Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interest, and the nature of that interest, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 13 February 2012.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2012 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To seek the Employment Committee’s endorsement to the equalisation of the working week in the Leisure and Landscape functions of the Council to 37 hours.

The Chief Officer: Human Resources reported that for some years the Council had been working toward a harmonised set of contract terms and conditions for all its staff. In March 2011, as part of an overall approach to job evaluation and equal pay, Corporate Management Team considered a detailed report on the equalisation of the working week and decided to recommend that all staff should be employed on 37 hours but to defer that until the implementation of the revised pay and grading structure, then expected in April 2012. 

In June 2011 the Executive, agreed that officers needed to continue the ongoing dialogue with the unions on the implementation of a new pay structure and also accepted that the Council would need to separately consider the equalisation of working hours because it would not be possible to have a new pay structure agreed for a 1 April 2012 implementation.

The Chief Officer: Human Resources reported that the Council needed to regularise hours to ensure equity among employees and to reduce the Council’s vulnerability to an equal pay claim. 

In response to members’ queries the Director of Environment, Culture & Communities clarified that the Council had always been the legal employer of Leisure and Landscaping staff and they had not been employed under separate arrangements. He stated that if harmonised hours were implemented temporary seasonal staff would be employed in the Landscaping Section during peak periods. In addition, he reported that staff had not yet been informed about the harmonised hours but would be if the Employment Committee approved the report.

The Chief Officer: Human Resources reported that even if hours were harmonised; in the event of any successful equal pay claim, the Council would always be liable for back pay for a period of six years.

Councillor Worrall PROPOSED an AMENDMENT to the recommendation in the agenda papers as follows:

‘That the Employment Committee approve the equalisation of the working week in Leisure and Landscape to 37 hours, the funding for which was approved by Council on 29 February 2012, to be implemented from 1 October 2012’.

The AMENDMENT was SECONDED by Councillor Leake and upon being put to the vote the amendment was CARRIED.

It was RESOLVED that the Employment Committee approved the equalisation of the working week in Leisure and Landscape to 37 hours, the funding for which was approved by Council on 29 February 2012, to be implemented from 1 October 2012.

At the Special Employment Committee meeting on 13 February 2012, the Committee was informed that redeployment efforts were continuing and that a further report would be made to indicate how many of the 66 employees that were due to be made redundant, had been successfully redeployed into other posts with the Council.

The Chief Officer: Human Resources reported that at the Special Employment Committee meeting on 13 February 2012, 66 redundancies were approved to take effect on 31 March 2012, with 44 of the total confirmed after final decisions were made at Executive on the closure of Ladybank and the Home Care Team. The Committee had been informed that redeployment efforts were continuing and that a further report would be made to indicate how many of the 66 had been successfully redeployed into other posts with the Council.

The Chief Officer: Human Resources reported that around a third of the staff faced with redundancy had been redeployed. This in turn had significantly reduced the costs of redundancy, the decision to reduce the redundancy pay multiplier had further reduced costs and a total of £1.3 million had been saved on the Devolved Staffing Budget.

Members noted the report and agreed that this was a reasonable outcome from a difficult situation.

i) Local Joint Committee, 1 May 2012 (2pm) – A verbal update from the Chairman.

The Chairman of the Local Joint Committee (LJC) reported that LJC had met earlier in the day and the unions had not raised any concerns around the reports to be considered by the Employment Committee.

An Information Item.

The Chief Officer: Human Resources reported that the Localism Act 2011 required the Council to create and publish a Pay Policy Statement, with particular emphasis on senior pay.  He stated that most of the content included in the Pay Policy Statement was specifically required by the Localism Act whilst other aspects were derived from suggestions in the Joint National Council for Chief Executives of Local Authorities’ guidance on pay policies in order to give a fuller picture of the work of officers of the Council.

The Committee noted the Information item.

The purpose of this report is to consider the staffing implications following the consultation on the future of the Youth Service. This followed the requirement to achieve a £250,000 reduction in Youth Service budget. For employment purposes this relates to the staffing implications on the proposed closure of three youth centres - North Ascot, Whitegrove and Edgbarrow.

The Chief Officer: Strategy, Resources and Early Intervention reported that the purpose of the report was to consider the staffing implications following consultation on the future of the Youth Service. This followed the requirement to achieve a £250,000 reduction in the Youth Service budget.

It was reported that as the Executive had approved the overall budget, the Employment Committee was now being asked to consider the deletion of the posts identified in Exempt Appendix A.

The Chief Officer: Strategy, Resources and Early Intervention reported that extensive consultation had taken place around the reduction in services and facilities. There had been a public meeting as well as considerable engagement with staff affected. Currently, four redeployment opportunities had been identified and were being followed up.

Councillor McLean PROPOSED an AMENDMENT to recommendation 2.1 in the agenda papers as follows:

‘That approval be given to the deletion of the posts identified in Exempt Appendix A by 1 July 2012.’

The AMENDMENT was SECONDED by Councillor Ward and upon being put to the vote the amendment was CARRIED.

It was RESOLVED that;

i)                    approval be given to the deletion of the posts identified in Exempt Appendix A by 1 July 2012.

ii)                   Subject to any redeployment opportunities offered to those affected, that the post holders be declared redundant in accordance with the terms set out in Exempt Appendix A with the costs being met from the Structural Changes Fund.

To consider the following motion:

That pursuant to section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, and having regard to the public interest, members of the public and press be excluded from the meeting for consideration of the following items which involve the likely disclosure of exempt information under the following category of Schedule 12A of that Act:

            (1)  Information relating to any individual  (Item 10)

RESOLVED that pursuant to section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, members of the public and press be excluded from the meeting for consideration of item 10 of the agenda which involved the likely disclosure of exempt information under category 1 of Schedule 12A of that Act:

            (1)  Information relating to any individual

The information in the Exempt Appendix was noted.

20 June 2012

20 June 2012