Council and democracy

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex, RM17 6SL. View directions

Contact: Matthew Boulter, Principal Democratic Services Officer  Email: Direct.Democracy@thurrock.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

20.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 55 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of General Services Committee meeting held on 7 March 2018.

 

Minutes:

The minutes of the General Services Committee held on 7 March 2018 were approved as a correct record.

21.

Items of Urgent Business

To receive additional items that the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency, in accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

22.

Declarations of Interests

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

23.

Pay Review Project - Members Proposal

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Officers introduced the report stating that the current pay structures had been in place since 2006 and the Council had committed to reviewing it for some time. At present pay bands overlapped and were too long; these issues would be remedied by the new structure proposed. Officers confirmed that the proposed changes had already been discussed with trades unions.

The options available to the Council were briefly discussed and it was made clear that making no change would cost the council £2.6 million and would not address the risks and discrepancies in the current system. A ‘fix all’ approach would cost £12 million, a sum the Council could not afford. The proposed option presented the best option.

Officers confirmed trades unions were generally positive and if the committee agreed the report tonight then communications would start with staff and a full consultation would be undertaken with trades unions.

Councillor Duffin queried the financial implications and whether the council was at risk of any fines for not implementing the complete solution. Officers stated the risks were mitigated by implementing the phased approach and affordability was always a consideration. It was further confirmed that all three recognised unions represented in Thurrock were supportive of the scheme.

There was a brief discussion around whether staff lost money or benefits due to the new scheme. Officers replied that one of the principles of the review meant there would be no reduction in anyone’s base pay.

The Committee noted the work of individual officers in this project.

RESOLVED: That:

  1. The new pay structure as outlined in Appendix 2 be agreed.

 

  1. The Committee delegate authority to negotiate a new single status agreement with trades unions to the Director of HR, OD & Transformation in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Central Services, subject to the parameters detailed in Appendix 2.

 

24.

Chief Executive Performance Appraisal pdf icon PDF 69 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair stated that due to their being a lack of full political representation at the meeting her felt it right to postpone this item until all political parties were present.