Issue - meetings

The Council is asked to agree the Pay Policy Statement for the financial year 2026/2027, in accordance with the Localism Act 2011.

Background:

This report provided details of the Pay Policy Statement (PPS) for the financial year 2026/27, in accordance with the Localism Act 2011. It was noted that the PPS must be approved by a resolution of Full Council before it came into force and had to be prepared and approved before 31 March 2026 for the following financial year.

The report had been considered by the Employment Matters Committee on 28 January 2026, details of which were set out in section 5 of the report.

The Chairperson of the Employment Matters Committee, Councillor Mark Prenter, supported by the Portfolio Holder for Business Management, Councillor Van Dyke, proposed the recommendations, as set out in the report.

Decisions:

a)    The Council noted the comments of the Employment Matters Committee, as set out at section 5 of the report.

b)    The Council agreed the updated Pay Policy Statement 2026/2027, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

This report set out the Pay Policy Statement for the financial year 2026/2027, in accordance with the Localism Act 2011, for referral to Full Council for agreement.

Discussion

The Chief Organisational Culture Officer introduced the report which presented the Pay Policy Statement for the financial year 2026/2027, in accordance with the Localism Act 2011, for referral to Full Council for agreement. The key change this year was an amendment removing the requirement of approval of Full Council to any appointment above Assistant Director with a salary over £100,000, which had caused delays in recruitment and made it difficult to respond quickly to market conditions. The proposal was to increase this threshold to £150,000, with approval instead delegated to the Appointments Committee.

In response to questions around allowances, the Chief Organisational Culture Officer advised they were legacy arrangements that had not been formally reviewed. The amounts were insufficient to provide the intended benefits, and in practice had been used to supplement salary where pay could not otherwise be increased. Senior leadership pay had not yet been fully reviewed, but was underway, including benchmarking and career progression frameworks and as part of that work, allowances would be reconsidered.

In response to questions, the Chief Organisational Culture Officer advised that the essential car user allowance was reviewed annually and there were currently three different car user allowances in operation, which was considered overly complex. A full review of all car allowances was delayed last year due to capacity pressures from the MedPay review but was scheduled to take place this year, with benchmarking against neighbouring authorities to ensure consistency and simplicity.

Members noted the Joint Consultative Committee comments from the earlier meeting about rewording 2.61 of the policy for better clarity.

Decision:

The Employment Matters Committee noted the updated Pay Policy Statement 2026/2027, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, and agreed to refer it to Full Council for agreement.