Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interests in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

Any Member with an affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting.  There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11 July 2024.

No comments were raised regarding the minutes of the meeting held on 11 July 2024.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 11 July 2024 would be formally approved formally the next time the Committee met on 4 December 2024.

There were no urgent items of business.

A verbal update from the Chairman of the Local Joint Committee.

The Local Joint Committee had received an update on the ongoing negotiations between the trade unions and the National Employers.

The Trade Unions had no further issues to raise.

The Committee is asked to note the minutes of the Local Joint Committee held on 11 July 2024.

The Committed noted the minutes of the Local Joint Committee meeting held on 11 July 2024.

To provide an update and overview of the current situation on the 2024/25 NJC pay award negotiations which, when agreed, will be effective from 1 April 2024.

The Committee received an update on the 2024/25 NJC Pay Award. They were informed that ongoing negotiations related to green book staff, which included most council staff, excluding the Chief Executive, Executive Directors, and Assistant Directors. Negotiations for the Chief Executive and Soulbury pay awards were ongoing; however, the pay award for Executive Directors and Assistant Directors had been agreed.

Since the previous meeting of the Committee, Trade Unions had asked National Employers to review their pay offer in light of increased pay offers elsewhere in the public sector. The National Employers reaffirmed that their final offer was a pay rise of £1,290 for those between NJC pay points 2 and 43, or 2.5% for those above pay point 43.

The GMB had voted to accept this offer, while Unite and Unison both rejected it and were balloting for industrial action. It was emphasized to the Committee that any proposed action was part of a national dispute and was not directed against Bracknell Forest Council.

From the discussion and questions, the following points were noted:

• The National Employers represented all local authorities that signed up to their scheme, appointing individuals to act on their behalf.

The Committee noted the update.