Meeting documents

-       To receive a presentation

The Committee received a presentation from the Director of Customers, Digital and Workforce – Chris Squire as the Lead Officer of the LGR People Workstream.

The following points were highlighted:

·       Behaviour and Culture Workshops had been delivered with staff, although this paused in the late summer/early autumn as the new Chief Executive joined the authority in early October. The second round of workshops would commence with the support of the Chief Executive. Results would be fed into the People Strategy of the new Somerset Council which in turn would help influence the emerging Corporate Plan.

·       Diversity and Inclusion is a key workstream which is working on policies and issues such as disability confidence, gender pay gap etc.

·       All five councils had conducted work on lone worker safety devices, for example lanyards, mobile apps to give security to frontline staff to enable the new authority to procure a standardised contract. Consultation is ongoing with trade unions to update policies to take effect from 1 April 2023.

·       Hybrid working principles would be included in the Dynamic Working Strategy.

·       Wellbeing Strategy had been drafted and was with the trade unions and be reported to the Committee in early 2023.

·       Staff survey to be launched soon to staff in the five councils.

·       Organisation development had run a Young Employee Conference (16-25) with 130 staff members attending as well as joint meetings with UNISION.

·       All districts will have access to online training via the Learning Centre and there had been an increase in learning activities.

·       Support will be in place for staff at risk of redundancy.

·       Tier 2 and 3 restructuring consultation was launched last week with trade union engagement. 48 posts at risk of closure, with 16 appointments to be made. Recruitment partner has been commissioned who will receive applications and offer advice to Appointments Committees. It was asked what notice is given to the 48 employees at risk of redundancy and it was noted this would be their contractual notice period. Individual consultations with unsuccessful candidates would commence after this date, before notice is served.

·       There was a question on if consideration would be given to part-time/split working and it was highlighted that section 6 of the framework set out options to mitigate against job losses and redundancies and part-time working would form part of this mitigation. Children’s Services, Adult Services and Health had been excluded from the restructuring and four further substantive posts.

·       It was noted that all District staff would transfer via TUPE regulations to consult on changes to details such as pay date, change of work location, change to benefits package. Thanks were relayed to all payroll staff for already successfully migrating two districts to the SCC payroll system.

·       A Temporary Labour Contract had been formally agreed for the new council from 1 April 2023 with a significant saving expected from the £18m spend. There would be a single electronic recruitment system and a new combined careers website from early 2023. The current Disclosure and Barring Scheme system will be reviewed to bring alignment for April.

·       It was noted that transformation processes in the corporate world, payroll harmonisation were huge projects and were one of those things that people don't notice, if it goes well. There was acknowledgement of the amount of work involved and the HR Director agreed to pass on these comments to the Payroll Team.

·       It was explained that tier 2 posts would be confirmed at Full Council in February before progressing to tier 3 appointments.

·       There was a question about protecting employee’s wellbeing at all stages of LGR and recognising the pressure staff and councillors were working under and what reassurance was available to show that mental wellbeing concerns were paramount. In response it was stated that staff wellbeing was monitored with data onstress, anxiety and psychological disorders as well as sickness absence being reported to SLT. In addition, all staff receive the weekly staff bulletin highlighting a range of activities including volunteering opportunities and other initiatives such as a recent meeting of the Menopause Café.

The Officer was thanked for the update.