Meeting documents

The Minutes of the meeting of 3 November 2014 were confirmed and signed.

Sam Anthony, Head of Human Resources and Organisation Development, presented the Proposed Modernisation of Terms and Conditions Report.

Members considered:

• The Council needs to respond to an ongoing funding gap in the forthcoming new financial year, plus achieve further savings over the next 3-4 years.


• The Council has successfully delivered £8million of savings since 2010 which is over 30% of our revenue budget through management and staffing reviews, partnership arrangements, transformation and modernisation of teams, procurement and income generation(£4.5million in staffing reviews, of which £1.5 from management).


• There is however an identified need to make further savings and this report outlines the potential savings that can be achieved from a further modernisation of employment terms and conditions.


• This further modernisation proposes changes to the current payments for mileage and subsistence, car leases, changes to the current Annual Leave Policy, and a review of the current contract of employment.


• The Council has a comprehensive framework of people policies in place and these policies are reviewed in accordance with an ongoing programme of reviews.


• A comprehensive consultation process has also been undertaken on this proposal with CMT and also with Staff Side group.


• This proposal generates an annual efficiency saving in the region of £17,500.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses from officers.

• Councillor Humphrey commented that this would bring the Council up to date and make the Terms and Conditions fit for purpose;


• Councillor Booth stated that the removal of the car lease scheme within the report should be made clearer; that the current leases will terminate at the end of their lease period and not immediately to which Sam Anthony clarified that when individual car leases come to an end, they would not be renewed;


• Councillor Murphy commented that the Council has achieved four out of the six key achievements with no redundancies and therefore thanked the officers involved;


• Councillor King asked how the Council would save £14,000 in mileage costs as this figure seemed high.  Rob Bridge, Corporate Director, explained this was worked out on the basis of the current mileage rates being higher and now that the Council would pay less per mile, resulting in and estimated £14,000 saving.  He stated that there were also other intricacies involved, such as currently when travelling out of the county, staff are paid a specific amount and now this would be made specific via mileage and therefore with these savings the Council believes £14,000 can be saved.  Rob Bridge also added that staff will no longer cause changes to their tax code as the rate per mile will be in line with the HMRC rate and therefore will not be taxable.  Sam Anthony added that this proposal will streamline the process; becoming automated with further indirect savings to which Rob Bridge also stated there was an impact regarding payroll, as Members were aware this has been looked into regarding a possible partnership venture, of which discussions are ongoing as there are resilience issues within authorities with payroll and these proposals bring Fenland in line with other authorities which in turn should make entering a partnership easier;


• Sam Anthony stated that as part of the consultation, the Council would be updating contracts of employment with the new Terms and Conditions including all elements of individuals transferred;


• Councillor Booth asked if the HMRC rate changed, would the rate automatically change for the Council to which Sam Anthony confirmed this would happen automatically;


• Councillor Booth asked if the Council had considered the insertion of the In Lieu Of Notice clause as currently there is not one to which Sam Anthony confirmed this was the case;


• Councillor Booth asked if there were further comments from staff side to which Sam Anthony replied there was, they were consulted and were not happy to endorse the annual leave change and the car lease changes.  The Annual Leave change will impact part-timers who work on a Bank Holiday Monday but the formula used will be across the whole workforce bringing equity to all staff to which Councillor Booth stated this was common practice within the commercial sector;


• Councillor Stebbing stated these proposed changes would show openness and that the Council are moving forward with standardisation.

It was AGREED that:

• The report be NOTED;


• The associated savings, which will contribute to the Council's significant savings targets be NOTED;


• The proposals set out within the report be APPROVED

Councillor Clark stated he thought it worthwhile explaining that this appendix had been classed as confidential due to the fact that individuals could be identified from the consultation feedback and not aimed at being a secretive document.

Councillor Humphrey added there was a strong likelihood of staff being identified through this document and it was essential to maintain an open dialogue with the staff throughout any consultation process, and therefore the committee needs to be mindful of this.

Gary Garford, Corporate Director, presented the Marine Services - Restructure Proposal report.

Members considered:

• the details of the proposed changes;


• the financial and staffing implications associated with the proposed changes;


• the future delivery of the service;


• the comments and responses put forward during the consultation process.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses from officers.

It was AGREED that the recommendations be NOTED and APPROVED

Members consider a request for voluntary redundancy and were informed of:

• The service related issues;


• The options and associated costs of this request.

It was DECIDED that:

• The report and associated costs be NOTED;


• The annual savings that will contribute to the Council's significant savings target be NOTED;


• The request for voluntary redundancy be APPROVED subject to satisfactory agreements being in placed and signed.