Issue - meetings

Market Premia and Job Gradings

Meeting: 10/07/2019 - Employment Committee (Item 11)

Recruitment and Retention

To outline the current developments led by HR in by the Council in relation to Recruitment and Retention.

Minutes:

The Committee received a report on the current developments led by HR in relation to Recruitment and Retention including the Council’s current approach to the use of market premia payments.

 

Members were advised that market premia payments were evaluated on an annual basis but that a more robust job evaluation system was being worked towards with the aim of making market premia payments unnecessary.  This was because an annual market premia review was a large piece of work and time consuming with regard to obtaining market evidence, in particular because the market did not change much over a 12-month period.  However, there were four roles for which market premia payments were currently being paid, three of which were last reviewed in 2010, which were therefore in urgent need of review:

 

  • Principal Procurement Officer
  • Principal Building Control Surveyor
  • Senior Building Control Surveyor
  • Head of Audit & Risk Management

 

The Report detailed the comparative data which had been collated in support of retaining the market premia payment in the above roles.  Members were advised that the role could not be moved into a higher band – which would remove the need for the a market premia payment – without changing the role as that would leave the Council open to a challenge of equal pay for equal value.

 

Members were advised that market premia payments were not pensionable.

 

The Chief Executive said that when new vacancies arose, the position should not be re-advertised twice without the market premia as a means of testing the market – as set out in Appendix A of the Report – and therefore asked that this  was removed.  Instead, the market should be tested by way of searching for the equivalent role on various search engines and other platforms including other local authorities recruiting to the same post.  The resultant data would provide the comparative evidence required by CMT to substantiate whether the role should continue to receive the market premia payment.

 

RESOLVED that

 

i.              The significant developments to date led by HR to advance the image of the Council and attract/retain quality candidates be noted.

 

Ii          That the following positions retain the market premium payments:

 

1.         Principal Procurement Officer - 12.5%

2.         Principal & Senior Building Control Surveyors 15%

3.         Head of Audit and Risk Management - 15%

 

iii.            The principles outlined in the report be agreed and the document in Appendix 1 outlining the market premia principles be endorsed.

 

iv.           Approval for Market Premia payments to officers be delegated to CMT, in consultation with the Chairman of the Employment Committee, within the parameters outlined in the market premia principles.

 

v.             The review of the job evaluation process and reduction in market premia be noted.

 

All market premia reviews be consolidated with the next review for all market premia positions (including Children’s Social Care) to be presented to the Employment Committee in March 2020 in line with the Children’s Social Care review.


 

Contact Information

Democratic services

Email: committee@bracknell-forest.gov.uk