Issue - meetings

The Chief People Officer introduced the report. It was explained that the proposals within the report were not what the Council would undertake as a first option, but stressed that the financial situation required the proposal to be put forward. Officers explained that they welcomed the support of the Unions at Haringey for providing constructive support to the development of the policy.

Following questions, the following responses were given:

• That officers and Members noted the reassurance from the support provided by the Unions in Haringey and that they welcomed their support during the process of developing the policy to be as fair as possible, and in the approach to minimise impact to those on lower pay grades in the Council.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee:

1.    Approved the following change in Appendix 1 of the Organisational Change Policy as follows:

3.1.1   Current wording (to be deleted):

How a Statutory Redundancy Payment is calculated:

The payment will be using the employee’s actual weekly rate of pay (rather than the statutory minimum) to calculate redundancy payments. The Statutory number of weeks used to calculate a redundancy payment is shown below: -

·         0.5 week’s pay for each complete year of service where the employee’s age was under 22

·         1 week’s pay for each complete year of service where the employee’s age was 22 or above, but under 41

·         1.5 week’s pay for each complete year of service where the employee’s age was 41 or above

In addition to the statutory provision, the Council will pay:

·         1 week’s pay for each complete year of continuous local government service

The maximum number of years payable is limited to 20.

3.1.2   New wording (to be inserted):

How a Redundancy Payment is calculated:

The Statutory number of weeks used to calculate a redundancy payment is shown below: -

·         0.5 week’s pay for each complete year of service where the employee’s age was under 22

·         1 week’s pay for each complete year of service where the employee’s age was 22 or above,   but under 41

·         1.5 week’s pay for each complete year of service where the employee’s age was 41 or above.

The maximum number of years payable is limited to 20.

The Council enhances the above statutory redundancy entitlements in two ways:

1.    An additional weeks’ pay is given for each complete year of local government service up to 20 years.

2.    The cap used for the calculation of a week’s pay is set at £950 rather than the statutory cap. From 2026, this amount will be increased every year on 1 April by the percentage increase in the consumer prices index in the previous September, rounded up to the nearest pound.

Where the Employer is required to pay an amount to a pension fund upon redundancy as part of pension scheme regulations, the enhancement in 1. above will be offset against that payment until it is fully offset (with the employee being paid any amount of enhancement that remains).

3.2      Amendments will be made to the Redundancy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30

The Chief People Officer introduced the report. He explained that this was a statutory report and contained no substantial changes from the previous year’s report.

Following questions from Members it was noted that:

·       Members asked that Pay Policy Statement on point 3.5 be clarified to make it obvious that those payments made under contracts for services in excess of £500 per day are made to those who are engaged under contracted services.

·       The market allowance criteria and the suitability of their utilisation. It was stressed by Members that it would be a low bar to meet one of the criteria for market allowance. Officers explained that the meeting of the first criteria of the post being advertised on more than one occasion and a suitable applicant could not be recruited, would be the first stage and that the other criteria would need to be met to meet with market allowance criteria. Officers offered to amend the criteria in the Pay Policy Statement at 9.3 to reflect this.

·       That there was a requirement for a business case for senior posts and benchmarking of similar roles across other local authorities and the private sector.

·       There were difficulties understanding what individual motivations for working at Haringey were, and it was explained that the authority would at least try to recruit at the standard grade before recruiting with a market supplement. It was explained that it was difficult to justify market supplement, with good reason, to ensure that this would only be met in exceptional circumstances.

RESOLVED:

1.  That the Committee approved the draft Pay Policy Statement 2025/26.

2.  That the Chief People Officer was authorised, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, to make such amendments to the Pay Policy Statement as considered minor.

3.  That the Committee agrees the Pay Policy Statement for endorsement by Full Council on 24 March 2025.

4.  That 3.5 of the Pay Policy Statement be amended to be clearer that this is in relation to those who are engaged under contracted services and not employees.

5.  That 9.3 of the Pay Policy Statement be amended to accurately reflect the process of engaging market allowances.