Pay Policy Statement

This document sets out the Council’s Pay Policy in relation to the remuneration of its’ employees in accordance with Section 38 of the Localism Act 2011. The Policy is subject to annual review and must be approved by Borough Council for each financial year. The Policy will be published on the Council’s website as soon as reasonably practicable after approval or amendment.

The arrangements set out within this document do not extend to those employees who are employed within schools.

The following definitions will apply throughout this policy statement:

Lowest-paid employees

From 1st April 2020 those employees who are employed in jobs which are paid on Band 3, this being the lowest salary paid to employees other than apprentices. The salaries attributable to apprentices depend on age and are those set out within the National Minimum Wage legislation. Given the specific nature of these appointments, it is felt inappropriate to include apprentices within the definition of lowest paid employees for the purposes of this policy statement.

Chief Officer

Head of Paid Service designated under section 4(1) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989; Monitoring Officer designated under section 5(1) of that Act; Any statutory chief officer mentioned in section 2(6) of that Act; Any non-statutory chief officer mentioned in section 2(7) of that Act; Any deputy chief officer mentioned in section 2(8) of that Act.

Chief Officer posts and the attributable salaries are as follows:

All of the above payments are subject to satisfactory performance as determined by the Council’s Head of Paid Service.

JNC terms and conditions are incorporated into all Chief Officers’ contracts of employment.

The salaries attributable to Chief Officer posts are based on:

• clear salary differentials which reflect the level of responsibility attached to any particular role; and
• rates which are reasonably sufficient to recruit and retain senior officers taking into account market conditions.

Increases in pay for Chief Officers will occur only as a result of:

• pay awards agreed by way of national/local collective pay bargaining arrangements; or
• significant changes to a Chief Officer’s role which result in a higher salary being appropriate,
• recruitment and/or retention payments which, in all the given circumstances at the relevant time, are deemed necessary in the best interests of the Council and which are determined under a relevant policy relating to such payments.

Directors are paid on a pay range, as defined in 3.1.

It is expected that senior officers will perform to the highest level and performance related pay does not, therefore, form part of current remuneration arrangements. This position will be reviewed if legislation and/or guidance relating to senior posts are changed.

Election Duties undertaken by Chief Officers

Fees for election and referenda duties undertaken by Chief Officers are not included in their salaries. Election fees are payable only for national elections and vary on each occasion.

Payments to Chief Officers upon Termination of their Employment

Chief Officers who cease to hold office or be employed by the Council will receive payments calculated using the same principles as any other employee, based on entitlement within their contract of employment, their general terms and conditions, and existing policies.

In the case of termination of employment by way of early retirement, redundancy (voluntary or otherwise) or on the grounds of efficiency of the service, the Council’s Early Retirement and Redundancy Policy sets out provisions which apply to all employees regardless of their level of seniority.

The Council’s Pension Scheme Policy document sets out the relevant provisions in relation to awarding additional pension entitlement.

Information will be published on the Council’s website in line with The Local Authorities (Data Transparency) Code 2015.

The Council introduced ‘single status arrangements’ in 2010. The lowest paid employees within the authority are appointed to posts which have been evaluated using an agreed job evaluation scheme and are remunerated accordingly.

The ‘pay multiple’ for the Council is determined by comparing the hourly pay for the highest paid employee against that of the median hourly pay for the organisation as a whole.

The Council’s current pay multiple is 6.68.

The salaries attributable to posts are determined via a job evaluation. Employees are remunerated according to the evaluated score of the post they hold and by reference to the salary scale existing at any given time. Some posts may include an entitlement to incremental progression.

New appointments are subject to the Council’s Recruitment and Selection Policy and will generally be made at the third spinal column point of all pay bands unless there are special circumstances and payment at a higher level can be objectively justified. In the event of any employee securing a higher-graded post via internal promotion/recruitment and there being an overlap of spinal column points between their current post and bottom point of the newly secured position, then the Council will generally pay salary on the third spinal column point. Where an employee is redeployed because of redundancy or ill health, they will generally be appointed to the third spinal column point within the new band.