Issue - meetings

Pay Policy Statement

Meeting: 20/02/2020 - Council (Item 8)

8 Annual Pay Policy Statement (Employment & Staffing Committee, 23 January 2020) pdf icon PDF 219 KB

The Employment and Staffing Committee

 

RECOMMENDED THAT COUNCIL

 

Approve the Pay Policy Statement for 2020.

Additional documents:

Decision:

Council

 

AGREED       To approve the Pay Policy Statement for 2020.

Minutes:

Councillor Henry Batchelor, Chairman of the Employment and Staffing Committee, proposed the recommendations in this report to ensure that the Council complied with the Localism Act 2011 and approved the annual Pay Policy Statement which been thoroughly discussed at the meeting of the Employment and Staffing Committee on 23 January 2020. Councillor John Williams, Lead Cabinet Member for Finance, seconded the proposal.

 

Councillor Graham Cone asked whether support was offered to staff who wished to move from the Council’s childcare voucher scheme to the Government’s scheme. Councillor John Williams agreed that the administration would take this into account.

 

Councillor Heather Williams welcomed the fact that the mean gender pay gap was in favour of females, but she asserted that true equality meant asking why this was and considering if there were barriers for men seeking better paid employment. Councillor Henry Batchelor explained that the number of men employed in the waste service was one of the main reasons for the inequality.

 

Councillor Nick Wright asked for the figures on how much the Council had paid in redundancy payments and gardening leave over the last year. Councillor John Williams agreed to provide a written response to Councillor Wright’s question.

 

Councillor Gavin Clayton welcomed the fact that the ratio between the highest and lowest paid was 1:9 and suggested that there be a target for the authority and that the Council should also consider whether our contractors should also abide by this. Councillor John Williams agreed that the Council should be proud of its ratio and suggested that the Employment and Staffing Committee consider whether future Pay Policy statements should include a target.

 

A vote was taken and were cast as follows:

 

In favour (35):

 

Councillors Philip Allen, Henry Batchelor, John Batchelor, Dr. Shrobona Bhattacharya, Anna Bradnam, Tom Bygott, Dr. Martin Cahn, Nigel Cathcart, Sarah Cheung Johnson, Gavin Clayton, Graham Cone, Dr. Claire Daunton, Clare Delderfield, Sue Ellington, Peter Fane, Neil Gough, Bill Handley, Geoff Harvey, Dr. Tumi Hawkins, Mark Howell, Steve Hunt, Tony Mason, Peter McDonald, Brian Milnes, Judith Rippeth, Deborah Roberts, Bridget Smith, Hazel Smith, Dr. Ian Sollom, Dr. Aidan Van de Weyer, Bunty Waters, Heather Williams, John Williams, Eileen Wilson and Nick Wright.

 

Against (0):

 

Abstain (0):

 

Council

 

RESOLVED 

 

To approve the Pay Policy Statement for 2020.


Meeting: 23/01/2020 - Employment and Staffing Committee (Item 4)

4 Pay Policy Statement pdf icon PDF 219 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Interim Corporate Director presented this report, which informed the Committee on the requirement of the Localism Act with regards to the Pay Policy Statement and invited the Committee to recommend the Statement to Council.

 

Paying market supplements

The Interim Corporate Director explained that a market supplement was paid for posts which were difficult to recruit to and due to the Council’s equal pay policy this payment needed to be reviewed annually.

 

Living wage

Councillor John Williams explained that the Council had pledged to pay the Real Living Wage, currently £9.30 an hour. However, the authority had decided against applying for accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation due to the costs in terms of money and officer resources. The Interim Corporate Director explained that whilst the Council’s contractors had to pay their staff the living wage, signing up for accreditation would place a bureaucratic burden on any organisation wishing to tender for one of the Council’s contracts.

 

Following a brief discussion, the Committee agreed that the commitment made by the Council to pay its staff the living wage should be made apparent on the Council’s website.

 

The Committee unanimously agreed to

 

RECOMMEND THAT COUNCIL      approve the Pay Policy Statement for 2020.