Agenda item

To present the Pay Policy Statement for 2023/24.

The Chief Executive, the Deputy Chief Executive & Monitoring Officer and the Assistant Director (Finance and IT) & Section 151 Officer each declared an Interest in this item and withdrew from the meeting during the consideration thereof and the voting thereon.

Council was reminded that the Localism Act 2011 Section 38 (1) required the Council to prepare a Pay Policy Statement each year. The Pay Policy Statement articulated 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 were required 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.

It was reported 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.

Members were aware that 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’.

Council was informed 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 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 this date.

Members were advised that the Human Resources & Council Tax Committee had considered the Pay Policy Statement 2023/24 at its meeting held on 23 February 2023 (Minute 28 referred) and had 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.”

In order to comply with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011, Section 38(1) that the Council must adopt and publish an annual Pay Policy Statement:-

It was moved by Councillor Chapman BEM and:-

RESOLVED that the Pay Policy Statement 2023/24, as set out in the Appendix to item A.6 of the Report of the Assistant Director (Partnerships), be adopted.