Employee Pay Policy

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Agenda Item No. 11(a)

THE VALE OF GLAMORGAN COUNCIL

COUNCIL MEETING: 28 FEBRUARY 2018

REFERENCE FROM CABINET: 5 FEBRUARY 2018

C216 Employee Pay Policy 2018/19 (L) (SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – CORPORATE PERFORMANCE AND RESOURCES) –

During consideration of this item, the Managing Director, Head of Legal Services, Section 151 Officer, Head of Human Resources, Director of Social Services, Director of Environment and Housing, Head of Regeneration and Planning, and Head of Strategy, Community Learning and Resources left the room and took no part in any discussions that took place on this item.

Cabinet was asked to consider and endorse the Council's Pay Policy for 2018/19 prior to its submission to Council for final approval.

The Council had a statutory requirement under the Localism Act 2011 to prepare a pay policy statement for the new financial year 2018/19. The statement needed to be approved and published by 31 March, 2018. The document provided a framework for ensuring that employees were rewarded fairly and objectively, in accordance with the service needs of the Council and that there was openness and transparency in relation to the process.

The Pay Policy had been incrementally developed since 2012 to incorporate the following:-

Guidance from Welsh Government as contained in the document “Pay Accountabilities in Local Government in Wales” as updated January 2016.
Changes as prescribed by the Local Authorities Standing Orders (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2014 which took effect from 1 July, 2014.
Changes as prescribed required by the Local Government (Wales) Act 2015 to ensure that any proposed changes to the salary of Chief Officers (as defined in the Localism Act 2011) were made following consultation with the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales.
Necessary refinements as a result of changes to the Council’s senior management structure over recent years.
The effects of nationally negotiated pay awards and the emerging provisions of the National Living Wage as introduced in 2016.

The Pay Policy also reflected specific changes to the Council’s pay and grading arrangements as approved by Cabinet and Council during 2017/18. These included:-

The removal of the first two pay points in the Single Status/Green Book Grading Structure as approved by Cabinet on 9 October, 2017 and which took effect from 1 December, 2017.
Minor changes to the payment arrangements associated with the Chief Officer Appraisal Scheme as approved by Council on 13 December, 2017. Such changes would mean that from 1 April, 2018 all incremental pay increases would be processed on a monthly rather than an annual basis.

Over the coming year a number of other changes would impact on the Council’s current pay arrangements and would need to be reflected in future pay policy statements. Such changes included:-

The outcome of the 2018/19 pay negotiations for NJC Green Book employees and the effect of such negotiations on the current NJC Pay Structure.
The potential requirement for any modifications to the Council’s own local Green Book/Single Status Pay Structure as a result of the above national negotiations.
The impact of the UK Government’s Enterprise Act 2016 and specifically in relation to a restriction on local authority severance payments. It would be important to monitor how these provisions would be reviewed, translated and implemented by Welsh Government within the Welsh public sector.
Any changes to election payments as a result of the Welsh Government’s Electoral Reform Review and as part of the provisions of the Wales Act 2017.

At the meeting, the Leader tabled an amendment to paragraph 6.2 of the Vale of Glamorgan Council Employee Pay Policy 2018/19 attached at Appendix A to the report. Paragraph 6.2 should now read:

“As part of the above the Council has linked the scores from the job evaluation results directly to the NJC pay structure. The national pay structure ranges from spinal column point (SCP) 6 to 49, which equate to £15,014 to £43,821 per annum. These values will be revised to reflect the outcome of the 2018/19 NJC pay negotiations (once such outcomes are known) and to take effect from 1^st April 2018.”

This was a matter for Executive and Council decision

Cabinet, having considered the report and all the issues and implications contained therein

RESOLVED –

(1) T H A T the required changes to the Council’s Pay Policy for 2018/19 as set out in the report and as incorporated in the revised statement attached at Appendix A to the report, be noted.

(2) T H A T the Pay Policy be endorsed and referred to the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Performance and Resources) for consideration on 15 February, 2018 and for final consideration and approval by Council on 28 February, 2018.

Reasons for decisions

(1) To respond to the legal requirements under the Standing Orders (Wales) Amendment Regulations 2014, the Local Government (Wales) Act 2015 and related advice from Welsh Government.

(2) To respond to the legal requirement under the Localism Act and to provide openness and accountability in relation to how the Council rewards its staff.

N.B. The Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee on 15^th February 2018 recommended that the Council’s Employee Pay Policy for 2018/19 be endorsed.