Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

It was resolved to exclude the public and press from the remainder of the meeting by reason of the nature of the business to be discussed which included information exempt from publication by virtue of paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The Panel received a report from the Acting Chief Executive on three JNC-level matters.

On the first matter, the Director of Workforce Change referred to the Senior Management Pay Review that was being carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and an issue that had become apparent early in that process regarding the statutory roles of Director of Children’s Services and Director of Adult Social Services.  At Barking and Dagenham, both those statutory roles were fulfilled by the Strategic Director, Children and Adults at grade CO6 (£143,683) and the postholder also held additional responsibilities for Education and Public Health services and recent Integrated Care changes.  A benchmarking activity report produced by PwC showed that the current salary sat behind the market lower quartile for the statutory Director of Children’s Services and Director of Adult Social Services roles and was, in their opinion, uncompetitive.  Furthermore, the local government leadership market was particularly volatile at the present time which had led to pay uplift in hard-to-recruit and other key roles across London and the Southeast, including that of statutory Director of Children’s Services roles.  Taking all those factors into account and to mitigate retention risks for such a critical role, PwC had advised that the Council should consider uplifting the salary as in interim measure pending the outcome of the full Senior Management Pay Review.

The second matter related to temporary cover arrangements to accommodate a four-month career break, due to personal reasons, which had been approved by the Acting Chief Executive in respect of the Strategic Director, My Place, in line with the Council’s Career Break Arrangements policy.  It was noted that the expectation was that the interim cover arrangements would be sourced through internal applications, including other members of the Council’s Leadership Team.

The third matter related to the post of Director of Finance and Investment.  By Minute 22(vi) (28 February 2022), the JNC Panel had approved a temporary honoraria payment equivalent to the difference between the postholder’s existing grade of CO4 and grade CO5.  The honorarium was in recognition of the additional responsibilities taken on by the postholder as part of interim Senior Leadership Management arrangements in the light of the resignation of the then Interim Chief Executive.  The Director of Workforce Change advised that the Acting Chief Executive now proposed that pending formal job evaluation, the post be confirmed at grade CO5 and permanently redesignated as Strategic Director, Finance and Investment.  It was noted that as the proposal meant that the role would formally become a Strategic Leadership Director, the approval of the Assembly was required.

The Panel resolved to:

(i)  Agree a market supplement for the post of Strategic Director, Children and Adults equivalent to £34,161 per annum with effect from 8 July 2022, pending consideration of the Senior Management Pay Review later in the year;

(ii)  Note that the Strategic Director, My Place had been granted a four-month unpaid career break commencing 1 August 2022 by the Acting Chief Executive, in line with the Council’s Career Break Arrangements  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.