Issue - meetings

The attached report will be considered by the Employment Committee at 10.00am on 29 January 2015.  Appendix A of the report will follow. 

Any recommendations from the Employment Committee will be reported to the meeting of Council.

Council APPROVED the Annual Pay Policy Statement 2015/16.

(NOTE – the Chief Executive and Executive Director, Corporate Services, left the meeting during consideration of this item).

Councillor Alex Riley reported that the Employment Committee had unanimously recommended the Pay Policy Statement to Full Council for approval, so he proposed that the Statement for 2015/16 be approved.

Councillor Francis Burkitt seconded the proposition.

Councillor John Williams acknowledged that the Statement ‘had regard’ to the Living Wage, but reflected on other Councils that had made more of a commitment to conform to the Living Wage as part of their Pay Policy Statements.  He therefore moved an amendment to the last section of paragraph 3.1, replacing the words ‘also have regard’ with the word ‘conform’ so that it read:

“The Council will conform to the Living Wage when it agrees annual pay awards for its staff”.

Councillor Chatfield seconded the amendment.

In debating the amendment, the following points were made by Members:

·         South Cambridgeshire was an expensive place to live, but the amendment would not make a great deal of difference;

·         the words ‘having regard’ actually meant you could pay more than the Living Wage, whereas the word ‘conform’ did not provide that flexibility;

·         South Cambridgeshire District Council did not have national salary scales and had its own independent salary scales for its employees.  The Council should have the freedom to continue to set its own scales;

·         the Council was becoming out of line with neighbouring authorities with regard to the Living Wage and should be setting an example to other employers in the area;

·         it was too much of a risk to commit to aligning the Council’s salary scales with the Living Wage.  If it did and the Living Wage rate increased the Council would be required to pay it without identifying where the money would come from to fund any such increase;

·         the setting of the Living Wage rate was completely unregulated;

·         it was more important to provide employees with opportunities to work hard, develop, progress and ultimately earn more, which was what the Organisational Development Strategy aspired to accomplish;

·         if the Living Wage increased then the Council could reconsider that aspect of the Pay Policy Statement;

·         the Pay Policy Statement already demonstrated a commitment to pay the Living Wage, so the amendment was unnecessary.

Voting on the amendment, with 10 votes in favour, 31 against, 2 abstentions and 1 not voting, the amendment was lost.

Enough Members as prescribed in the Council’s Standing Orders requested a recorded vote.  Votes were therefore cast as follows:

In favour

Councillors Henry Batchelor, Anna Bradnam, Nigel Cathcart, Jonathan Chatfield, Tumi Hawkins, Douglas de Lacey, Bridget Smith, Hazel Smith, Aidan Van de Weyer and John Williams.

Against

Councillors David Bard, Val Barrett, Francis Burkitt, Brian Burling, Kevin Cuffley, Neil Davies, Simon Edwards, Roger Hall, Lynda Harford, Roger Hickford, James Hockney, Caroline Hunt, Mervyn Loynes, Ray Manning, Mick Martin, Raymond Matthews, David McCraith, Charles Nightingale, Tony Orgee, Alex Riley, Deborah Roberts, Neil Scarr,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8

To consider the attached report.  Appendix A of the report will follow.

The Employment Committee RECOMMENDED the Pay Policy Statement 2015/2016 to Full Council for approval.

The Employment Committee considered a report, presented by the Legal and Democratic Services Manager, which provided Members with an opportunity to review the Council’s Pay Policy Statement for 2015/16.

The revised Pay Policy Statement, as appended to the report, included amendments as required by the Local Government Transparency Code 2014 regarding the publication of information relating to senior officer pay and remuneration. 

Discussion ensued on the subject of the living wage and Members were pleased that this had been taken into account as part of the Pay Policy Statement, as set out in paragraph 3.1 of the document under the pay awards section.  In answer to a question about seeking accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation, Councillor Simon Edwards, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Staffing, reported that this issue had been considered at his Portfolio Holder Meeting and that it would not be appropriate for South Cambridgeshire District Council to become accredited.  He added, however, that the Statement did have regard to the living wage which had been reflected in the Council’s pay scales for 2015/16.

The Employment Committee unanimously RECOMMENDED the Pay Policy Statement 2015/2016 to Full Council for approval.