Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils
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Issue - meetings

Meeting: 23/09/2021 - Mid Suffolk Council (Item 28)

28 MC/21/14 PAY POLICY REPORT pdf icon PDF 117 KB

Leader of the Council

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

The report was withdrawn by the Leader.

 


Meeting: 21/09/2021 - Babergh Council (Item 52)

52 BC/21/17 PAY POLICY REPORT pdf icon PDF 117 KB

Leader of the Council

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Michelle Kirk, Director, East of England Local Government Association Government Association and Suzanne Hughes, Head of HR and OD to the meeting.

 

Councillor Ward introduced the report and informed Council that some Councillors had informed him that they believed that the report had been rushed so he intended to present a brief chronology by way of introduction.

 

Senior salaries were last reviewed ten years ago in 2011 when Babergh first started working jointly with Mid Suffolk. The levels that were set then have stood the test of time.

 

It was highlighted in the risk section of the Pay Policy Statement that was debated in March 2021, where it was recognised that senior salaries had fallen behind the market. No changes were proposed at that time.

 

Despite not having to carry out senior officer recruitment to the Senior Leadership Team in the previous two years, officers were hopeful that they could still successfully recruit to the newly formed Assistant Director for Communities and Wellbeing post within the existing pay structures. Despite extensive marketing and strong interest in the four-way shared role, it became very clear when discussing the role with candidates, many did not consider the salary level competitive or appropriate compared to similar or existing roles. Fourteen people applied, none of which were considered to have the necessary experience to undertake the role.

 

Based upon this feedback, EELGA were commissioned to undertake an independent review on senior leadership pay in order to determine the extent of which the Council’s pay scales were uncompetitive. Finally, Councillor Ward referred to 5.2 of the report which drew directly from the Pay Policy Statement.

 

Councillor Ward then MOVED the recommendations in the report which Councillor Arthey SECONDED.

 

Michelle Kirk, Director of EELGA delivered a short presentation on the content of her report.

 

Councillor Melanie Barrett asked whether the Director of EELGA had been asked to give an opinion on the job design and job description or on providing a different approach or was the commissioned report based on one unfilled vacancy.

 

In response, the Director of EELGA informed Council that she was not asked to look at the job description but the overall job package. The package was configured correctly but the offer was too low.

 

Councillor Melanie Barrett sought confirmation that the figures were based on the current year and asked how many increments members of staff could progress to if they had met all of their targets?

 

In response, the Head of HR and OD confirmed that staff could only progress one increment point per year. Staff would start on the nearest point to their salary and progress one increment a year until they reach the top of the scale subject to them reaching their performance targets. The EELGA recommendations were based on staff naturally progressing through the incremental points.

 

Councillor Melanie Barrett asked why the scales had been reduced to only three incremental points rather than five.

 

In response, the Director for EELGA stated that five years was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52