To report any issues with the information below please email executivecycle@westberks.gov.uk.

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Roger Croft Room Council Offices Market Street Newbury. View directions

Contact: Moira Fraser / Janet Giddings 

Items
No. Item

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 82 KB

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 8 February 2017 and 9May 2017.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meetings held on 8 February 2017 and 9 May 2017 were approved as true and correct records and signed by the Chairman.

4.

Declarations of Interest

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any personal, disclosable pecuniary or other registrable interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

5.

Statutory Pay Policy 2018 (C3278) pdf icon PDF 63 KB

Purpose: To seek Council's approval of the Statutory Pay Policy Statement for publication from 1st April 2018.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 4) concerning the Council’s Statutory Pay Policy Statement 2018.

Robert O’Reilly explained that Section 38 of the Localism Act required local authorities to publish an annual pay policy statement. The statement was required to set out policies in relation to:

(1)          Remuneration of its chief officers.

(2)          The remuneration of its lowest paid employees (and the Council’s definition and reasons for defining it).

(3)          The relationship between the remuneration of its chief officers and those who were not chief officers.

The Pay Policy Statement was required to be published from 1 April 2018 and would be presented for approval at the Full Council meeting on 1 March 2018.

Robert O’Reilly referred Members to the text highlighted in red italics in both the covering report and the draft Statement. This related to the pay award and the relevant text/figures would be confirmed once the pay award, to be implemented post April 2018, had been agreed. Robert O’Reilly clarified that a 2% pay award had been recommended for staff on spinal column point (SCP) 20 and above. Staff beneath that SCP were recommended to receive a higher percentage increase. However, this proposal had yet to be accepted by trade unions and there had been some debate among unions, including Unison, over not accepting this proposal and taking industrial action.

Robert O’Reilly also highlighted that the 2018 Statement had been updated to reflect the increase to the Living Wage by the Living Wage Foundation to £8.75 per hour. The Council paid a living wage supplement to corporate employees who would otherwise be paid less than this hourly rate.

The proposal for a 2% pay award for 2018/19 was also proposed for 2019/20. A restructure was also planned of the pay structure for lower grades for implementation from 2019/20 and alongside this it was likely that the Living Wage would increase to £9 per hour. Therefore, additional and more complicated work would need to be undertaken in producing the 2019 Statement.

Robert O’Reilly’s final point, in presenting this report, was that since the 2017 Pay Policy Statement was approved, the Executive had given approval to make a targeted recruitment payment in aiding recruitment to the Head of Children and Family Services. This was approved in order for the Council to be competitive in recruiting to this very important post. Although the need to make this payment had not transpired in successfully recruiting to the position, the 2018 Pay Policy Statement retained the power to make this targeted recruitment payment in recruiting to the Head of Children and Family Services in future.

Councillor Richard Crumly voiced concern at having an automatic agreement to make the targeted recruitment payment. He felt that any variation to the set pay scales should only be agreed by the Executive, particularly when the Council’s finances including salary budgets were strained. Robert O’Reilly clarified that this targeted recruitment payment only related to the Head of Children and Family Services, and reiterated that the Executive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Buying Additional Leave (PC3410) pdf icon PDF 95 KB

Purpose: The report is to explore whether the Council should do more to encourage employees to buy additional leave (excluding schools).

 

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report (Agenda Item 5) which sought to explore whether the Council should do more to encourage employees to buy additional leave (excluding schools).

Robert O’Reilly explained that this item had been presented to Committee following a request by Councillor Lee Dillon. The ability to buy additional leave was not something that had been raised by employees either directly or via the ‘Let’s Chat’ workshops. He also highlighted that local government employees enjoyed more annual leave than those working in the private sector. Staff could also take time off in lieu and unpaid leave was already available to employees in particular circumstances.

A concern arising from employees buying additional leave was the increased workload impact this would have on other members of staff. Robert O’Reilly gave the Officer view that the potential to buy additional leave should not be advertised with the option of taking unpaid leave already available.

Councillor Paul Bryant sought to understand whether a saving could be made if employees bought additional leave or would any saving need to be used to offset the cost of overtime being paid to cover workload requirements. Robert O’Reilly explained that no corporate savings could be assumed from this approach and agreed that costs could be incurred from paying overtime, i.e. to a part time employee increasing their hours to cover the workload. Overtime was paid at time and a third.

Councillor Bryant felt it was questionable whether more should be done to ‘encourage’ staff to buy additional leave (in line with the view of the Head of Human Resources). He felt that staff could take unpaid leave if necessary. Councillor Pamela Bale added that unpaid leave had to be an exception rather than the rule. The ability to buy additional leave was a further exception. She added her concern at the impact on existing staff who would need to cover any outstanding workload.

Councillor Mollie Lock then sought to clarify Councillor Dillon’s viewpoint on this matter. His view was that, potentially, a member of staff could, at the start of the leave year (which mirrored the financial year), make a request to buy additional leave. The salary deduction could then be spread over the course of the year. If the request was made without this level of notice then the cost would need to be met within that month’s pay.

Councillor Lock fully understood Councillor Dillon’s suggestion, but gave her view that this approach could over complicate matters and it was more straightforward for unpaid leave to be deducted from the relevant month’s pay.

Councillor Richard Crumly noted from paragraph 5.2 of the report that the Council used the deduction rate of 1/365 of annual salary for each day of unpaid leave. He queried why this was the case as this methodology included weekends. Robert O’Reilly explained that this approach was in line with case law and followed the 1870 Apportionment Act. Robert O’Reilly agreed to provide the case law information to Councillor Crumly. He accepted that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Date of Next Meeting

Meeting required in week commencing 26th March 2018.

Minutes:

The Committee noted the next meeting was scheduled for Monday 26 March 2018 at 10am. There was however potential for this date to be brought forward and this would be confirmed.

(Post meeting note: the date of the next meeting had been brought forward to Wednesday 7 March 2018 at 11.30am).