Issue - meetings

The committee to consider the  feedback  from the  staff consultation  on the future  of the  Neighbourhood Management Service and the revised proposals concerning the deletion of some posts. Report to follow

The Committee had previously, at their meeting on the 15^th February 2011, agreed in principle to the deletion of the Neighbourhood Management Service and further agreed that the Director of Urban Environment with the Chair of the General Purposes Committee be delegated authority to agree the deletion of the service following the consultation process and providing nothing of a substantive matter arose during the consultation period and process.  In keeping with this resolution the Committee were informed that key issues were raised in the consultation period about the displacement of   eleven community development project officer’s posts when four similar posts were being created in the new single frontline service in the later part of the year.  Officers had investigated how these post holders could be given the opportunity to apply for these posts in the single frontline service. Advice from Human Resources and Legal services had been sought and it was proposed, to the Committee, that the creation of these four community engagement posts, in the single frontline service, be brought forward by use of delegated authority powers. This would avoid the Council’s budget incurring the cost of salaries unnecessarily and allow the eleven displaced staff the opportunity to apply for a similar position. The Committee were asked to endorse the waiver of consultation rights to allow these officers to be ringfenced for these new posts. The Committee noted that the job descriptions for these posts had been compiled but not as yet consulted on with the Trade Unions.  The Committee appreciated the work undertaken by officers to provide these staff with a redeployment opportunity and avoid as much as possible compulsory redundancy.

 RESOLVED

1. That notice is served on all posts within the Neighbourhood Management Service, except for the community development /project officer posts.

2. That the creation of four community engagement posts be brought forward and subsumed into the new single frontline structure. That the displaced eleven community engagement post holders, located in Neighbourhood Management team, be ringfenced for these four available posts.

3. That the Committee endorse the waiver of consultation rights, on these posts, subject to consideration by the Employee side, to allow the recruitment process to be expedited and avoid the Council incurring unnecessary salary costs.