Report by the Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) attached.
Minutes:
141.1 Councillor Whitehead introduced the report and informed Council that the Chief Executive had produced this Pay Policy Statement for 2018/19 in his formal role as Head of Paid Service. The Localism Act of 2011 requires the Council to publish and approve each year a Pay Policy Statement which sets out the remuneration of its Chief Officers through to its remuneration of its lowest paid employees and the relationships between the two.
141.2 Continuing further Councillor Whitehead asked Council to note the removal of the role of Deputy Chief Executive from the Council’s structure and hence also from this Pay Policy Statement with affect from 1 April 2018. He also said that as Babergh and Mid Suffolk have a single organisational structure with harmonised pay grades and terms and conditions of service a single Pay Policy Statement covered both Councils.
141.3 The lowest paid employees were those on the lowest increment within the Grade 1 pay band. At 31 March 2018 that full time equivalent pay was £16,491. Councillor Whitehead asked Members to note that this pay rate exceeds both the National Minimal Wage and the Living Wage set by the Living Wage Foundation.
141.4 Councillor Whitehead also highlighted a reference to the gender pay gap reporting which is now required by a new 2017 regulation under the Equality Act 2010. Both Councils must report that separately although strictly Babergh actually falls below the 250 employee reporting threshold. They are for both Councils reported along with the combined data which is more meaningful giving the fully integrated nature of the workforce.
141.5 Councillor Otton requested that future reports should actually state the salary of the Chief Executive and asked whether Overview and Scrutiny could look at the gender pay gap within the Council to see whether the Council needs to consider any issues as part of being a good employee.
141.6 In response Councillor Whitehead stated that he would be happy to agree to Overview and Scrutiny examining the gender pay gap. As for the publication of the Chief Executive’s salary in terms of the statutory regulations they were just required to publish the range and the fact that there were five incremental points.
141.7 Councillor Eburne welcomed the report on the gender pay gap and asked why there wasn’t a report with it, detailing what the Council was doing about it. She also asked if the Chief Executive could decide at some point to reinstate the Deputy Chief Executive without seeking Council approval?
141.8 The Chief Executive in response said in terms of the pay equality gap as per the report on line, the Council was currently researching the reasons during this month and next month and so he would hope that by the end of May to be in a position to have published an action plan and would be more than happy to bring that through Scrutiny in advance of it being published to ensure it’s a comprehensive action plan that helps to reduce the current gap. In terms of structures he was obliged through legislation that if he wished to bring forward a major change to the Senior Leadership Team that that broader structure would need to come through full Council so not if he were for example adding or removing a single post but if he was making a fundamental change then he would report that full structure change through to full Council. He also gave reassurance that he had no intentions of creating a Deputy Chief Executive post.
On the proposal of Councillor Whitehead and seconded by Councillor Ward
It was Resolved:-
(i) That the proposed Pay Policy Statement for 2018/19 attached as Appendix A to the report be approved.
Supporting documents: