Issue - meetings

The Head of People and Organisational Development presented this report, which detailed the requirements of the Localism Act and invited the Committee to recommend the Pay Policy Statement to Council. It was noted that a Pay Policy Statement was agreed annually by Council.

Senior salaries

It was noted that the policy had been updated to reflect the impact of the pay award on salary values.

Flexibility on re-employing staff

It was noted that the policy had been amended to enable former staff below Director level, who had previously been made redundant, to be re-engaged in circumstances where the Council requires specific skills or knowledge. The Council’s normal recruitment and procurement rules would always apply.

Incremental pay increases

It was noted that officers needed to demonstrate a good level of performance to be awarded an incremental pay increase.

Golden Hello

The Council had recently agreed a Golden Hello policy that would pay new staff up to £6,000 if appointed to post which had been identified as hard to recruit to in the job marketplace. A percentage of the payment would have to be paid back if the employee left within two years. This payment would apply to external applicants only.

Gender pay gap

It was noted that whilst many organisations had a concerning gender pay gap, the Council actually had a mean gender pay gap of 5.86% in favour of females.

The Committee unanimously

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL     the approval of the Pay Policy Statement for 2019 to Full Council.