Meeting documents
Venue: Room 6, South Bucks District Council, Capswood, Oxford Road, Denham UB9 4LH. View directions
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To agree the minutes of the Joint Staffing Committee held on 18 January
2018. Minutes: The Minutes of the Joint Staffing Committee meeting on 18 January 2018
were agreed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman as a correct record. |
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Declarations of Interest Minutes: There were no declarations of interest. |
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Minutes: The Committee considered a report to approve the final pay award for
staff on harmonised contracts and also to agree the pay award offer to be made
to Heads of Service whose pay is determined locally to be effective from 1
April 2018 and 1 April 2019. Staff on the Harmonised Contract At the last meeting the Committee agreed to make an offer of an increase
of 2% in pay in April 2018 and 2% in April 2019. Members also agreed some proposed changes to
the pay spine to ensure staff at the lower ends were paid in accordance with
the national living wage. Officers took that offer to UNISON and have since undergone a series of
negotiations with them. UNISON initially
put in a counter offer for 3% pay award in 2018 and 3% in 2019. They also wanted some guarantees that this
Council would at least track the national agreement and strongly disagreed with
the Council’s position that had previously been agreed to move to local pay arrangements. As a result of a series of discussions a position of common ground has
been found which has been put in recommendation 1 of the report. Heads of Services Members were asked to make a pay award offer to the Heads of Services
which equates to that made to staff.Â
Heads of Services are on locally agreed pay but the Council needs to be
mindful of what is happening nationally.Â
Nationally the Joint Negotiating Committee agreement is still subject to
negotiation but it is likely it will match this proposal. The GMB Pay Claim asks for parity across all
local government bargaining groups. A Member asked why pre-determined conditions should be accepted with a
local pay mechanism. The HR Manager reported that as good practice the Council
would always track the national pay award and seek to match it if they were
able to afford it and if not they would have to go back to the negotiating
table. Members agreed that it was helpful to link local pay with the national
situation as far as possible and that this would help attract good staff to the
Council and help retention but re-iterated the position that local pay was now
in place. RESOLVED:
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2017 Staff Survey Report PDF 158 KB Minutes: The Committee received a report on the results of the staff survey for
2017 conducted in December and January this year and the following points were
noted:-
The Council is responding to the survey as follows:-
Whilst Members found the results very encouraging, despite the
uncertainty around the unitary decision (which had been picked up in the recent
Peer review) they highlighted the following issues:-
RESOLVED That the
results of the 2017 Staff Survey and the actions being taken in response to the
feedback given be noted. |
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Human Resources Update Report PDF 158 KB Minutes: The HR Manager provided an update on the following key points:- The leavers, sickness and recruitment figures show nothing different
from that reported at the last Committee meeting in January. In terms of sickness absence the Council is
still experiencing higher than wanted absence levels and have put a number of
initiatives in place to tackle this. Project work ·
All
on-going projects have been reported on previously. ·
The main
update which will be of particular interest is the work the Council is doing
around recruitment and retention in Planning and Economic Development. The Council is currently consulting with the
staff in this area to get their feedback on these ideas and initiatives and it
is something that will be a particular focus for officers over the next couple
of years not just in planning but across all services. ·
The HR
Manager was keen on the Recruitment Introduction Fee for existing staff when
they introduce employees to roles. ·
It was
important to keep staff motivated over the next two years with the uncertainty
around the unitary decision. ·
The second
cohort of the Middle Managers course had recently started. The first cohort were completing their learning logs and should be
able to apply for their ILM certificate. ·
A
trailblazer degree level apprenticeship in Town Planning is currently being
developed and alongside this the Council is considering using apprenticeships
to offer development opportunities to existing staff. The Committee welcomed the initiatives being undertaken, particularly
the work on apprenticeships and the Middle Managers Course. They also welcomed
the collaborative working with Wycombe District Council on coaching and
mentoring in order to make savings through economies of scale. Concern was
raised about the sickness levels still being too high. The HR Manager reported
that these figures could be skewed as a phased return to work was still
recorded as time off sick and the sickness policy should be amended to provide
a clearer picture. A Member asked whether the Council had a formal succession policy. The
HR Manager reported that they did not although they expected to see this
addressed in personal development plans. There was also a Workforce Planning
Framework which included information on competencies and skills and the Service
Planning process. RESOLVED That the
report be noted. |