Agenda item

To consider a report from the Leader of the Council (copy to follow)

This item was taken before Agenda Item No 8 at the meeting.

The Leader of the Council presented a report which sought Council approval of the Senior Leadership Pay Policy.

The Pay Policy Statement was attached at Appendix 2 of the report and replaced the Pay Policy Statement which was agreed by the Full Shadow Authority at its meeting on 22 July 2022.

Members noted that the Pay Policy Statement would be further updated and come back to the Full Shadow Authority at a later date for approval, containing details for all employees of Westmorland and Furness Council.

The proposed structures for Tiers 2 and 3 of the new Westmorland and Furness Council had been developed and were currently being consulted on.  The proposed structures would be finalised following the close of consultation.  If agreed, it was the intention to appoint to the roles in the new structures in advance of Vesting Day.  This was to enable the senior leadership team appointments to take effect from 1 April 2023, providing the required senior leadership capacity and supporting the council to be fully operational from Day 1.

The senior leadership posts were the first roles which were proposed to be created for the new Unitary Council.  The design principles for the proposed new senior leadership structure for Westmorland and Furness Council reflected its significant ambitions and its core value of recognising the workforce as its greatest asset.

The Leader took members through the detail contained in the report and moved the recommendations.  These were seconded by Councillor V Taylor.

Councillor Cooper asked whether the Westmorland and Furness structure was comparable to the Cumberland one.  He was surprised at the number of senior officers and was concerned as this seemed to be a very expensive start for the new authority.

The Leader noted the concerns but said this had been a result of the Government decision to create two new unitary councils for Cumbria. This structure was the one that the Chief Executive believed was needed to take forward the Council’s ambitions, and was comparable to Cumberland’s.

Councillor Shirley noted in paragraph 3.8 of the report a reference to a pay range with incremental steps to reflect a candidate’s growth into the role, recognised contribution, provided flexibility, and minimised the need for any market supplements. However, this was not referenced when agreeing the salary for the new Chief Executive.  This was challenged at the last meeting, but Council still approved a spot salary.  He asked if this was likely to change going forward.

The Leader noted the comments, and accepted this structure had been developed using a different approach to try to build in career development opportunities.  This would not apply to the Chief Executive who was the Head of Paid Service.

Councillor Carrick was disappointed as the Shadow Senior Appointments Committee had spent time looking at the benchmarking and recruitment for the statutory posts and suggested an appropriate salary range for the posts.  Unfortunately, the salaries being offered as part of the Pay Policy seemed to be considerably different from the ones suggested by the Senior Appointments Committee.

She also had concerns about the reference in the report that the senior leadership pay structure would be further developed and aligned with the new total reward strategy for the whole council after 1 April 2023.  She asked the Leader if the implication of this was that salaries could be raised and lowered.

The Leader responded to say that this had been referenced to market forces and felt there should be some future flexibility built in.  Consultation on this was currently taking place.

The Technical Lead – LGR OD and HR Workstream said this issue was moving at pace and when the initial benchmarking had been carried out there was still outstanding work to be done.  The new pay policy had been devised using up to date data.

Councillor Brook moved the recommendations and Councillor Taylor seconded.  The recommendation was then put to a vote, which was unanimous.

RESOLVED, that the Shadow Authority adopts the Pay Policy Statement at Appendix 2 of the report as it relates to the Senior Leadership Posts.