It was noted that apologies were received by Councillors Powell and Mrs Ring.

It was noted that Councillor Newton was present as a substitute for Councillor Powell.

There were no urgent items.

There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.

There were no Visiting Members.

There were no disclosures of lobbying.

RESOLVED: That all items be taken in public, as proposed.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Meeting held on 4 July 2018 be agreed as an accurate record of the meeting and signed.

Mrs Bal Sandher, the Head of HR Shared Services presented a report on the Pay Policy Statement for the Committee to consider and recommend to Council.

In response to comments from Members, Mrs Sandher undertook to:-

·  Amend the last sentence on Page 2 of the Statement to “In 2013 the council moved the lowest pay band in line with the National Living Wage giving a significant increase to the low paid, the council has continued to pay the National Living Wage since this point”.

·  Review the option of less costly pension arrangements for the Council and to report the options back to the Employment Committee.

In response to comments from Members, Mrs Sandher responded that:-

·  In areas where recruitment difficulties had been experienced such as in Planning, market supplements had been introduced.

·  The Council compared pay rates against the epay check produced by South East Employers.

RESOLVED:  That

1)  Subject to the amendment set out above, the Committee Recommend to Council that the proposed Pay Policy Statement, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report be approved prior to publication on the Council’s web site. 

2)  The Head of HR Services be requested to review the current pension arrangements and report the options back to the Employment Committee.

Voting:  Unanimous

The Committee considered the report of Mrs Sandher which provided a progress update on the Workforce Strategy action plan.

Mrs Sandher advised that progress had been made on all areas within the action plan.

In response to questions from the Committee, Mrs Sandher advised that:-

·  The Council provided a range of benefits for staff and encouraged sustainable travel such as cycling and walking.  The recently introduced new car scheme was in addition to that list.

·  HR Officers had been actively promoting their payroll services to other authorities and had been in discussions with colleagues in East Kent but the authorities had decided to purchase their own payroll system.

·  Staff had not expressed their concerns over the loss of the park and ride to officers in HR but may have expressed it to their Managers.

·  The Workforce Strategy was due to be reviewed in 2019 and would be considered by this Committee in 2020. 

RESOLVED:  That the progress of the actions set out in the Workforce Strategy be noted.

11.00 a.m. to 11.35 a.m.