Report by Executive Director of Resources

The Executive Director of Resources submitted a report on the draft Pay Policy Statement for 2023/24.  The report stated that Local Authorities were required under Section 38(1) of the Localism Act 2011 (the Act) to prepare a Pay Policy Statement that articulated the Council’s policy towards the pay of the workforce, particularly senior staff and the lowest paid employees.

The report explained that each local authority was an individual employer and had the autonomy to make decisions on pay that were appropriate to local circumstances and which delivered value for money for local taxpayers.  The Pay Policy Statement met the statutory duty to provide the Council with a description of the policy on staff remuneration for annual approval. It provided information on remuneration arrangements for staff directly employed by the Council, excluding staff in schools.  Sections 38 – 43 of the Act 2011 required that the authority produce a Policy Statement that covered several matters concerning the pay of the Authority’s staff, principally Chief Officers. This Policy Statement had met the requirements of the Act in this regard and the requirements of guidance issued in February 2012 and February 2013 by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to which the authority was required to have regard under Section 40 of the Act.

The Pay Policy Statement for 2023/24 was broadly unchanged from the previous year’s statement other than it had been updated with the recent nationally agreed pay settlements. The 2023/24 Pay Policy Statement was appended at Appendix A to the report together with revised pay scales. 

The following motion was moved by Councillor Terry and seconded by Councillor Brock and CARRIED:

Resolved –

That the Pay Policy Statement for 2023/24, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report, be approved.