Agenda and minutes

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.

To accept the Pay Policy Statement for 2023-24 that the Council is obliged publish under Chapter 8 of the Localism Act 2011.

Recommendations

Staffing Committee is asked to:

1.    Accept the Pay Policy Statement for 2023-24 (Appendix 1).

2.    Recommend approval of the statement by Council.

Consideration was given to the report which provided detail of the Pay Policy Statement for 2023-24 that the Council was required to publish under Chapter 8 of the Localism Act 2011.

The format and content of the Pay Policy was prepared in accordance with guidance previously issued by the Regional Local Government Employers Association and reflected good practice.  It was a forward-looking report.

The pay relationship section of the Policy indicated that the Council fell well below the threshold indicated by the Hutton review, in terms of the ‘pay multiple’.  It was clarified that the Council did not have or intended to introduce any bonus schemes.

During discussions it was noted that the ‘pay multiple’ for last year was higher than it was this year.  This was due to the lowest paid employees receiving a proportionally higher percentage increase in wages as part of the national pay award along with the real living wage.

Once approved the Policy would be published on the Council’s website.

It was noted that there could come a time whereby all posts of an Assistant Director level and above may fall into the publication threshold.  Every Council would be in a similar position therefore consideration may be given to moving the threshold at that point.

Resolved: That the Staffing Committee:

1.    Accepted the Pay Policy Statement for 2023-24 (Appendix 1).

2.    Recommended approval of the statement by Council.

To accept the Gender Pay Gap information as at the 31 March 2022 that the Council is obliged to publish under reporting legislation.

Recommendations

Staffing Committee is asked to:

1.    Accept the Gender Pay Gap report at Appendix 1

2.    Approve publication of the Gender Pay Gap Report at Appendix 1.

Consideration was given to the report which detailed the gender pay gap information as at the 31st March, 2022, that the Council was required to publish.  The Gender Pay Gap Information Regulations were introduced in 2017 and requires employers with 250 or more employees to publish statutory calculations each year. 

This report looks back to the previous year and once approved would be published on the Council’s website.

The mean gender pay gap for the Council at the end of March 2022 was 8.5% compared to 9.2% the previous year.  In addition, the median pay gap had also reduced by 1% to 10.2% in 2022. The data available shows that Rotherham was comparable to other authorities within South Yorkshire. 

In response it was explained that facilities services had a larger proportion of female employees.  This was due to the roles withing that service area, which included catering and cleaning staff for example.

The data for both Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) employees and disabled employees showed that they were paid more than non-BAME and non-disabled employees in the Council.

It was asked if the Council could ensure that contractors would commit to   reducing the gender pay gap and could this be checked as part of the tender process.  In response, it was explained that if the organisation had a workforce of over 250 employees, they would have to declare the same information, however, consideration could be given to adding this requirement, to mirror the requirements regarding the ‘real living wage’.

It was queried if, through the Council’s work around equalities, it was possible to assess comparisons across the protected characteristics.  There was no requirement for staff to provide their equalities monitoring information, although encouraged, requirement for staff to indicate this information, however, further work could be undertaken to encourage staff to complete this information.  This would enable the Council to understand its workforce better and the impacts of policies on those with protected characteristics.

Resolved:  That the Staffing Committee:

1.    Accepted the Gender Pay Gap report at Appendix 1, and

2.    Approved publication of the Gender Pay Gap Report at Appendix 1.

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.