MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL
Employment Committee
Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 28 January 2019
Present: |
Councillors Mrs Grigg (in the Chair), D Burton, Cox, Mrs Gooch, Mrs Grigg, McKay, Newton, Perry and Springett |
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19. Apologies for Absence
It was noted that apologies were received by Councillors Powell and Mrs Ring.
20. Notification of Substitute Members
It was noted that Councillor Newton was present as a substitute for Councillor Powell.
21. Urgent Items
There were no urgent items.
22. Disclosures by Members and Officers
There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.
23. Notification of Visiting Members
There were no Visiting Members.
24. Disclosures of Lobbying
There were no disclosures of lobbying.
25. Exempt Items
RESOLVED: That all items be taken in public, as proposed.
26. Minutes of the Meeting held on 4 July 2018
RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Meeting held on 4 July 2018 be agreed as an accurate record of the meeting and signed.
27. Pay Policy Statement 2019
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
28. Workforce Strategy Update Report
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.
29. Duration of Meeting
11.00 a.m. to 11.35 a.m.