Issue - meetings

The Committee received a report from the Head of Human Resources. The report set out a draft pay policy statement as required under the Localism Act. The Localism Act requires the Council to have considered, approved and published a pay policy statement for each financial year. This must be approved by Full Council and be in place by 31st March each year.

Councillor Bick attended the Committee and made the following points:

i.               Referred to section 5 of the officer’s report and stated that he felt that he had been approached only to be informed about the proposed changes to performance reviews for Directors and the Chief Executive, rather than to provide input.

ii.             Felt a change such as this should have been done via consensus between Councillors.

iii.            Had been a member of the Chief Officer Performance Review Panel for the past 10 years and could have provided feedback about what worked well and what could be improved.

iv.           Felt the Panel had worked collaboratively on a cross-party basis and had produced a shared output at the end, which meant that Senior Officers were kept out of political conflict. 

v.             The report did not explain why the changes were required.

vi.           Asked for a cross-party discussion on the changes proposed in section 5 of the Officer’s report before the Committee took a decision.  

vii.          Had no issue with a 360-feedback model but this was not the same as a small group of councillors providing the review.

The Head of Human Resources said the following in response:

      i.         Apologised that Cllr Bick had not been involved with the process.

    ii.         Advised that the proposed performance review process for both Directors and the Chief Executive would still involve Group Leaders and Executive Councillors; there would be a change in who would conduct the meetings.

   iii.         For Directors it was proposed that feedback would be gathered internally and externally, and their review would be conducted by their line manager (the Chief Executive). 

  iv.         For the Chief Executive it was proposed that rather than a body of six councillors, one person (the Leader of the Council) would conduct the meeting after a 360-feedback process.  

Councillor Davey also apologised that Councillor Bick had not been involved with the process and said lessons could be learnt. Felt the proposals regarding Chief Officer Performance Reviews enhanced and improved the process.

Councillor Gehring expressed concerns about the proposed changes to the Chief Officer Performance Reviews and the timing of these changes. Stated that he felt the proposed 360 feedback review could be communicated to the current Chief Officer Performance Review Panel. Asked if under the new process the 360-feedback review would be available to Group Leaders or just to the Leader of the Council.

The Head of Human Resources confirmed that officers would investigate who would be provided with a copy of the 360-feedback review.

Councillor Moore noted that no changes were proposed to the recruitment process of Senior Officers (Director / Chief Executive level).

Councillor Dalzell commented as a minority opposition councillor he had always found the officer team worked with councillors equally and noted that this may have been a legacy of the previous Chief Executive. Shared concerns of colleagues about the proposed changes to Chief Officer Performance Review Process. Queried why the cross-party review panel had been taken away. 

Resolved:

i.               Unanimously - to recommend Council approved the draft Pay Policy Statement 2022/2023 attached as Appendix 1 to the officer’s report.

ii.             Unanimously – to note the update on the review of senior officer salaries which was scheduled for late 2021 and had now been moved until 2022 due to the delay in the national pay award settlement for 2021 and the forthcoming review of the senior management structure.

iii.            By 4 votes to 2 - to approve the proposal for director performance reviews to be undertaken by the Chief Executive, as outlined in Section 5 of the officer’s report.

iv.           By 4 votes to 2 - to approve the proposal for chief executive performance reviews to be undertaken by the Leader, as outlined in Section 5 of the officer’s report.

v.             Unanimously - to recommend to Council to delegate authority to the Head of Human Resources to update the Pay Policy Statement 2022/23 should a chief executive and/or chief officer and/or NJC pay award be agreed.