Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:

(1) the type of interest concerned; and

(2) the nature of the interest concerned

If any member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting held on 16 November 2015 as a true and correct record.

The Committee agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2015 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Committee is asked to consider a request from the Deputy Chief Executive for voluntary redundancy as part of the 2016/17 budget reduction proposals and if accepted the resultant changes to the organisations chief officer structure. 

The Committee considered a request from the Deputy Chief Executive for voluntary redundancy as part of the 2016/2017 budget reduction proposals and if accepted the resultant changes to the organisations chief officer structure. 

It was reported that the Council had anticipated that there would be a funding gap of £20 million for the financial year 2016/2017 based on the information available to it at the time. The Provisional Settlement had been announced in late December 2015 and had brought an unexpected additional £5.1m of funding pressures as a result of further Government cuts to the Department for Communities and Local Government Departmental Expenditure Limit and front loading of those cuts over the 4-year Settlement period.

The Deputy Chief Executive had determined at this point that she would put a request to the Chief Executive that he considered a request from her for voluntary redundancy on the basis that her post could be removed.  The services she managed could be managed by other members of the Corporate Leadership Team and therefore a saving could be achieved that would be part of the strategy to close the gap.

The Chief Executive had considered that proposal and was satisfied that such arrangements could be made to restructure the management team and that as a result there would be a significant saving to the authority on an ongoing basis.

Details of proposed changes to the Council’s structure were put forward by the Chief Executive, which included the removal of the Deputy Chief Executive’s Department from the organisation structure. A new structure would ned to be in place from 1st April 2016, to take account of the proposed departure of Mrs McKeogh.

It was reported that further minor changes in the functions managed by Chief Officers could be necessary as these changes embed and impact on the workloads of the Chief Officers that remain. An opportunity would also be taken to look at certain particular functions in the above directorates to see where further resilience and complimentary working could be achieved and changes made to the structure which supported this.

Prior to formally considering the voluntary redundancy request the committee:

Resolved: That under Section 100 (A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be

excluded from the meeting for consideration of personal details of the voluntary redundancy request on the grounds that it would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

The Committee agreed:

1.      To approve the voluntary redundancy of the Deputy Chief Executive, Carmel McKeogh effective from the 31 March 2016.  This request will deliver on going senior management savings and contribute to the 2016/ 2017 savings proposals.

2.      To agree to the removal of the Deputy Chief Executive’s Department from the organisational structure and to note that the Chief Executive will review the proposed changes to the Council’s structure to be effective from 1st April 2016. These being on the basis put forward in the report and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To consider the Council’s Pay Policy Statement and to recommend Council accordingly.

Members were reminded that the Council was required to produce a pay policy statement, which had to be in place for the financial year 2016/ 2017 and had received full Council approval before the start of that year.

The report referred to areas which the statement must set out relating to the Council’s policy on Chief Officer Remuneration, Remuneration of its lowest paid employees and the relationship between chief officer remuneration and that of other staff. 

The guidance from the Department for Communities and Local Government had indicated that they expected the policy statement to cover other areas including the opportunity for full Council to vote on senior remuneration packages with a value over £100,000, an explanation of the planned relationship between Chief Officer remuneration and that of other staff and the ratio between the highest paid and median salary that the authority aims to achieve and maintain. Other considerations included the value of the system of earn back pay with an element of their basic pay at risk each year to be earned back through meeting pre-agreed objectives, any decision that the Authority takes in relation to the award of severance to an individual Chief Officer and the pay multiple, which was the ratio between the highest paid salary and the median average salary of the whole authority’s workforce.

The proposed Council Pay Policy Statement was submitted for consideration based on the guidance referred to in the report. It was reported that it was likely that a revision to this policy would be required during the municipal year 2016/ 2017, in light of a number of changes proposed by the Government to the terms and conditions of public sector workers. The appropriate changes to the policy would be applied when further guidance was provided and the statement re submitted to Council.

The Committee agreed that the Council be recommended to approve the Pay Policy Statement, as set out in the report.