Agenda item

The Committee at it’s last meeting in November requested that an update on HR related matters was received at it’s next meeting in January 2011.

A report from the Service Director, HR and Organisational Development is attached.

Recommendation:

The Committee is asked to consider the report provided and comment as appropriate.

The Service Director, HR and Organisational Development, was in attendance to provide the Committee with an update on HR related matters and to answer questions arising following the Chief Executive statement dated 14 January which outlined the need for the Council to make a further 12% savings.

The Service Director confirmed that although discussions were taking place no decisions could be made until the Business Plan and budget proposals were known which were to be considered by Cabinet at it’s meeting on 8 February.

Continued discussions with Trade Unions were also pending following the release of these documents.  Once the budget settlement had been confirmed negotiations would reconvene and the Committee updated accordingly.

In relation to the Management Review it was reported that over the past 2 years management costs had been significantly reduced.  This included the reduction of four Chief Executive posts into one following the commencement of the unitary Council, the Council’s restructuring process and the recent management review.  The proposed overall £32m savings were still expected to be achieved.

The Executive Management Board with member support from the Staffing Policy Committee directed negotiations and forward planning.

Ensuing discussion included whether the proposed 5 layers of management to Chief Executive level remained and that details of the total salary cost for Service Director and Corporate Director should be provided to allow the Committee to ensure value for money was achieved. 

The Service Director would circulate the information requested following the meeting but clarified that in order to ensure the Council remained a forward thinking organisation, salaries would always need to remain competitive.  Further clarity was provided that senior management salary reviews involved external organisations and that resulting salary ranges were agreed taking into consideration the voluntary and public sectors to ensure fairness of pay for the level of responsibility.

In relation to numbers affected by the Management Review, clarity was provided that, since publication of the HR Update report the following changes had taken place:

·         The number of applicants who had requested voluntary redundancy had risen to 158.

·         The number of applicants accepted for voluntary redundancy was 144, 80 of which had already left the organisation.

Due to the high number of applicants requesting voluntary redundancy, compulsory redundancies were not expected at this stage.

Following sign off of the 2011/12 budget further details would be provided to the Committee on potential redundancies within financial years.  It was anticipated that further details could be provided following a consultation period which was anticipated to be February/beginning of March.

The Committee was concerned that details of those departing the organisation had not been widely communicated and that more could be done to ensure Councillors (including Parish and Town Councillors) and officers were kept informed to ensure business continuity.  Accordingly, the Service Director for HR and Organisational Development would request that the Communications team relay this message across the organisation.  The HR Tool Kit would also be amended to repeat the message made.

Clarification was provided by the Portfolio Holder for Customer Care that in relation to the Policy Schedules provided in the report, healthy debate took place through the Staffing Policy Committee prior to any agreement made and that proposed changes were first considered by trade unions and CLT.

Specific note was made to Market Plussages contained within the policy schedule update indicating that the policy had been put on hold.  Clarification was provided that this was being reviewed and was to be submitted to CLT shortly to receive further direction.  The Service Director would ensure that the Chairman and Vice Chairman were kept informed of developments.

The Committee wished to acknowledge the hard work undertaken by the HR and Organisational Development team and recognised that staff had been kept well informed of developments.  This was confirmed by Cllr Ricky Rogers as the scrutiny representative on the Staffing Management Executive Project Board.

Resolved:

1)        To thank the Portfolio Holder and officers for the information provided.

2)        To request that the Portfolio Holder note the comments made by the Committee.

3)         To request that the Committee is kept informed of further HR updates to include details of those leaving the organisation through redundancy.