Agenda, decisions and minutes

No declarations of interest were received.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brunt, Catt, Davenport, Dickinson, P Gilby, T Gilby and Wall

RESOLVED -

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Joint Cabinet and Employment and General Committee of 25 July, 2017 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

To move “That under Regulation 21(1)(b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements)(Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2000, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following Paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 - Paragraphs 3 and 4 on the grounds that in contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person and to consultations or negotiations in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority and employees of the authority.”

RESOLVED -

That under Regulation 21 (1)(b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements)(Access to Information)(England) Regulations 2000, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following Paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 – Paragraphs 3 and 4 on the grounds that in contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person and to consultations or negotiations in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority and employees of the authority.”

*RESOLVED –

1.   That the Pay and Reward Review Progress Update be noted.

2.   That the closure of the project be approved.

REASON FOR DECISION

To enable the implementation of policies and conclusion of the Pay and Reward Project. 

The HR Manager submitted a report seeking approval for the conclusion of the Pay and Reward Project.

In 2016 a report had been taken to the Employment and General Committee which outlined the scope of the Pay and Reward Project. After sustained negotiations with all relevant unions and a staff survey to ascertain the views of staff, final proposals were put forward to the trade unions in spring 2017.

The final proposals submitted to the trade unions were:

·        Changes to car parking – the proposal sought to remove free car parking passes at the Town Hall for certain groups of staff. The passes would be replaced with a heavily discounted monthly pass available to all staff at specified car parks in Chesterfield. This proposal sought to provide equality along with a tangible benefit to staff and an income stream for the Council.

·        Changes to pay protection – the existing pay protection provided protection for a period of three years and the proposal reduced this to 12 months.

·        Changes to the flexi scheme – the alterations proposed were to reduce the number of flexi days which could be taken per month from two down to one. This proposal aimed to change the perceived culture of flexi accrual and enable managers to more easily manage their teams.

·        Changes to the method used to make standby payments - the changes aimed to reduce the administrative costs involved in the standby payment system.

·        Removal of the unsocial hours allowance.

The Pay and Reward Project Group had also handled the outstanding issue of transferring all remaining weekly paid staff to monthly pay and this had been achieved in July 2017.

After long periods of discussion and negotiations with, ballots by the trade unions, agreement had been reached in three areas:

·        Alterations to car parking;

·        Changes to the flexi scheme bandwidth but not to a reduction in the number of flexi days taken per month;

·        A reduction in the pay protection period to 18 months.

Agreements could not be reached on an altered method of standby allowance payment or removal of the unsocial hours allowance. This resulted in minimal savings being achieved through the project.

The report noted that the human resources implications of the agreed changes would have minimal negative impact on employees. The financial implications of the project would lead to no immediate savings, and future savings through the changes to pay protection following restructures would take time to have an effect.

The agreed alterations related to policies rather than the local collective agreement which meant the changes would be made through standard procedures involving of the Employer/ Trade Union Committee followed by the Employment and General Committee. Members agreed the flexi and car parking policies through this process in October 2017. The pay protection policy was part of a wider policy that covered restructuring, redeployment and redundancy and it was expected this would come forward for member approval in early 2018.  

*RESOLVED –

1. That the Pay and Reward Review Progress Update be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.