Agenda item

To receive the report of the Chief Executive presenting the Council’s Statutory Pay Policy Statement for consideration and approval.            (Report No.171A)

Members are asked to note that the draft Pay Policy Statement was subject to review and recommendation onto Council, at the Remuneration Sub Committee on 19 March 2013.

Councillor Simon moved and Councillor Brett seconded the report of the Chief Executive (No.171A) presenting the Council’s Statutory Pay Policy Statement for consideration and approval.

NOTED

1.            The Draft Pay Policy Statement had been subject to review and recommendation on to Council for approval, by the Remuneration Sub Committee on 19 March 2013.

2.            The report had been withdrawn from the agenda at the last meeting to allow consideration to be given to additional supplementary guidance from the Department of Communities & Local Government (DCLG) relating to the approval of salary and severance packages of £100k or above.

3.            The supplementary guidance had been considered by the Remuneration Sub Committee (19 March 2013) who had:

a.            been satisfied, on the basis of the detail provided in section 3.4 of the report, that the existing mechanisms relating to senior appointments provided an appropriate level of accountability in relation to the approval of any salary level of £100k or above.  The mechanisms already in place to address the requirements within the supplementary guidance had been included  within section 3.9.1 of the Pay Policy Statement;

b.            recommended that the supplementary guidance in relation to severance payments should not be incorporated into the Pay Policy Statement, at this stage, given:

·              the lack of clarity on what constituted a severance payment and whether non-discretionary elements would need to be included;

·              at what level its application would be appropriate;

·              concerns regarding compliance with data protection and Article 8 Human Rights considerations;

Further advice was being sought on these issues and in the interim, in order to address the supplementary guidance, it had been recommended that the Assistant Director Human Resources in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance & Property and relevant Cabinet Member(s) and Director(s) would make decisions on a case by case basis to decide whether severance payments in excess of £100k should be referred to Council.

4.      The concerns raised by the Opposition Group in relation to the approach outlined in 3. above towards addressing the supplementary guidance.  It was felt the Council needed to be fully transparent in relation to the level of senior officer pay and severance packages.

As a result of the concerns raised Councillor Neville moved and Councillor Rye seconded an amendment to the recommendation within the report so that adoption of the Pay Policy Statement would be subject to the Council resolving with immediate effect (in accordance with DCLG Guidance) that all proposed appointments at a salary in excess of £100,000 and all proposed severance arrangements in excess of £100,000 go to full council for approval.  The amendment was subsequently withdrawn, after a period of further debate, on the basis that:

·              details of all senior officer posts attracting a salary of £100k or above were already published within the Council’s accounts; and

·              further advice was still being sought from DCLG and London Councils on the extent of what needed to be included in the definition of severance payments within the guidance.  Once clarified, the Leader of the Council advised that further consideration of the guidance on severance payments would be undertaken as part of the next annual Pay Policy Statement review process.

5.      In response to a query raised by the Opposition Group at the meeting the Assistant Director Human Resources would be asked to provide Councillors Rye & Prescott with written details of the changes to the car mileage allowance adopted by the Council in 2012.  Action: Assistant Director Human Resources

AGREED to

(1)    adopt the Statutory Pay Policy Statement attached as Appendix 2 of the report.

(2)    note that further advice was being sought in relation to the DCLG guidance around severance payments and this issue would be subject to further consideration as part of the next annual review process.