minutes

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 24 October 2011 (Minute Nos. 352 - 356) were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

declarations of interest

No interests were declared.

part a minute for confirmation by council

pay policy statement

The Cabinet Member for Performance introduced the report which set out the proposal for a Pay Policy Statement, as required by section 38 of the Localism Act 2011.

The Head of Human Resources Shared Service explained that, in accordance with the Code of Recommended Practice for Local Authorities on Data Transparency 2011, Councils were required to publish details of salaries above £58,200. This information was attached as Appendix I(H) to the Pay Policy Statement.

Discussion ensued regarding performance related incremental payments for Officers. Members considered that it would be useful for Councillors to be provided with more detailed information regarding the number of staff on each grade and point of the pay scale; the number of staff receiving incremental payments each year and the cost of this for the Council; and the number of staff whose incremental payment had been withheld.

The Head of Human Resources Shared Service advised that statistical data was available from the Human Resources system and she would look into the most appropriate way to provide this information to Members.

A Member queried if there was a connection between the appraisal process and the annual increment. The Head of Human Resources Shared Service explained that a full developmental appraisal of all Officers took place between March and April each year, which identified individual objectives and development needs. A further mid-year appraisal took place in September which reviewed progress against objectives and assessed whether the Officer was eligible for an increment, if they had not already reached the top of their grade.

A Member asked whether an increment could be withdrawn if an Officers performance did not continue to meet the standards required for the position. The Head of Human Resources Shared Service explained that the individuals pay would be frozen and they would not be eligible for further incremental or inflationary pay increases. If the individual continued to not meet the necessary standards after an improvement programme had been agreed, then it would become a capability issue which could result in downgrading or dismissal.
Discussion ensued and Members acknowledged that, as it was a requirement that the Pay Policy Statement was published on an annual basis, the next version could contain more statistical information and benchmarking data with other authorities if appropriate.

The Leader advised that he was reviewing electoral registration payments with the Chief Executive and Corporate Services Director. Members asked for assurance that staff did not claim overtime payments in addition to the elections fees for working on elections.

The Leader referred to Appendix I(H) which set out the salaries of senior Officers. It was confirmed that if a senior Officer worked for Swale as part of a shared service or partnership arrangement their salary would be published on the website of the authority which directly paid their salary, and a hyperlink to the information would also be made available on Swale's website. The Head of Human Resources Shared Service agreed to look into whether the Chief Executive of Thames Gateway should appear on Swale Borough Council's list.

Members discussed pension arrangements for staff and it was agreed that a sentence would be included within the Pay Policy Statement to clarify the benefits of the current scheme.

Members referred to paragraph four of Appendix I in relation to monitoring of salary budgets. The Head of Human Resources Shared Service provided some background to the calculations for the pay multiples. She confirmed that the figures were set annually and would therefore change over time. It was difficult to benchmark Swale's pay multiple figures against other Local Authorities, as Councils currently calculated their figures in different ways and as yet there was no national guidance to ensure standardisation of the process.

The Head of Human Resources Shared Service advised that the pay multiple figures were likely to be marginally different in the final version of the Statement as the current figures shown were projected from December 2011, whereas the final version would reflect the actual figure at year end.