Agenda item

To present the Council’s Pay Policy Statement for 2023/24.

The Committee gave consideration to a report of the Assistant Director (Partnerships) (A.2) which presented the Council’s Pay Policy Statement for 2023/24.

Members were aware that the Localism Act 2011 Section 38 (1) required the Council to prepare a Pay Policy Statement each year. The Pay Policy Statement had to articulate the Council's approach to a range of issues relating to the pay of its workforce, particularly its senior staff (or 'Chief Officers') and its lowest paid employees.

The matters that had to be included in the statutory Pay Policy Statement were as follows:

§  A local authority’s policy on the level and elements of remuneration for each Chief Officer.

§  A local authority’s policy on the remuneration of its lowest-paid employees (together with its definition of “lowest-paid employees” and its reasons for adopting that definition).

§  A local authority’s policy on the relationship between the remuneration of its Chief Officers and other Officers.

§  A local authority’s policy on other aspects of Chief Officers’ remuneration: remuneration on recruitment increases and additions to remuneration, use of performance related pay and bonuses, termination payments and transparency.

The Committee was informed that the Pay Policy Statement 2023/24 had been designed to give an overview of the Council’s framework regarding pay and rewards for staff within the Council. This framework was based on the principle of fairness and that rewards should be proportional to the weight of each role and each individual’s performance. The framework also aimed to ensure the ability of the Council to recruit talented individuals whilst ensuring value for money for the residents of Tendring.

The Conditions of Employment with Tendring District Council, including pay, in the main, conformed to those established for local government generally by the National Joint Committee (NJC). Agreements reached by the NJC were ‘collective agreements’.

The Committee recalled that the Council had worked with the East of England Local Government Association in 2022 to carry out an independent review of the Council’s pay structure. This had led to some options to support best use of the NJC pay spine in alignment with the employment market. Those had included salary and benefits benchmarking, improved marketing of vacancies and employment offer and expanding the Council’s well established “grow your own” ethos. Those options were currently being considered as part of the Assistant Director level change programme.

Members were made aware that there was limited change reported in the 2023/24 Statement with the exception of the application of the agreed 2022/23 pay award. There were particularly significant changes at the bottom end of the pay spine following agreement between the national Employers and national Unions of an increase of £1,925 on all NJC pay points 1 and above (a percentage increase of between 10.5% and 4.04% across the pay spine).

Furthermore, as part of the 2022/23 pay award, the NJC had agreed that, from 1 April 2023, Spinal Column Point (SCP) 1 would be permanently deleted from the NJC pay spine. Therefore, any employees currently placed on SCP 1 would be assimilated across to SCP 2 from that date.

It was re-iterated that, In determining the pay and remuneration of all of its employees, the Council would comply with all relevant employment legislation.

The Council ensured its pay structures and all pay differentials could be objectively justified through the use of the NJC job evaluation mechanism (with the exception of Chief Officer remuneration) which directly determined the relative levels of posts in grades according to the requirements, demands and responsibilities of the role.

Members were aware that, since 2018, the Council had been required to publish mandatory gender pay gap reporting in order to meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017.

Data for the 2023/24 reporting period showed the following:-

§  At an organisational level, male and female employees represented 43% and 57% respectively.

§  Each reporting quartile was broadly representative of the overall staff ratio for the organisation, within a tolerance of 3%.

§  There was no material disparity at each pay level within the organisation, when viewed within the context of the UK average (ONS October 2021).

The Committee was advised that the Council’s pay gap would continue to be subject to review and that, if any substantial gaps were identified as the Council interpreted its data, a suitable action plan would be prepared.

The Committee also noted that work was underway to update the Council’s Allowances Policy, specifically around out of hours’ responses to emergency incidents.

Members were reminded that Schedule 2 of Part 3 of the Constitution delegated to Full Council the preparation and approval of a Pay Policy Statement for the upcoming financial year in accordance with Chapter 8 of the Localism Act 2011.

Supplementary provisions within that Act relating to Statements included that -

“(1) A relevant authority’s Pay Policy Statement must be approved by a resolution of the authority before it comes into force.

(2)   Each Statement must be prepared and approved before the end of the 31 March immediately preceding the financial year to which it relates.

(3)   A relevant authority may by resolution amend its Pay Policy Statement (including after the beginning of the financial year to which it relates).

(4)   As soon as is reasonably practicable after approving or amending a Pay Policy Statement, the authority must publish the Statement or the amended Statement in such manner as it thinks fit (which must include publication on the authority’s website).”

In order to comply with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011 (Section 38 (1)):-

It was moved by Councillor S A Honeywood, seconded by Councillor Griffiths and:-

RESOLVED that this Committee recommends to Full Council that the Pay Policy Statement 2023/24, as set out in Appendix A to item A.2 of the Report of the Assistant Director (Partnerships), be adopted.