Agenda and minutes

To receive the apologies of any Member who is unable to attend the meeting.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Reynolds.

To consider the minutes of the previous meeting of the Staffing Committee held on 16 February 2022 and approve them as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

The minutes of the previous Staffing Committee meeting held on 16th February, 2022, were considered.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 16th February, 2022, be approved as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

To receive declarations of interest from Members in respect of items listed on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any part of the agenda.

The Chair advised that there were no items of business on the agenda that would require the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting.

Recommendations:

The Staffing Committee are asked to approve a market supplement of up to £7500 for the post of Assistant Director of Housing in addition to the Assistant Director salary of £91,558.

The Assistant Director, Human Resources and Organisational Development, introduced the report explaining that it was a key role.  The post had been advertised on two occasions, in June 2021 and September 2021, without attracting appointable candidates.

He explained that, although benchmarking of salaries had shown the Council’s Assistant Director posts to be competitive, the scale of the role and ambitions for the Council’s housing strategy mean that the role is broader in scale than many other local authorities.

The role includes the management of the Council’s Housing (circa 20,000 homes), the ambitious growth in Council Housing, the development and delivery of the Housing Strategy for the Borough across all tenures and the associated strategic partnerships both within Rotherham and across South Yorkshire.

He clarified that the recommendation was for the Staffing Committee to approve a market supplement of up to £7,500, in addition to the Assistant Director salary of £91,588.

In response the Assistant Director, Human Resources and Organisational Development explained that the market supplement for this position, which was deemed to be at the right level, had been based on a proportion of a market supplement used for another position within the Council. 

In consideration of the proposal, it was acknowledged that a principle had been established previously whereby if a vacancy could not be recruited to on two separate occasions, then a market supplement could be considered.  This was an important, large-scale function within the Council therefore the request to use a market supplement was considered reasonable.

It was noted that the post would be advertised July and August, therefore, it was suggested that the closing date of the position be extended to enable the maximum time for submission of applications.

In response it was noted that both internal and external candidates would be able to apply for the position.

The Assistant Director, Human Resources and Organisational Development, explained that the previous recruitment rounds had attracted candidates who would be stepping up into the role rather than candidates already operating at that level.

It was confirmed that applying a market supplement to this advertisement would not set a precedent to future recruitment, these are decided on a case-by-case basis.  It was clarified that market supplements could be removed should the position change for future recruitment.

RESOLVED: That the Staffing Committee agreed to:

1.    Approve a market supplement of up to £7,500 for the post of Assistant Director of Housing in addition to the Assistant Director salary of £91,558.

To determine any item which the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

The Chair reported that there were no urgent items of business requiring the Committee’s consideration.