Issue - meetings

This report gives an update on the progress of the pay negotiations for the financial year 2026/2027 and sets out the Councils pay offer for 2026/27 for referral to Full Council for agreement. 

Discussion

The Chief Organisational Culture Officer introduced the report which set out the progress of the pay negotiations for the financial year 2026/2027, and to set out the Councils pay offer for 2026/27 for referral to Full Council for agreement. She advised that the report suggested a 3% increase however it had always been a commitment to match with inflation when looking at the cost of living award which at the time of publication was 3.2% and had in fact now risen to 3.4% and suggested that the Committee may wish to recommend an inflation linked approach rather than a fixed percentage.

Members noted the Joint Consultative Committee comments from the earlier meeting around a pay increase in line with inflation being the bare minimum; the need for a revisit of the Kent County Council sleep?in payment figure referenced in the report; more creativity wanted in the overall pay package; and the potential adverse impact concern, including on diversity particularly in relation to MedPay.

The Chief Organisational Culture Officer advised that the Employee Value Proposition continued to be reviewed and developed on an ongoing basis. By way of example, work was currently underway with the Public Health team, and the Council had achieved Bronze status under the Healthy Workplace Award with an ambition to progress to Gold status. Whilst a number of benefits had been introduced the previous year, the implementation of such initiatives required time to establish contractual arrangements, embed them within the organisation, and ensure officers and colleagues were able to access and use them effectively. The Committee were therefore assured that this was an ongoing piece of work.

Pay increase - Clarification was sought as to whether the additional cost would be funded through an increased overspend or through savings elsewhere, when the budgetary impact of increasing the pay award to 3.4%, could add approximately £0.5m to costs at a time when a £25m overspend was forecast. In response the Chief Organisational Culture Officer advised that the Council was currently in the process of its third quarter budget forecasting, and that the final financial impact had not yet been determined. Detailed discussions were ongoing across Directorates, Management Team and Portfolio Holders to identify opportunities to reduce the forecast overspend and consider potential savings. Recruitment and retention challenges across a number of key roles remained a significant consideration, and maintaining competitive pay was important to support workforce stability and delivery of the Council Plan.

LGR - It was queried whether modelling had been undertaken on potential workforce loss, recruitment challenges and associated cost or savings implications in the lead-up to Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).

The Chief Organisational Culture Officer advised that in preparation for LGR, a dedicated people workstream was validating establishment data to support forecasting, succession planning and risk assessment. This work was at an early stage and would continue to develop. Further information would be reported to the Committee at an appropriate stage.

NJC - In relation to NJC pay, it was noted that although  ...  view the full minutes text for item 677