Agenda item

To present the revised Discretionary Market Forces Policy (which has been updated in line with best practice and follows the advice and guidance of the East of England Local Government Association) to the Human Resources and Council Tax Committee for approval.

The Committee heard that the Council was committed to the principles of equal pay for work of equal value. The National Job Evaluation and Grading Scheme had provided an analytical and non-discriminatory method of evaluating jobs. However, there could be exceptional circumstances, explicitly due to labour market conditions, where the evaluated grade resulted in an inability to successfully recruit or retain suitable staff for specific jobs. In those exceptional circumstances, it might be appropriate for consideration to be given to the payment of a Market Forces Supplement to overcome the problem.

Members were told that a Market Forces Supplement was an additional, temporary payment to the basic salary of an individual job or specific group of jobs where market pressures would otherwise prevent the Council from being able to recruit or retain staff with a particular skill or group of skills. It was an exceptional measure and would be taken only when all other measures had been exhausted.

Officers informed the Committee that the Council viewed Market Forces Supplements as ‘Risk and Retention’ payments, in that those incentives were provided to employees in critical roles, aiming to retain those highly skilled staff, by compensating them according to job market conditions.

The Committee was reminded that the Human Resources & Council Tax Committee had previously requested that Officers engaged the services of the East of England Local Government Association (EELGA) to expand on the earlier Pay Review undertaken to carry out a comprehensive, service wide review of TDC’s pay structure as followed:-

-       Access the whole staffing establishment (including Chief Officers), in the context of neighbouring (District) authorities and regionally.

-       In the context of professional and technical areas – that would be an extension of the work already undertaken by EELGA and would also consider those areas in which Market Forces Supplements were currently applied.

The Committee was reassured that analysis of the benchmarking data had indicated that the majority of this Council’s roles were paid at a level in line with comparative roles in the East of England region. That had aligned with the Council’s experience of recruitment and retention and indicated that the pay line was set at an appropriate level.

Members noted that, similar to other local authorities, Tendring had experienced recruitment and retention issues for some professions/technical roles and had used a Market Forces Supplement (MFS) Scheme in respect of those.

The Committee was also told that the Council’s Discretionary Market Forces Policy had been last updated in July 2021. To ensure its continued alignment with recognised best practice, the policy had been revised based on several recommendations from the EELGA review. Those recommendations had included the following:-

-       Data on all Market Forces Supplements would be reported to the Council’s Human Resources & Council Tax Committee annually to ensure regular monitoring of their use across the Council.

-       When Market Forces Supplements were paid, they were time-limited and subject to rigorous review in line with market conditions.

-       Proposals, including recommendations on the actual value of the Market Forces Supplement to be applied (up to or equivalent to a maximum of one grade in the authority’s salary structure), would be included in the business case put forward for approval. That would depend on the market salary benchmarking undertaken.

-       The cost of Market Forces Supplements would be met from service budgets.

-       The Market Forces Supplement would be payable for two years. If, after 18 months, the Head of Service/Assistant Director believed further payment was necessary due to market conditions, they would conduct another comprehensive review. That review must be carried out no later than three months before the anticipated supplement end date.

-       Should the review identify that there was no longer a need for the payment of a Market Forces Supplement, the HR Team would give the employees three months’ notice that the supplement would be coming to an end, with no right of appeal.

-       Finally, delegation for the approval of Market Forces Supplements would be afforded to the Head of Paid Service, in consultation with the Assistant Director (Partnerships) and the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Human Resources & Council Tax Committee.

It was moved by Councillor Baker, seconded by Councillor G Stephenson and unanimously:-

RESOLVED that the Human Resources & Council Tax Committee:

a)    approves and adopts the Council’s updated Discretionary Market Forces Policy, noting the incorporated change in the approval process for future Market Forces requests, including the proposed delegation afforded to the Head of Paid Service, in consultation with the Assistant Director (Partnerships) and the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Human Resources & Council Tax Committee and that information will be passed to the Committee for information purposes; and

b)    notes that the Human Resources team will keep a register of market supplements in payment, and this will be reported to the Council’s Human Resources & Council Tax Committee on an annual basis, to ensure regular monitoring of the use of market supplements across the Council.