Issued by City of York Council
Members of the Staffing Matters & Urgency Committee for City of York Council will be considering a series of reports related to the pay and holiday entitlements of senior officers at the council, at a meeting on the 5 August 2013.
The reports being considered detail the intention of the council to introduce performance related pay for its senior staff, replacing the current “time served” basis which gives annual progression each year until the employee reaches the top salary of the specific grade they are on.
The new arrangements would see any pay increases linked directly to performance, a move aimed at supporting the authority’s continued commitment to improving its performance across all services. If approved, this is expected to be implemented from April 2014.
The Committee will also consider proposals for the authority to enter into discussion with senior staff and Trade Unions on plans to reduce their annual leave entitlement by four days, from 34 days to 30, rising to 35 days after five years of continuous service.
If approved, this is expected to be implemented from April 2014.
A policy to allow the council to bring the salaries of a specific post or group of jobs into line with industry levels – in the form of a Market Supplement – will also be considered by the committee. The policy calls for “robust demonstration” that a post or group of jobs is significantly below local or national rates of pay and that this could impact upon the ability of the council to recruit to a role or retain a post holder, before it is implemented.
A market supplement policy was introduced for Local Government Staff in 2008, however this currently does not apply to senior officers. If approved, this policy would be implemented with immediate effect.
The committee will review the authority’s first request for a Market Supplement Payment for the Assistant Director of Children’s Specialist Services, which is based on comparable posts in the Yorkshire and Humber region and in line with national benchmarking data.
Council chief executive Kersten England said: “It is becoming evident that in particular instances, to attract and retain the talent we need to ensure we deliver the best services, we must be able to bring our employment package in line with current market values.
“Let me be clear that whilst this will be by exception rather than the rule, our senior officers are currently paid below the average rates for comparable posts elsewhere.
“Over the last four years we have reduced senior staff from 30 to 17 and their workloads and responsibilities have increased. We must have policies in place to allow us to be competitive when recruiting or in order to retain key staff members.
“The implementation of this policy will not however result any increase to the total senior staffing cost to the organisation.
“It is also right that we to move senior staff to a system of performance related pay – in the same way much of the private sector is already operating – so that progression is clearly linked with our ongoing commitment to improvement.”
No cost of living pay award has been made to senior officers since April 2008 and there is no national agreement for a pay award to be given in 2013/14.
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