Agenda item

This report presents Members with details of progress of the pay negotiations for the financial year 2019/2020.

Discussion:

Members considered a report regarding the pay negotiations for the financial year 2019/2020.

A Member expressed the view that the pay negotiation process was not genuine and referred to the Council budget meeting in February 2018 where a further 0.5% increase in the pay award had been agreed which had not been part of the pay negotiations. Whether any discussions had taken place with the Trade Unions on how this extra funding should be allocated was queried and, if not, whether discussion would take place if the same was to happen this year.

Some Members referred to the points made earlier at the Joint Consultative Committee meeting by the Trade Union representatives about the financial difficulties some employees were experiencing, including having to resort to assistance from food banks. A Member expressed a wish to see if the number of employees using food banks could be established.

Reference was made to concerns expressed earlier at the Joint Consultative Committee from the Trade Union representatives that the Medpay Scheme could be discriminatory as employees with caring responsibilities in the home found it extremely difficult to qualify for some of the performance elements of the Scheme due to these other responsibilities. A Member commented that the Scheme was bureaucratic, expensive and time consuming and there had been no assessment of its value to the organisation in the five years it had been in place. It was proposed that a review of the Medpay Scheme be commissioned focusing in particular on the issues of fairness and equality, accepting such a review could not be completed by February 2019.

.A Member asked if the Medpay Scheme was monitored to ensure all employees received a Performance Development Review (PDR) assessment and also whether managers were carrying out these reviews in accordance with the Scheme.

The Assistant Director – Transformation advised Members that the Medpay scheme was very closely monitored to ensure all staff received a PDR. The PDR outcomes were moderated by senior management to ensure consistency and fairness and all Managers were trained in the Scheme and supported. A Member queried whether the scheme was equality proofed and asked for details of that to be included in future reports.

A Member commented that pay in Medway had fallen significantly behind that of local authority workers who were subject to the National pay bargaining. It was suggested that officers compare pay in Medway with what it would have been had Medway remained part of the national pay bargaining arrangements. It was accepted a full comparison was not feasible and this should be done through a sampling of a few pay points

A Member made the point that if the Council agreed to the Trade Unions’ pay claim then this would take the authority above the Council Tax cap limit, which would trigger a referendum and queried whether the costs of that had been factored in. In response, a Member commented that the costs could be met from efficiency savings and would not automatically have to be met from an increase in Council Tax.

In response to a suggestion that the pay award be weighted towards employees at the bottom of the pay scale, a Member commented that while this was laudable, to do so would reduce even further an already small cost of living increase into something unacceptable.

It was also suggested that additional leave could be given to employees and while this would not help those who felt a pay rise was needed it would go some way to address the increase in workloads some staff had experienced.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

a)     note the report, including progress made to date under the Pay Negotiations Protocol, and;

b)     commission a review of the Medpay Scheme focusing in particular on the issues of fairness and equality.