Decision details

Living wage, recruitment and retention issues and options to address implications.  This report relates to the work on staff pay undertaken by officers following the South East Employers (SEE) report on benchmarking and other pay issues.  The SEE report shows that for some posts the Council is paying below the average paid by comparable authorities.  Some services and posts are particularly affected by this and this can impact on staff recruitment and retention, especially at professional officer level.  The committee report will also address the impact of the new mandatory National Living Wage (£7.20 per hour for staff aged over 25 from 1^st April 2016, increasing to a minimum of £9 per hour by 2020) as it is applied over the next 5 years both in cost terms and how it will affect the Council’s grading structure.

Cabinet is asked to recommend to Council a comprehensive review of pay scales.

The Public are likely to be excluded from any discussion at which this report is considered on the grounds that it is likely that there would be a disclosure to the public of ‘exempt information’ of the description specified in Paragraph 4 (Information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated     consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or office holders under, the authority) of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

The Cabinet considered the confidential report circulated with the agenda to CDC members and relevant officers only.

The report was introduced by Mr Finch. Mrs Dodsworth and Mr Radcliffe were in attendance.

Mr Finch summarised the factors which had led to the need for a comprehensive review of CDC’s salary grading structure and staff benefits package, each of which were respectively the subject of the first two recommendations in section 2 of the report. He then explained why it was considered inappropriate to accede to the staff request which was the subject of the third recommendation in the report.

Mrs Dodsworth elaborated further as to why the staff proposal which was the subject of the third recommendation and section 8 of the report was considered not to be conducive to ensuring that CDC was a competitive and attractive employer.

She, Mr Radcliffe, Mrs Shepherd and Mr Finch answered member’s questions on various points of detail: when the analysis in appendix two was undertaken; alternative CDC discount travel schemes eg rail and bicycle for those members of staff who did not drive to work; how to interpret and monitor the CDC staff turnover/recruitment; and the timescale for the proposed service/job redesign process. Members expressed support for the proposed pay policy review. 

Decision         

The Cabinet voted unanimously on a show of hands in favour of the three recommendations in paras 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3. 

RESOLVED

(1)  That the undertaking of a comprehensive review of posts against a set of agreed principles on a service by service basis (see option (f) paragraph 6.10  of the agenda report) be implemented with effect from March 2018 and that £25,000 is allocated from reserves to fund advice and consultancy associated with its implementation.

(2)  That the enhancement of the staff benefits package (see option (g) paragraphs 6.13 and 6.14 of the agenda report) be allocated with effect from 1 April 2017 with a revenue budget of £14,000 to fund the cost of providing discounted staff car parking.

(3)  That the request from the staff side made at the Joint Employees Consultative Panel meeting on 22 August 2016 (see paragraph 8.1 of the agenda report) be not approved.