The Assistant Director of HR and Organisation Development submitted a report providing a Pay Policy Statement, attached at Appendix 1, for 2022/23 for approval by Council on 22 March 2022.

The report stated that the Pay Policy Statement for 2022/23 had been updated with the following changes:

·       Paragraph 5.2 had been updated to reflect the current status of the national pay negotiations for 2021;

·       Section 7 had been updated to reflect the new Living Wage Foundation hourly rate which had increased to £9.90.  It would be implemented at the Council from 1 April 2022.  It might be necessary to pay a Living Wage supplement to staff below this rate, depending on the outcome of the national pay negotiations for 2021/22 and 2022/23;

·       New pay multiples in Section 8;

·       Annex D (Council employees in salary bands) had been updated with data from 1 April 2021 and Section 10 (Pay Profile) had been updated to reflect this.

The report stated that the majority of employees had not received a cost of living increase since April 2020 as the national pay negotiations for 2021/22 and 2022/23 were ongoing.  The National Employers had made a full and final pay offer in July 2021 for a 1.75% increase for Local Government Services staff and Craftworkers and 1.5% to the Chief Executive and Chief Officers.  The increases would be backdated to 1 April 2021.  The three local government unions (UNISON, GMB and Unite) had conducted consultative ballots on the employers’ offer which had run through to the beginning of October 2021; all three unions had received resounding majorities in favour of rejecting the employers’ final offer.  In mid-November 2021 UNISON had announced it would be conducting a formal national strike ballot that would close in mid-January 2022.  GMB had announced it would be conducting another consultative ballot (in order to determine whether there was support for a subsequent strike ballot) that would close in mid-December 2021.  Unite had announced a later timetable: its formal strike ballot would close on 25 February 2022.  The result of UNISON’s ballot had been 70% in favour of strike action.  However, turnout had been 14.5%, short of the minimum 50% required for any industrial action to be lawful.  GMB had not proceeded to a formal strike ballot.  Unite was still conducting its ballot.  In February 2022, the joint Negotiating Committees for Chief Executives and Chief Officers had announced that they had reached agreement to award a 1.5% increase from 1 April 2021.

The delay in agreeing the cost of living pay award for 2021/22 would also impact on the timetable for the 2022/23 pay talks.  The three unions were not expected to begin to consult their members on the content of their 2022/23 pay claim until at least March 2022, which meant it was not expected to be tabled until at least April 2022, which would be beyond the usual pay award implementation date of 1 April 2022.

The report explained that the Pay Policy Statement for 2022/23 would need to be updated once the pay negotiations had been conducted for 2021/22 and updated again when they were concluded for 2022/23.  The report sought delegated authority for the Assistant Director of HR and Organisational Development, in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Corporate and Consumer Services, to update the Pay Policy Statement which would require changes throughout to reflect the pay awards in addition to: paragraph 8 to show the new pay multiples and Annex F, the new pay scales.

AGREED –           That the Committee recommend

(1)                       That the draft Pay Policy 2021/22 be recommended to Council on 22 March 2021 for approval;

(2)         That Council be recommended to authorise the Assistant Director of HR and Organisational Development, in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Corporate and Consumer Services, to update the Pay Policy Statement with new pay scales and pay ratios if required, when the discussions between national employers and joint trade unions had been concluded, in addition to updating the current employers pension contribution figure.