Agenda item

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 payments scheme for Teachers to apply the £950 weekly pay cap.