Meeting documents

To consider this report.

The Committee received a report from the Service Manager HR Policy and Projects and Strategic Manager – HR Practice.

 The following points were highlighted:

·       The report is a proposal for approving new employment policies for the new Council.

·       25 priority policies have been identified and were currently being worked on, to include comparison of existing policies across the five authorities.

·       Agreement on the process for approving new policies would be required either option 1 – all policies to come to the Committee for approval or option 2 – only policies that differ significantly from the original SCC policy or were otherwise contentious, to be brought to the Committee, for example, where this relates to:

-       a contractual arrangement

-       a cost implication

-       where trade unions have not reached a consensus.

·       All other policies would be approved by delegated authority.

·       Proposal is to move to monthly meetings to consider these policies that require Committee consideration.

The following comments were made, and questions asked:

-       Clarification was requested on the definition and threshold for significant change. It was explained that this would be determined in consultation with the Sub-Workstream Lead and trade unions in conjunction with working groups.

-       It was asked if the other non-priority policies would be completed before Vesting Day. It was noted those would be ranked for completion in terms of those most used such as the Sickness Absence Policy and that, as the continuing authority, reference would be made to the existing SCC policy, although former-district employees would be covered by TUPE.

-       It was asked if Democratic Services has the capacity for additional meetings and Members were reassured the need would be met and that team had been enhanced with colleagues from the district councils.

-       It was suggested that all Service Managers should be informed as soon as possible that they could request more staff resources to address additional workload pre-Vesting Day. In response it was noted that staff were under pressure to meet numerous deadlines and that a 3–5-year programme was being condensed into a shorter timeframe and all colleagues were credited for their commitment to this task.

-       It was noted that the new policies would be Somerset Council policies and not SCC policies, and all staff should have access to those as soon as possible. The Chair suggested that a summary of the Committee’s work be sent to the LGR Comms Team to reassure staff about the breadth of work currently being undertaken.

-       Strategic Manager - HR Practice, Sari Brice was introduced and she explained that there were large cost implications on the Mid Term Financial Plan (MTFP) from the different pay rates between the five authorities which would impact on redundancy, both statutory and voluntary, and the different multipliers used. The five authorities also use different mileage rates.

-       It was asked if the proposal of monthly meeting could take place online and the Chair explained that meetings had to take place ‘in-person’ to comply with legislation, that did not allow decision making meetings to be held virtually.

The Committee agreed Option 2 (as set out in the report); the proposal set out a process for approving new employment policies, using clear criteria to determine the appropriate route for approval.