Issue - meetings

*RESOLVED –

(1)That the scope of the Pay and Reward Project be approved to allow consultation to commence with trade unions and employees.

(2)That the membership of the Project Board, chaired by Cllr Huckle, be noted and that the Project Board reports back to the Joint Cabinet and Employment and General Committee on a regular basis.

The HR Manager submitted a report seeking approval for the scope of a project to review the current pay and reward structure and for the commencement of consultations with the trade unions and employees.

The local collective agreement for Green Book employees was signed in 2007 and had been earmarked for review as it was thought to no longer provide an appropriate framework for pay and reward for the large number of employees at Chesterfield Borough Council. A project group was established in 2013 to review overtime and additional hours, implementation of the Living Wage, unsocial hours, standby and callout payments, and the administration and application of the job evaluation process. However, further action was not taken at the time as priority was given to the review of the senior leadership team.

The report outlined the current pay and reward system and why improvements and modernisation was needed. The current incremental pay structure was heavily reliant on time served rather than performance, attendance, competence or flexibility and did not support the growth and development of employees. In addition, 6000 days had been lost in the past year through sickness absence; measures needed to be brought in to better manage attendance and control costs.

A range of options from low to high impact had been proposed and the recommendation made to proceed with a mid-range option. This sought to realise a degree of savings and shift to a “performance management” culture, whilst being achievable and deliverable within the time constraints, i.e. implementation by April 2017.

The council would continue to negotiate annual pay through the national pay bargaining machinery. In addition, the ability of managers to reduce costs and implement efficiencies through the use of existing protocols and policies was critical to implementation of the pay and reward system when agreed.

The report contained details of the financial and legal implications, outlined the consultation process and detailed alternative options and reasons why these had been rejected.

*RESOLVED –

(1) That the scope of the Pay and Reward Project be approved to allow consultation to commence with trade unions and employees.

(2) That the membership of the Project Board, chaired by Cllr Huckle, be noted and that the Project Board reports back to the Joint Cabinet and Employment and General Committee on a regular basis.

REASON FOR DECISIONS

To achieve the project in the timescale outlined would be a challenge and it was considered that the option presented was the most achievable.