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1 |
Summary |
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1.1 |
A Pay & Rewards Programme has been set up with two interdependent projects forming the overall programme. These two projects are an Equal Pay Audit and a Rewards Review. The Pay & Rewards Review is a sub group of the Workforce Plan Steering Group. |
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1.2 |
The programme has been set up to deliver recommendations to the service by March 2007 for its future strategy on equality of pay. In addition a methodology for allowances and recommendations for future allowances and other rewards to be paid to staff from all groups across the service will be devised. |
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2 |
RecommendationError! Bookmark not defined.(s) |
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2.1 |
That the Human Resources Committee notes that a review has been set up to look at pay and rewards across the service. |
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2.2 |
That an update report is submitted to a future meeting of this committee informing Members of progress made. |
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3 |
Introduction Error! Bookmark not defined.and Background |
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3.1 |
There are several requirements on the service from both national guidance and legislation to review certain aspects of its Pay and Rewards. Part of the move from Rank to Role for Grey Book staff requires the service to examine the possibility of paying Additional Responsibility Allowances (ARAs) for duties outside of the nationally determined role maps. There is also a requirement for local government employers to undertake an Equal Pay Audit looking at equality aspects of the reward package for staff. |
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3.2 |
There is currently a range of allowances being paid to various staff groups across the service. These have not been reviewed in their entirety for some years. There are different arrangements in place for different staff groups. The service needs to look at whether these payments can still be justified and also what payments should be made for work over and above that in the employees role map / job description and / or outside of their normal working hours, ensuring fairness and equality to all. |
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3.3 |
A Pay & Rewards Review Programme has been set up as a sub-group of the Workforce Planning Steering Group. The programme is being managed using Prince II methodology and personnel appointed to the various workstreams. |
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3.4 |
The Programme is made up of two inter-dependant projects; one is the Equal Pay Audit and the other is the Rewards Review. |
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3.5 |
The programme will appoint an external consultant to assist the service in undertaking its Equal Pay Audit and also to offer consultancy advice to the overall review. |
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4 |
Equal Pay Audit |
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4.1 |
The requirement to undertake an Equal Pay Audit is borne out of two themes. Firstly, the requirement to ensure that the pay of our male and female staff is equitable. This is determined by legislation stemming from the Equal Pay Act and subsequent equality laws and also case law from employment tribunals. The law determines equal pay for `like work' or `work of equal value'. Secondly the Core Values of our organisation champion equity for all staff. This poses an ethical question above that of a legal one as to whether pay is comparable between similar jobs or jobs of equal worth across the service. |
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4.2 |
The audit has been scoped to evaluate our Grey and Green Book posts to identify `like work' or `work of equal value', between the jobs under the differing terms and conditions. This will be achieved by designing a methodology to map jobs which can be considered as equal in the two different groups. Any inequalities will be identified, including factors causing the inequity and recommendations including an action plan to remedy the situation will be drawn up. Inequalities may be found in the total employment package including financial rewards such as basis pay and allowances and non financial rewards such as holiday entitlement which are potentially discriminatory and these will also be explored. |
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5 |
Rewards Review |
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5.1 |
The current arrangements for the payment of allowances and payments other than basic salary have built up over time and may be inequitable between different staff groups and posts. |
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5.2 |
A system will be designed to ensure that the service both reviews its current allowance payments and makes recommendations for future payments in line with the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) and core values. |
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5.3 |
A system will be developed which will be able to `cost' an activity which is outside the scope of a persons job and / or undertaken outside the normal working day by measuring its worth to the organisation and the skills required to undertake it. This will then give a menu of proposed allowances and a way of assessing the worth of the activity in pursuance of the IRMP. It will also provide a way of determining the cost to the organisation for the recommendations and any allowances that are identified in the future. |
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5.4 |
In addition this review will explore the possibility of offering employees `cafeteria style' benefits to allow flexibility for different staff at different times in their careers. |
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16 |
Contribution to Corporate Aims and Objectives |
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16.1 |
The establishment of appropriate pay and rewards for staff is included within the IRMP Objective on delivering our Workforce Plan and People Strategy (MR1). |
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17 |
Risk Analysis |
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17.1 |
Particularly with the Equal Pay Audit a risk of employees bring an Equal Pay claim(s) to an Employment Tribunal due to inequity of pay is a risk to the organisation. |
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18 |
Resource Implications |
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18.1 |
Human Resources |
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Persons have been appointed to the Programme Board which includes the Programme Chair; DCO Dave Curry and the Function Heads as Senior Users. An Elected Member is also part of this Programme Board. The Project Managers from the two projects act as the Senior Suppliers to the Programme. The two projects involve personnel from across the service sitting on Project Groups and Workstreams. |
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18.2 |
Physical Resources |
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None identified |
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18.3 |
Information and Communications Technology Resources |
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Use of the Human Resource Management Information Systems to look at the current pay and rewards of staff has been identified. |
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18.4 |
Financial Implications |
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The recommendations of both the Equal Pay Audit and Rewards Review may recommend an increase in expenditure to the authority. This may be to address any pay inequities which are identified or in the payment of new allowances which are not within the existing pay budget. |
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19 |
Equality Impact Assessment |
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19.1 |
Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) for both the Equal Pay Audit and Rewards Review have been undertaken. The Equal Pay Audit EIA shows that the audit may potentially highlight inequalities in pay and other rewards for different staff groups. |
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20 |
Consultation |
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20.1 |
All representative bodies are being consulted on the Pay and Rewards Review. The representative bodies are also invited to sit in on the Project Board meetings to contribute to the discussions. They are also being actively encouraged to work with Functional Workstreams on the proposals for future allowance payments. |
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21 |
Conclusion |
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21.1 |
The establishment of appropriate pay and reward strategies for HFRS, given the nationally agreed basic pay scales is a key objective of the Workforce Plan. The identification of areas of inequality and potential risk to the organisation through Equal Pay Claims is an important area for consideration. |
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Background Information (Section 100D of Local Government Act 1972) |
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The following documents disclose the facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of the report: None Note: The list excludes: (1) published works; and (2) documents that disclose exempt or confidential information defined in the Act. |
