Issue - meetings

Mrs Bal Sandher, Head of HR Shared Services, introduced her report setting out the Pay Policy Statement 2018.  It was noted that:

·  The Pay Policy Statement had been produced in line with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 and the Code of Recommended Practice for Local Authorities on Data Transparency 2014.

·  There was a requirement to update the Pay Policy Statement on an annual basis and the Statement had to be agreed by full Council and published on the Council’s website by 31 March 2018.

Mrs Sandher highlighted the main changes that had been made to the document approved by the Council last year as follows:

·  Section 3.4 – Pay Protection and Redundancy Payments

Inclusion of reference to the Government’s proposal to introduce legislation that would cap exit payments at £95k on the total value of the payment for public sector workers and introduce a statutory requirement to recover exit payments made to workers whose minimum salary was £80k at the point of leaving employment and returning to work with another public sector employer within a 12 month period.  Council policies would be amended to incorporate these requirements once they had been finalised by Government.

·  Sections 3.5 (Other Payments), 3.6 (Special Fees and Arrangements) and 3.7 (Other Employee Benefits) had all been updated to reflect the current situation.

·  Section 4 (Monitoring)

An explanation was provided for the main difference in the Chief Executive’s taxable pay during 2017/18; this being the payment of £13,536 for her role as Returning Officer at the General and Local elections and the progression of one incremental point on the salary scales.

·  Section 5 - Trade Union Facility Time

Reference was made to the Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017 which required public sector employers to publish specified information relating to facility time provided by trade union officials.

Mrs Sandher also confirmed that before the Pay Policy Statement was published on the Council’s website, the information would be updated to include the actual pay figures for the year ending 31 March 2018.

In response to questions, the Officers confirmed that:

·  Gender pay reporting legislation required the Council to publish gender pay gap data annually.  The information had to be published on the Council’s website and a Government website.

·  Career grades offered the opportunity of a path of progression which could involve seeking a professional qualification.  Progression through the grade was assessed annually against agreed competencies and performance standards for the position.  Objectives were set to stretch and develop employees to maximise their potential.

During the discussion reference was made to the need to correct a typographical error in the third paragraph of Section 3.4 of the Pay Policy Statement and it was suggested and agreed that the first sentence of Section 3 of Appendix 1(B) – High Performance Increments (HPI) – Grades 13-16 be amended as follows:

In addition to the standard incremental progression which is linked to fully meeting performance objectives, there are an additional three incremental points in grades 13  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27