Agenda item - Pay Policy Statement 2013-2014

Extract from the proceedings of the Policy & Resources Committee meeting held on the 21^st March 2013 (to be circulated), together with a report of the Director of Adult Services/Lead Commissioner Adult Social Care & Health (copy attached).

105.1    The Leader of the Council introduced the report and noted that it had been discussed fully at the previous Policy & Resources Committee meeting.  He stated that the policy reflected an open, fair, equal and transparent process and recommended the adoption of the policy to the council.  He also noted that with effect from the 1^st April the Council would be a ‘Living Wage’ employer which would benefit 128 staff and was a welcome step forward.

105.2    Councillor G. Theobald noted that the policy proposed that the Appointments & Remuneration Panel should consider and make recommendations to the Chief Executive in regard to the payment of salaries over £100k, whereas government guidance recommended that it should be the full council that considers such matters.  He suggested that it would not be a transparent process as the Appointments & Remuneration Panel met in closed session and therefore consideration should be given to ensuring that information was in the public domain.  He noted that there had been three recent senior redundancies for which no information had been made public and suggested that the council should set the salary range for senior appointments prior to them being advertised and that all salary and redundancy packages are reported to the council after they have been offered and accepted.

105.3    Councillor Wealls stated that he wished to draw attention to paragraph 6 on page 61 which related to salary progression and suggested that it was not very satisfactory as it did not relate to performance which should be taken into consideration prior to any progression.  He also referred to paragraphs 8 and 9 of the appendix to the report and queried the fair treatment of staff across the authority; as it appeared that both the Chief Executive and Executive Directors were able to have the cost of a professional association fee met by the council, whilst other staff were not.  He had recently been a member of a Personnel Appeals Panel which had received guidance from HR officers that no employees were able to have a professional association fee paid for.  Given that the Panel had then refused the appeal he suggested that this matter should be looked at and either apply to all or no-one.

105.4    The Leader of the Council noted Councillor Theobald’s comments and stated that the matter had been discussed previously at the Leaders Group and again and the Policy & Resources Committee and therefore he was surprised by the change of view.  He stated that other authorities including neighbouring ones had chosen not to adopt the approach listed in the guidance as it was felt better to be able to discuss in full at a cross-party meeting rather than in general at a full council meeting.  The guidance was not binding and other such guidance had been noted but not adhered to without any penalty.  He believed that the Appointments & Remuneration Panel approach was the right one.  In regard to the issue raised by Councillor Wealls concerning professional fees he was happy to look into the matter and consider any changes as necessary.

105.5    The Mayor noted the comments and that there was a slight amendment to policy to refer to the new role of Executive Director and therefore put the recommendation to the vote.

105.6    RESOLVED:

105.7    That the Pay Policy Statement 2013/14 as detailed in appendix A to the report (as amended) be adopted.

Note:   The Conservative Group abstained from voting on the recommendation.