Agenda item

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, Tim Scott, Ben Shelton, Edd Stonham, Peter Topping, Robert Turner, Bunty Waters, David Whiteman-Downes, Tim Wotherspoon and Nick Wright.

Absention

Councillors Philippa Hart and Jim Stewart.

Not voting

Councillor Pippa Corney.

(NOTE – Councillor Sebastian Kindersley was not in attendance for the consideration of this item).

Councillor Douglas de Lacey moved an amendment to remove the words “employees within the scope of this policy” where referenced throughout the document and replace them with the word “employees”. 

It was noted that this would require a comprehensive review of the document as certain paragraphs, such as paragraph 1.1, would no longer make sense.  The Legal and Democratic Services Manager also reported that the Localism Act 2011 stated to whom the policy specifically related.

For those reasons, the Chairman ruled the amendment out of order.

Voting on the original motion, with 38 votes in favour, 1 against, 4 abstentions and 1 not voting, Council APPROVED the Annual Pay Policy Statement 2015/16.

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

In favour

Councillors David Bard, Val Barrett, Henry Batchelor, Francis Burkitt, Brian Burling, Nigel Cathcart, Jonathan Chatfield, Kevin Cuffley, Neil Davies, Simon Edwards, Roger Hall, Lynda Harford, Philippa Hart, 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, Tim Scott, Ben Shelton, Jim Stewart, Edd Stonham, Peter Topping, Robert Turner, Bunty Waters, Aiden Van de Weyer, David Whiteman-Downes, John Williams, Tim Wotherspoon and Nick Wright.

Against

Councillor Douglas de Lacey.

Abstention

Councillors Anna Bradnam, Tumi Hawkins, Bridget Smith and Hazel Smith.

Not voting

Councillor Pippa Corney.

(NOTE – Councillor Sebastian Kindersley was not in attendance for the consideration of this item).