Agenda item

[NOTE:

1.    Councillors J.M. Charles, D.M. Cundy, A. Davies, B. Davies, C.A. Davies, T. Davies, T.A.J. Davies, A. Evans, D.C. Evans, N.  Evans, R.E. Evans, S. Godfrey-Coles, J. Hart, T. Higgins, P.M. Hughes, R. James, A.C. Jones, H. Jones. A. Leyshon, M.J.A. Lewis, K. Madge, M. Palfreman, W.E. Skinner, E. Rees, B.A.L. Roberts, and F. Walters had earlier declared interests in this item and, left the meeting;

2.    All officers in attendance were deemed to have a personal interest in this item and left the meeting prior to its consideration with the exception of the Democratic Services Manager, Democratic Services Officer and officers who were facilitating the webcasting of the meeting.

3.    As the Cabinet Member for Organisation and Workforce had declared an interest in this item and left the meeting, the Leader of the Council presented the report on his behalf)

4.    As the Chair of Council, Councillor B.AL. Roberts, had declared an interest in this item, the Vice Chair chaired the meeting during the report’s consideration.

The Leader of the Council, on behalf of the Cabinet Member for Organisation and Workforce, presented the report which outlined that under the provisions of the Localism Act 2011, all Local Authorities were required to prepare a Pay Policy Statement which must be agreed and published by the 1^st April every year. The Statement required the approval of full Council and had to set out the Authority’s policies for the financial year relating to the remuneration of its Chief Officers, its lowest paid employees and the relationship between the remuneration of its Chief Officers and its employees who were not Chief Officers.

It was reported that the politically balanced Pay Policy Advisory Panel had had input into the formulation of the Pay Policy Statement and its recommendations had been incorporated into the final document for approval by County Council that day. It was reported that at its meeting the previous year, the Panel had requested that options be put forward for reviewing the existing NJC pay model and removing grade overlaps, particularly at the bottom of the pay scale. In accordance with that request, a separate paper (attached to the report) detailed 2 proposals for removing the overlaps between Grades A to D and A to E together with costings. The Pay Panel, at its meeting on the 20th February 2024, had considered both options, in the context of the challenging financial climate, and agreed to introduce proposal 1 (i.e. to remove the overlaps from Grades A to D inclusive) in April 2025, if financially viable to do so. That recommendation was to be discussed at the forthcoming Trade Union Joint Consultative Forum in April 2024.

Council was further advised that in addition to the commitment already given in relation to the Foundation Living wage rates of pay, the Authority was also minded to revise its apprenticeship pay to reflect the rate for the job. If adopted, that would help address the Council’s commitment to support its lowest paid members of staff with some apprentices receiving up to an additional £6k per annum. In so doing, it would also assist in improving recruitment and attract more applicants to join the Council as an apprentice in support of the Cabinet’s Vision Statement, together with marketing the Council as an attractive employer for apprentices, school leavers and graduates and focus on reducing the migration of young people out of Carmarthenshire and the rural areas.

Finally, the Panel had also approved the removal of the additional 10% pay allowance for JNC Heads of Service fulfilling statutory roles.

RESOLVED that the Pay Policy Statement 2024/25 be approved in compliance with Section 38(1) of the Localism Act 2011.

[Following the vote, the members who had declared an interest and had left the meeting were readmitted to the meeting together with the officers and Cllr. B.A.L. Roberts took the Chair].