76 MC/20/31 PAY POLICY STATEMENT 2021/22 AND GENDER PAY GAP PDF 134 KB
Leader of the Council
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Minutes:
Councillor Whitehead introduced the report and informed Council that the Council was required to produce a Pay Policy Statement for each financial year under Section 38 (1) of the Localism Act 2011. As Mid Suffolk and Babergh have a single organisational structure with harmonised pay, grades and terms and conditions of service, a single pay policy covered both Councils.
Councillor Whitehead added that the Council was also required to report on its gender pay gap. The date of the reporting had been extended from 31st March 2021 to 31st October to take into account the impact of Covid. Although a report must be published for each Council, the combined data was more relevant due to the workforce being fully integrated. The report does not need the approval of full Council and will be published on the website when available.
Councillor Whitehead then MOVED the recommendations in the report which Councillor Ekpenyong SECONDED.
Councillor Mansel queried the links to the report as they appeared to be linked to the Babergh report.
In response, Councillor Whitehead informed Councillor Mansel that his understanding was that the report had yet to be published and would be published later in the year to meet the report deadline.
The Chief Executive added that the Council was obliged to publish the report for each organisation, there would also be a joint report because of the fully integrated workforce which would be more meaningful. This information would be contained within the same documents when published and linked to each Council on the website.
Councillor Geake queried why the report wasn’t published if the data was available?
In response, Councillor Whitehead informed Council that although the data was available, the data needed to be consolidated, narrative and explanation added for SLT to analyse it.
Councillor Eburne raised concerns that the Transparency part of the website for Mid Suffolk contained no documents under the pay gap and requested that when the report was finalised that it was circulated to all Councillors
The Chief Executive confirmed that the report would be circulated to all Councillors and that the link on the Mid Suffolk website would be fixed.
Councillor Otton queried how it was possible to know that an equality impact assessment was not required when the report had not been published yet?
The Chief Executive explained that the wording in the report referred to the Pay Policy Statement and not Gender Pay Gap report. A full equality impact assessment would be undertaken when the Gender Pay Gap report was produced and would be available for scrutiny.
Councillors raised concern about the wording of the recommendations.
The Monitoring Officer recommended that additional wording be added to recommendation 2.2 “that the delay to the publication” to clarify the recommendation.
The Chair PUT this proposal to the Proposer and the Seconder and it was accepted.
It was RESOLVED:-
1. That the proposed pay policy statement for 2021/22 as set out in section 4 be approved.
2. That the delay to the ... view the full minutes text for item 76
74 BC/20/32 PAY POLICY STATEMENT 2021/22 AND GENDER PAY GAP PDF 134 KB
Leader of the Council
Additional documents:
Minutes:
74.1 Councillor Ward introduced the report and informed Council that the Council was required to produce a Pay Policy Statement for each financial year under Section 38 (1) of the Localism Act 2011. As Babergh and Mid Suffolk have a single organisational structure with harmonised pay, grades and terms and conditions of service, a single pay policy covered both Councils.
74.2 Councillor Ward added that the Council was also required to report on its gender pay gap. The date of the reporting had been extended from 31st March 2021 to 31st October to take into account the impact of Covid. Although a report must be published for each Council, the combined data was more relevant due to the workforce being fully integrated. The report does not need the approval of full Council and will be published on the website when available.
74.3 Councillor Ward then MOVED the recommendations in the report which Councillor Arthey SECONDED.
It was RESOLVED:-
1. That the proposed pay policy statement for 2021/22 as set out in section 4 be approved.
2. That publication of the Council’s gender pay gap, as of 31st March 2020, be noted.