Agenda item

To consider Item 9

The Head of Human Resources advised Members that this was the annual Senior Management Team Remuneration and Performance Review and Annual Report on Employee Bonus Scheme. The executive summary showed the posts covered, contracts, cost of providing services, background and context to pay and remuneration, the national context, legislation, pay and gender pay and the financial position, budget monitoring, HMICFRS recommendations and the Council tax precept.

The Senior Management Team do not play a part in the pay review process.  Previously they had not seen the report due to its confidentiality. The Senior Management Team had seen this report after it was sent to Members, as it was not now deemed exempt.

The Head of Human Resources advised Members that Appendix 1 Comparative Data of Fire Authorities Council Tax Precept 2021/2022 (source Council Tax Requirement Forms) showed that the Authority had one of the lowest Council Tax Precepts.  Appendix 2 showed the Senior Management Team performance and achievements, for example achieving the Armed Forces Covenant, high level external qualifications, EDI performance and reduction in business rates.  Appendix 3 was the Equality Impact Assessment which showed neutral impacts for the Senior Management Team and employees.

The Chief Fire Officer advised Members that this report had been formulated while he was out of the Service. Members would know the history that over a number of years, the Authority decided to award bonuses and then in his tenure, he had tried to move away from that system. Over the last few years, in conjunction with the previous Lead Member, it didn’t seem right or proper to be awarding bonuses with the difficult financial restraints. The current policy had remained in place, and the Authority had chosen not to award bonuses which was the right decision. Moving forward, however, on this paper, there was a recommendation to say do we actually want to remove the bonus scheme in its entirety and bring a further proposal back to the Authority.

The Chairman advised that this was the first year he had seen the report and its bonus scheme. He felt that as there wasn’t a set of measures and clear outcomes, it would be incredibly demotivating for officers to know something exists, but to not know until the end of the year whether they achieved it or not. Also, one of the issues was the Authority does not budget for this bonus scheme. There was also a need to draw attention to the great job that officers had done in delivering over the year, and the performance output should not be missed.

A Member welcomed the recommendations but felt that one of the recommendations should be removing it as a policy completely.

The Head of Human Resources asked Members if they were meaning just the Senior Management Team or were they including the employee bonus, because the employee bonus forms part of the Pay Policy, which would be presented to the Fire Authority meeting in February.

A Member asked regarding the employee bonus scheme, was there an opportunity to invite firefighters to undertake things they were not currently doing like eLearning and appraisals to get a bonus.

The Head of Human Resources advised that undertaking eLearning and appraisals was part of the job. The way the bonus scheme was set out in the Pay Policy was an application process for managers to apply when someone/or group had gone over and above what they should be doing as part of their role. The last time this took place was back in 2018. Once submitted, all the applications go forward to a SMT panel to look at and decide if, and at what level, they were awarded.

RESOLVED –

1.      That performance related pay and bonus payments are not paid to the Senior Management Team in the current financial year.

2.      That Performance related pay and bonus payments are reviewed in the next financial year.

3.      That the Head of Human Resources be tasked to review the SMT remuneration methodology and employee bonus scheme in consultation with the Chairman and Chief Fire Officer.