a reduction in pay, the matter was taken to an employment tribunal to evaluate the fairness of the action, the Council could face a cost payment and compensation payment of up to £76,000.

·           A reduction of 5% across all the positions considered in the review would result in a £44,000 saving. Rehiring for one position would cost approximately £20,000. It was considered that rehiring would not be easy, particularly if the Council was negatively perceived as an employer.

·           It was also considered that a reduction in senior management salary would call into question the morality, motivation and reputation of the Council as an employer, and could see a withdrawal of good will.

·           Senior management salaries had been frozen for a significant length of time. The Chief Executive’s last pay review was in 2004.

·           If the group data used had included only local authority data, and not that of ‘not for profit’ organisations, the resulting numbers would be decreased by 6%. However, as a median level was used within the pay scale banding the subsequent change would be minimal.

·           Voluntary reductions in salary could be requested. These were usually, in the Advisor to Human Resources’ experience, temporary and for short periods of time.

·           The pay review had secured quality, experienced people for the roles in question.

·           Information on the gap between the highest and lowest paid in the Council would be circulated to the Committee members.

The Committee discussed the report and a member of the Committee noted that, if the Chief Executive had received a pay increase of 2% each year  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.