Agenda item

At this juncture, senior officers left the meeting.

The Senior Solicitor (Litigation) referred to the Localism Act 2011, which required English and Welsh local authorities to produce a “pay policy statement” on an annual basis. The legislation outlined a number of statutory requirements which must be included in any pay policy statement. The Pay and Reward Policy outlined the current position in respect of pay and reward within the Council. This was reviewed and reported to Council on an annual basis to ensure it met the principles of fairness, equality, accountability, and value for money for the authority and its residents. The Pay and Reward Policy 2023/24 was reviewed, and no changes were proposed this year outside of the normal increases in values. It was noted that amendments were made to some provision in 2022/23 with the appropriate Cabinet Member agreement, these amendments were reported to Cabinet and subsequently Council. This statement would come into immediate effect once fully endorsed by Council. In addition to the annual pay policy update, it was requested that Cabinet and then Council considered alignment of the increased annual leave of the NJC pay award, which awarded an additional day’s annual leave to those covered under the NJC pay award from April 2023, to also include chief officers covered for consistency.

The Leader added that the report had two items for recommendation to full Council, which required Cabinet to review and recommend the Pay and Reward Policy and the alignment of Chief Officer Leave to Council.

The Council’s Pay and Reward Policy for the workforce was an annual report that required adoption by the Council. The policy set out the internal mechanisms for remunerating Council officers and provided an update on any changes since the last adoption in 2022.

Any changes that were made during the last 12 months were supported by the correct democratic/officer processes where necessary and were noted in the covering report.

The Council’s gender pay gap continued to compare favourably with other Councils across Wales and the UK and it was anticipated to still be the case when the pay data would be refreshed later this month.  The Leader was also pleased to report that the Council saw a reduction in the ratio of pay between the lowest and highest paid officers, meaning there was less of a gap between them.

The report also outlined how the Council aligned leave of officers, and other terms and conditions, as part of the Councils commitment to a single status in 2015.  In the 2022/23 pay award, all officers, other than Chief Officers, were awarded an additional day’s annual leave as part of the pay award. To ensure the continued commitment to have a single status approach, wherever possible, it was recommended that Chief Officers leave was also aligned to include the additional days leave.

Comments of Cabinet Members:

§  Councillor Batrouni concurred with the two items that were before Cabinet for approval.  As mentioned by the Leader, the multiplier ratio between the lowest paid member of staff and the Chief Executive had dropped. And it was hoped that with the pay increases proposed they would drop again, showing greater equity for all employees. The Cabinet Member for Organisational Transformation also mentioned that the Council should take pride in the decrease in the gender pay gap.  Every quartile, lower, lower middle, upper middle and upper saw the highest paid staff was nearly 70% women; of which, almost 71% was upper middle, which was a great achievement.  The Council however would not rest on its laurels and would ensure that it maintained this high standard going forward.

§  Councillor Davies supported comments of colleagues and recalled the Total Reward regrading review which was undertaken in 2015, which was a massive piece of work, ensuring fairness and equity was at the heart of the Pay and Reward Policy. The fact that this was a transparent policy which was reviewed annually gave confidence to Cabinet that staff were recognised in everything they did. It also showed an increased diversity in the work force. The Cabinet Member for Education and Early Years hoped this would set a standard that local businesses would emulate.

Decision

Cabinet

1.            Reviewed and recommended to Council the Pay and Reward Policy in order to meet the statutory requirement for a pay policy statement to be approved and published by Council on an annual basis.

2.            Reviewed and recommended to Council the alignment of Chief Officer leave.