Minutes:
Councillor
Doreen Jones, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Equalities introduced
the report and recommended it to Council for approval for publication on the
Council’s website.
Members
queried why the Council only paid 47% of its gross expenditure on salaries
where other Councils, as advised in the Local Government Association, Guidance
for Councillors that Councils can spend in excess of 50% of the gross revenue
expenditure. Officers explained that
this would be raised with the Director of Finance and Corporate Services, but
that the rates of pay are paid in line with the nationally agreed set of pay scales. Councils do agree terms and conditions on an
individual basis with trade unions. This Council reduced its terms and
conditions in 2018 as an alternative to redundancies which was negotiated with
trade union colleagues. Size of the workforce
would also impact on the expenditure that each Council has in regard to
salaries.
It
was highlighted that some other Councils offer discount schemes to
employees. Does this Council have any
similar schemes? Officers explained that
there are a variety of schemes available to staff. The Health and Wellbeing Group was
established to offer employees the opportunity to join the group to access a
variety of benefits one of which was discounts at high street stores. Employee also are able to access Celtic
Leisure at discounted prices. The
Council also has a Cycle to Work initiative which allows staff to access cycles
and equipment and pay for it via a salary sacrifice scheme. The remuneration package offered to employees
was based on the recommendation based on the national pay bargaining which is
set for the Council at a national level.
Members
were pleased to see that the gap between the lowest and highest pay was reducing
taking into account responsibilities of roles.
Members asked that in future consideration could be given on a national
level to award pay rises via monetary value rather than percentage which would
be of advantage to the lower paid.
RESOLVED: |
That
the Pay Policy Statement for 2021/2022 be published on the Council’s website. |
Supporting documents: