To provide members of the Human Resources and Council Tax Committee with an update on the proposed changes to the Council’s localised adoption of the National Job Evaluation Scheme.

The Committee heard that the conditions of employment with Tendring District Council (TDC), including pay, in the main conformed to those established for Local Government generally by the National Joint Committee (NJC).

Members noted that the National Job Evaluation and Grading Scheme was used to determine job grades and pay levels for both new and existing posts and was recognised by all parties as the only mechanism within the Council for determining the pay of all posts below the Deputy Chief and Chief Officer level.

The Committee was told that the Council had adopted the National Job Evaluation Scheme more than a decade ago; at that time, the Council had applied a number of Local Conventions – local interpretations of the wording of a job evaluation scheme, which were usually written down so that they could be applied consistently across all evaluations – which had been negotiated and agreed upon with local union officials. Those did not add value to the evaluation score, but the intention was to provide clarity for those undertaking evaluation and moderation.

The Committee was reassured that, as part of the initial Pay Review research undertaken by East of England Local Government Association (EELGA), the Authority’s use of the National Job Evaluation Scheme and its Localised Conventions had been reviewed to determine suitability in terms of the National Scheme and TDC’s employment offer and wider job market.

Officers informed the Committee that EELGA had advised that, due to several updates to the National Scheme, the majority of TDC’s Localised Conventions might no longer be relevant, or were now captured in the wording of the National Scheme, and therefore, those should be removed for clarity and to avoid risk of contradiction.

Members also heard that on that basis, the Authority was proposing to remove the reference to Localised Conventions, as detailed in the ‘National Job Evaluation Scheme & Guidance with TDC Local Conventions’ document and to replace them with the use of the National Joint Council Factor Plan and Factor Guidance 2020 (the latest NJC scheme).

EELGA had further recommended that the Council adopted the use of the ‘Assessment Tool for Responsibility Factors’ (Advisory, Policy and Equivalent – ‘hands off’ Responsibilities), which had been introduced as part of the updated National Scheme. That was not a separate factor or a change to the NJC Job Evaluation Scheme but, sought to act as an aid to ensuring that advisory, policy and similar responsibilities were correctly assessed and allocated to the appropriate responsibility factor.

Officers made Members aware that several key Officers, including HR Officers, Managers and Union Officials had undertaken training by EELGA that focused on the updates to the National Scheme, including the responsibility factors, so the transition to the updated scheme could be achieved successfully. Furthermore, regular ‘refresher’ training would continue to be delivered to those Officers undertaking evaluations on behalf of the Authority to ensure they remained compliant with scheme requirements.

The Council would continue to undertake a comprehensive local moderation process as part of its job evaluation arrangements to ensure consistency, fairness and transparency. In addition, the Authority would continue with its established ‘best practice’ approach of ensuring 20% of its evaluations were refreshed annually.

Members were also made aware that the proposal did not impact the existing job evaluation outcomes or grades of posts, and that the approach, once adopted, would be used to assist with future job evaluations to ensure that TDC’s application of the National Job Evaluation Scheme continued to be robust.

Finally, Members heard that it should be noted that the Authority would consider revisiting the need for alternative Localised Conventions, should that be recommended as one of the outcomes of the comprehensive EELGA Pay Review.

It was moved by Councillor Skeels Jr, seconded by Councillor Morrison and unanimously:-

RESOLVED that the Human Resources and Council Tax Committee approves the:

a)    proposed removal of the Localised Conventions, as outlined in the National Job Evaluation Scheme and Guidance with TDC Local Conventions document, in line with the recommendations made by EELGA;

b)    use of the updated National Job Evaluation Scheme, including the Assessment Tool for Responsibility Factors, for future evaluations; and

c)    need to revisit amended Localised Conventions, if recommended by EELGA, upon conclusion of the comprehensive review of the Authority’s pay line.