Archived decisions

AT A MEETING of the EMPLOYMENT IN HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL COMMITTEE held at The Castle, Winchester on Monday, 11 February 2008.

PRESENT:

Councillors:

p T.K.Thornber, CBE (Chairman);

Councillor J.K. Glen, Executive Member for Human Resources, attended with the agreement of the Chairman.

93 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Baulk and Dash.

94 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should normally at the time of the debate, declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with paragraph 12 of the Code.

95 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 7 November 2007 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

96 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman reported that, at their meeting in November 2006, the Committee had approved arrangements to support the recruitment and retention of Senior Managers who fell within Level 16 of the new pay framework and where limited, specific and exceptional circumstances prevailed. These arrangements required all proposals to be considered by the Chief Executive, County Treasurer and Director of Human Resources and reported to a Members' Group comprising the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and a member of the minority group (Councillor Dash) with authority to make decisions within the approved policy. The Chairman further reported that this Members' Group, with the exception of Councillor Dash who had submitted apologies, had been convened immediately before this meeting of the Employment in Hampshire County Council Committee and had endorsed the recommendations of the Chief Executive, County Treasurer and Director of Human Resources.

97 EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

RESOLVED:

That the public be excluded from the meeting as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during the remainder of the meeting there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraphs 3-5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, being information relating to the County Council's business or financial affairs, to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority and its employees, and information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings. Further, it is considered that, in all the circumstances, the public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing this information. While there may be a public interest in disclosing this information, namely transparency in the use of public resources, it is felt that, on balance, this is outweighed by other factors in favour of maintaining the exemption, namely the need to maintain confidentiality in relation to the County Council's business or financial affairs, the maintenance of good employee relations in the interests of stability in service provision, and the protection of the Council's interests in any legal proceedings which may ensue.

98 DELIVERY OF THE NEW PAY FRAMEWORK INTO PAY

The Committee considered the exempt report of the Director of Human Resources and County Treasurer(Item 6.in the Minute Book) highlighting issues to be taken into account in relation to the implementation of the new pay framework into pay in February 2008, backdated to April 2007. Given the significant scale of the task involving the records of over 28,000 employees, assimilation arrangements were complex. Robust risk management processes had mitigated a significant number of risks, but due to the complexity and nature of the process, some risks remained.

Having considered all the issues, the Committee noted the identified risks and the action in place to mitigate these. The Committee also noted that errors and queries were anticipated and that there were arrangements in place to address these. The Committee considered that the Cabinet needed to be aware of the issues and risks and that managers in departments would need to be briefed by their business partners in Human Resources of their key role in collecting, understanding and resolving issues from their staff. The Committee was also mindful that there were remaining areas of work which were still to be processed through SAP/payroll after February 2008 and they endorsed the approach to the payment of back pay to leavers in relation to implementation of the new pay framework as set out in the report.

99 HAMPSHIRE MANAGEMENT GRADE AND CHIEF OFFICERS - SALARY REVIEW 2008

The Committee considered and approved the exempt report of the Director of Human Resources (Item 7 in the Minute Book) concerning the pay award for Hampshire Management Grade Staff and Chief Officers with effect from 1 April 2008 and also an adjustment in relation to the new pay framework having regard to the relationship of pay to market median for those in the higher management grades, J and K, to bring these closer to the target of 97.5% of the Hay Market Median.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the removal of the lower step (in addition to transition step -2) on 1 April 2008 and the addition of a new higher step on 31 March 2008 for Grades J and K be approved;


(b) That all Hampshire Management Grade staff and Chief Officers will, with effect from 1 April 2008, be awarded the value of the National Pay Award.

100 EQUAL PAY CLAIMS UPDATE

The Committee received and noted the exempt report of the Director of Human Resources (Item 8 in the Minute Book). Since the last report, the number of equal pay claims received had increased by 63, but only a very few of these related to new roles. The Committee noted the timetable for dealing with the preliminary issues relating to the home carer claims and that all of the non-home carer claims were stayed. It was unlikely that any of the cases would be fully resolved until Spring 2009 at the earliest.

101 PAY ARRANGEMENTS FOR MEMBERS OF THE CORPORATE MANAGEMENT TEAM

With the concurrence of the Chairman under Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 this matter was considered in order to facilitate a prompt response to the benchmarking exercise commissioned by the Chief Executive.

The Committee considered the exempt report of the Chief Executive and Director of Human Resources (Item 9 in the Minute Book) and, whilst supporting re-evaluation of the roles in question by Hay, agreed to consult with South East Employers and to reconsider the matter at the meeting of the Committee scheduled for 26 March. The Committee noted that references to paragraphs "2.5 to 2.7" in the report should refer to paragraphs "3.5 to 3.7" and that the reference to paragraph "2.5" should read paragraph "3.5".

RESOLVED:

That the roles of the Director of Recreation and Heritage and the Director of Human Resources be re-evaluated by Hay but that, in the meantime, South East Employers be approached for their advice in relation to these two roles and that the position be reviewed by the Committee at its meeting on 26^th March, any changes to be backdated to 11 February 2008, the date of this meeting.

dh18.2.08